UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
Alas, it doesn't include having willful familiar.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Part █: The Revelation Story
- Thread starter Stelaria
- Start date
Ⅲ.8 // that won't be necessary
Eventually, you manage to herd the Leo-type into an employees-only area, then down into the basement. You'd think this stock area would be busy at this time of day, but you can't really see much of any work going on down here. It's kind of odd, really, even if the shop front directly above is currently vacant.
It's as dark and dingy as ever, really, the green light of fire exit signs shining in the distance, the dusty floor marked with the tracks of forklifts.
The other three got here well ahead of you, and seem to be awkwardly struggling with conversation as you approach. While you wave to them, your attention is on the shadows further out. You can't see the doll, but you feel her presence. A slight vibration in the earring you have clutched in your hand, like calling to like.
This time, you're more than ready.
You call upon the power of the black Soul Gem, weaving it into a spell. You don't know if you're just guessing her location, or following some sort of eldritch intuition, but the curse lands true. And slowly, jerkily, the doll marches out of the dark toward you. She's the same one you saw before down here, of course - the one that seems to enjoy hunting Kyubeys.
Her eyes have rolled back in her head so far they look like orbs of pure white, and her sawtooth-sharp teeth are clenched tight. She seems… fearful, you think, in her own way. But you won't let that stop you. This creature is just a part of Homura-chan's soul. Perhaps even a shard of her fear itself.
She fears you, you think. Fears hurting you, or disappointing you, but so too, fears your light, your purity. You don't know if you truly controlled her with your borrowed magic, or if she just allowed you to do so.
She stands before you, silent, still staring with blank white eyes as if broken, waiting for your touch. And you smile to her, letting your fingers run across her sculpted jaw, as blackness seeps from every crack and joint in her body.
Once again, you recall Homura's memories. Her slow, growing distance from everyone she valued and cared about, her flight into the safety of frozen time… her frustration as she relived the same moments, the same half-hearted compassion from an ignorant you. The same battle, with the same outcome, even winning or losing unimportant compared to your fate.
You want to know where she is. The doll that holds the Devil's pride, her arrogance that says 'this feeling is mine alone'. Without that pride, you think, she can never hold all this pain and call it precious to her. So, until then, until that moment, all you can do is hold these emotions for her.
The images fade, the sooty smoke dissipates, and the doll is gone. Just a single earring remains.
"I didn't think you'd actually find one," says Umika as you approach. "How did you do that? I didn't sense it at all."
"Um, it's sort of a special case, I think. It's a bit personal, so I don't really want to explain all of it right now…" you reply, tucking away the earring. Your leonine familiar follows obediently behind you, still carrying its cargo of Soul Gems…
But, more importantly…
"Um, Homura-chan…?"
"I-I'm scared. I don't know why, but I'm…"
She's shivering.
"The emotions stored in her must've resonated with you, because you were close." You run over to her, full of worry, the meeting with the police the last thing on your mind. "I think it'll pass, but… I can try to help you. I-if you want, that is…"
"W-what do you want to do?"
"Um… can you show me your Soul Gem?"
The braided Homura raises her left hand, shielding it a little with her right. "Please don't touch it, Madoka-chan… y-you can look, but don't touch."
There's a little impurity in her Gem, but it doesn't look too severe. But if her emotions are resonating, it could quickly darken. Rather than that…
Could you use magic on her without touching?
It's worth a try, if you keep it simple.
You clutch the earring in one hand, your other hand hovering over Homura's soul. You close your eyes, tug gently on the magic, and feel for the emotions. The fear, the uncertainty she endured during those countless loops…
You trace them back - through the earring, where the memories are seated, and onward, into Homura-chan. You hear the quiet tick of a clock, feel her quiet passion tint your inner world in amethyst as you share in the emotion…
And you reach back, turning the black Soul Gem's magic to push against the fear; to drive it back and replace it with calm, focus, the quiet determination you know Homura had always tried so hard to affect.
You can feel the drain on the Soul Gem, drawing heavily on your purification power. It's no surprise that it's burning so intensely - the way you're using this magic is the exact opposite of what it's made for. If it could be used to spread hope or happiness so easily, the girl who entrusted her soul to you wouldn't have suffered as she did.
As you link to Homura, you find yourself, once again, thinking back to that moment in the false Mitakihara when the two of you sat in the flower garden together. You'd only had those memories she'd chosen to give you, and you'd wished for the gentle, shy Homura-chan you'd first met…
But you certainly can't say that that's the ideal state you'd like her to be in. Every Homura-chan is Homura-chan, after all. And right now… you feel like with all the experiences you've had, all the leaping through time… it's the aloof, experienced Homura you need right now.
You draw close to her, reaching out to pull her against you, loosen her braids, to let her hair fall free… and catch yourself. You can't. You mustn't…
Oh, you, can she… can she feel what you're feeling right now?
You quickly get your answer, as she disentangles herself, covering her Soul Gem with her free hand. "Madoka, please don't do that." Her voice is firmer than you expect - not with the mad, euphoric passion of the Devil, but with just an edge of that cold pride that makes you so nostalgic…
"I…" You get the feeling she's picking her words carefully, negotiating an emotional state she's not particularly familiar with. "I understand what you were trying to do, but that won't be necessary."
You shut off the magic right away and back off, panicked. "I-I'm sorry, Homura-chan…" Just how much had she seen? Is she not going to trust you? Might she hate you? "I… you were being affected by emotions that weren't your own, so I thought I could help, but…"
"You… haven't used mind magic before, have you?"
Umika and Sango look between the two of you, Umika wincing sympathetically. Come to think of it… isn't she a mind magic user herself?
"Um… no, I haven't, really - not apart from…"
"I see," she replies, a tense chill in her voice. "If you really want to make that power your own, I suggest that you practice in a safe environment before using it in the field." You've seen her be this cold toward people before - Sayaka, Kyouko, Mami… but before, it'd always been accompanied by her holding her tongue on so much when it'd been with you.
It's nostalgic, still… but it hurts, that you can't feel that strong love from her…
Because, of course, that love is the product of all the memories in the dolls.
Even she seems taken aback by her words, though, wavering a little… but continues, glancing toward the exit. "I'll… be returning to Kazamino now, Madoka… chan."
"Mmm. Thank you for helping us out so much, Homura-chan. Say hi to Miho-chan and Oriko-san for me, okay?"
"I will." She vanishes, looking, for that last moment, like she's on the brink of tears…
It's as dark and dingy as ever, really, the green light of fire exit signs shining in the distance, the dusty floor marked with the tracks of forklifts.
The other three got here well ahead of you, and seem to be awkwardly struggling with conversation as you approach. While you wave to them, your attention is on the shadows further out. You can't see the doll, but you feel her presence. A slight vibration in the earring you have clutched in your hand, like calling to like.
This time, you're more than ready.
You call upon the power of the black Soul Gem, weaving it into a spell. You don't know if you're just guessing her location, or following some sort of eldritch intuition, but the curse lands true. And slowly, jerkily, the doll marches out of the dark toward you. She's the same one you saw before down here, of course - the one that seems to enjoy hunting Kyubeys.
Her eyes have rolled back in her head so far they look like orbs of pure white, and her sawtooth-sharp teeth are clenched tight. She seems… fearful, you think, in her own way. But you won't let that stop you. This creature is just a part of Homura-chan's soul. Perhaps even a shard of her fear itself.
She fears you, you think. Fears hurting you, or disappointing you, but so too, fears your light, your purity. You don't know if you truly controlled her with your borrowed magic, or if she just allowed you to do so.
She stands before you, silent, still staring with blank white eyes as if broken, waiting for your touch. And you smile to her, letting your fingers run across her sculpted jaw, as blackness seeps from every crack and joint in her body.
Once again, you recall Homura's memories. Her slow, growing distance from everyone she valued and cared about, her flight into the safety of frozen time… her frustration as she relived the same moments, the same half-hearted compassion from an ignorant you. The same battle, with the same outcome, even winning or losing unimportant compared to your fate.
You want to know where she is. The doll that holds the Devil's pride, her arrogance that says 'this feeling is mine alone'. Without that pride, you think, she can never hold all this pain and call it precious to her. So, until then, until that moment, all you can do is hold these emotions for her.
The images fade, the sooty smoke dissipates, and the doll is gone. Just a single earring remains.
"I didn't think you'd actually find one," says Umika as you approach. "How did you do that? I didn't sense it at all."
"Um, it's sort of a special case, I think. It's a bit personal, so I don't really want to explain all of it right now…" you reply, tucking away the earring. Your leonine familiar follows obediently behind you, still carrying its cargo of Soul Gems…
But, more importantly…
"Um, Homura-chan…?"
"I-I'm scared. I don't know why, but I'm…"
She's shivering.
"The emotions stored in her must've resonated with you, because you were close." You run over to her, full of worry, the meeting with the police the last thing on your mind. "I think it'll pass, but… I can try to help you. I-if you want, that is…"
"W-what do you want to do?"
"Um… can you show me your Soul Gem?"
The braided Homura raises her left hand, shielding it a little with her right. "Please don't touch it, Madoka-chan… y-you can look, but don't touch."
There's a little impurity in her Gem, but it doesn't look too severe. But if her emotions are resonating, it could quickly darken. Rather than that…
Could you use magic on her without touching?
It's worth a try, if you keep it simple.
You clutch the earring in one hand, your other hand hovering over Homura's soul. You close your eyes, tug gently on the magic, and feel for the emotions. The fear, the uncertainty she endured during those countless loops…
You trace them back - through the earring, where the memories are seated, and onward, into Homura-chan. You hear the quiet tick of a clock, feel her quiet passion tint your inner world in amethyst as you share in the emotion…
And you reach back, turning the black Soul Gem's magic to push against the fear; to drive it back and replace it with calm, focus, the quiet determination you know Homura had always tried so hard to affect.
You can feel the drain on the Soul Gem, drawing heavily on your purification power. It's no surprise that it's burning so intensely - the way you're using this magic is the exact opposite of what it's made for. If it could be used to spread hope or happiness so easily, the girl who entrusted her soul to you wouldn't have suffered as she did.
As you link to Homura, you find yourself, once again, thinking back to that moment in the false Mitakihara when the two of you sat in the flower garden together. You'd only had those memories she'd chosen to give you, and you'd wished for the gentle, shy Homura-chan you'd first met…
But you certainly can't say that that's the ideal state you'd like her to be in. Every Homura-chan is Homura-chan, after all. And right now… you feel like with all the experiences you've had, all the leaping through time… it's the aloof, experienced Homura you need right now.
You draw close to her, reaching out to pull her against you, loosen her braids, to let her hair fall free… and catch yourself. You can't. You mustn't…
Oh, you, can she… can she feel what you're feeling right now?
You quickly get your answer, as she disentangles herself, covering her Soul Gem with her free hand. "Madoka, please don't do that." Her voice is firmer than you expect - not with the mad, euphoric passion of the Devil, but with just an edge of that cold pride that makes you so nostalgic…
"I…" You get the feeling she's picking her words carefully, negotiating an emotional state she's not particularly familiar with. "I understand what you were trying to do, but that won't be necessary."
You shut off the magic right away and back off, panicked. "I-I'm sorry, Homura-chan…" Just how much had she seen? Is she not going to trust you? Might she hate you? "I… you were being affected by emotions that weren't your own, so I thought I could help, but…"
"You… haven't used mind magic before, have you?"
Umika and Sango look between the two of you, Umika wincing sympathetically. Come to think of it… isn't she a mind magic user herself?
"Um… no, I haven't, really - not apart from…"
"I see," she replies, a tense chill in her voice. "If you really want to make that power your own, I suggest that you practice in a safe environment before using it in the field." You've seen her be this cold toward people before - Sayaka, Kyouko, Mami… but before, it'd always been accompanied by her holding her tongue on so much when it'd been with you.
It's nostalgic, still… but it hurts, that you can't feel that strong love from her…
Because, of course, that love is the product of all the memories in the dolls.
Even she seems taken aback by her words, though, wavering a little… but continues, glancing toward the exit. "I'll… be returning to Kazamino now, Madoka… chan."
"Mmm. Thank you for helping us out so much, Homura-chan. Say hi to Miho-chan and Oriko-san for me, okay?"
"I will." She vanishes, looking, for that last moment, like she's on the brink of tears…
Ⅲ.9 // don't cry, or you'll make them more work
"Um…" you eventually muster amid the awkwardness, "we should probably take the Soul Gems outside and wait for the police."
You look back to the familiar, but it's gone; only the polished wooden Soul Gem cases remain, stacked haphazardly together. "…eh?"
[That type makes mischief if it's left unattended, dear. So I made it disappear~]
[O-oh. Thank you… but, um, I'm more worried about Homura-chan.]
[It could've been a lot worse. The doll you encountered here is the Yakimochi of Cowardice, so the feelings in it just made her put up a front and then run away into stopped time. I think you even helped. A little.]
[Jealousy of Cowardice…?]
[No, it's spelled with the kanji for 'guilty' and 'feeling'.]
[Did you make that up?]
[No, actually. There's something that happens after Walpurgisnacht in Kamihama in one timeline, but you don't have living memories of it, so there's nothing I can do. Don't worry, it's impossible for it to happen with us on the case~]
[I'll… take your word for it.]
"Um… apparently the familiar was removed. I think it was about to get up to some mischief…"
"Normally, the kind of mischief familiars like is walking people into traffic or off tall buildings," Sango observes in a monotone.
"N-no, I think it was just going to steal that crate of office chairs… a-anyway, um, Sango-san, could you make some clones in uniforms like the mall staff, and bring the Soul Gems up?"
"Fetching and carrying? If I must…"
You draw quite a few odd looks as you leave through the delivery entrance, but nobody stops you to question you. Really, it wouldn't matter even if they called the police, because the police are already on their way. The three of you, minus the Sango clones, do end up having to wait about half an hour outside the delivery entrance, unobtrusively gathered up with the boxes behind one of the many trucks parked there, as the sun slowly rises in the sky.
You spend a little time chatting about this and that over your store-bought breakfast - novels, Homura-chan, the weather, a little about Oriko's father. All the time, you're gathering up your courage, preparing yourself to be absolutely brazen in the face of the police.
At last, three police cars pull in, their sirens silent, and park next to one of the supermarket's delivery trucks. You count one from the Mitakihara police, and two from Asunaro, you think. Five officers climb out, led by Ishijima-san, and start looking around. Now's your cue, before they start asking strange questions.
You step out, the Soujus' two Soul Gems in hand, stride toward the officers, and drop the enchantment making you unnoticeable. "Good morning, Ishijima-keiji."
All five of them turn to stare at you, blinking in confusion. "A-are… are you the anonymous caller who contacted us?" asks the policewoman, her composure momentarily broken by the uncanny emergence of a creepy pink-haired girl in mourning dress.
"I am. We've rescued a number of girls from captivity, and we'd be more than happy to entrust their safety to the police."
"I don't… see anyone else…" she says nervously. "Are they hiding somewhere?"
"You could say that." You raise your voice a little. "You two, could you bring the boxes out?"
Soon enough, they're all stacked by your feet, as the officers stare at the three of you like you've got three heads. Each, that is - though, you suppose Sango sometimes literally does. "Ah… miss, I'm not sure how to say this, but…"
"Would you be so kind as to let the young lady explain, Yamada?" Ishijima interrupts.
You hold up Ayase's Soul Gem. "Simply put, this is a crystallized soul. This specific one belongs to one of the perpetrators, Souju Ayase." Sango quietly opens one of the boxes and swivels it toward the police, revealing eight more Soul Gems.
"So what, we're dealing with magic, now? Give me a break," another officer complains.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to believe me," you say as forcefully as you can manage, using the black Soul Gem's power to instil yourself with some of that same cold confidence you'd tried to use on Homura. It's a lot easier on yourself - though, you probably shouldn't get into the habit.
"Oi, Sou," one of them mutters. "Are her eyes glowing?"
You ignore him, and continue. "First of all, there are many families anxiously waiting the return of sisters and daughters, and I don't want them to stay sad. Second, even after they return, they'll be in serious danger if you aren't prepared to work with me long-term. Third," you hesitate before continuing, but you feel like you have to impress upon them what they're dealing with. "If you don't agree to cooperate with me, we could just wipe your memories and do the whole thing over until you do, and I'll be really sad if we have to do that. And, fourth…"
This one's a bit of a gamble, but you're confident they'll take the bait. "Recently, your departments have been getting overwhelmed with weird cases, haven't they? Girls mysteriously moving to Kamihama City unaccompanied, even from abroad. Mob violence in Yukuni City. Property damage and murders in Futatsugi City. Strings of disappearances, or mass unconsciousness in Kamihama City. And even monster sightings in Asunaro City, right?"
You elect not to mention a massive theft of munitions from the JSDF, even though you know one happened - there's a good chance that one was covered up to save face, and you'd also rather like to protect Homura-chan's operational security.
All five of the police officers stare at you slack-jawed. "How… how do you know about all that stuff? Who… are you?" one of them asks.
"You're not supposed to ask anonymous informants that, I think," you chide. "But since I'm going to need to work with you for a while… Kaname Madoka, 14. I'm enrolled in, and currently attending Mitakihara Middle School. You can check the attendance record if you like, by the way - I'm over there and in class as well right now, so I'm not playing truant."
"…and the other two?" he asks, increasingly incredulous.
"Let's pretend they're just sliders for now. It's simpler that way."
"…simpler than what?"
"Would you mind taking us all back to the station in Asunaro? I think it'd be better and more comfortable than talking here."
The two from Mitakihara give you the stink-eye now. "Why Asunaro?"
"I'm afraid she's right. We have jurisdiction over the case," Ishijima says, after quietly counting up the approximate size of the boxes. "Although, Kaname-san, if there's eight in the smaller boxes, twelve in the larger ones, and twenty-four in that big one, that adds up to over a hundred. The case I'm investigating only involves twenty-three girls."
"Mmm. It's a complicated situation, and, um… I'd rather get back to somewhere more private before I discuss things any further. There are probably confidentiality issues with talking about the details of a case involving minors somewhere like this, right, Ishijima-san."
"Y-yes, yes, that would be a thing. Yamada, Joujima, load the cases into my car." She approaches one of the officers from Mitakihara, and mutters something under her breath into his ear. After that, she opens the doors to let you in her car. You offer Sango the front seat - it'll make conversation slightly more difficult, since it's a police car, but you remember, in amongst the glimpse you saw of her memories when you purified that combined witch, one of her being taken into custody by the police when she was young.
So now you're being driven down to Asunaro in a police car, Ishijima and Sango in the front, and you and Umika in the back. You're hoping you can just stay quiet and prepare your explanations for the group, when something small, white and fuzzy hops out of the footwell and onto your lap, its tail swishing disarmingly.
Oh, no.
Why'd that have to show up now?
<What do you want?> you ask, looking down at Kyubey with faint disgust. It looks back up at you, face unchanging as it curls into a ball.
<Two days ago, you asked me what would happen if magical girls made their existence public knowledge. It appears that you're interested in following through on that, Kaname Madoka.>
<Um… not right now, I think. We just need the police to help us return some magical girls to their homes.>
<You haven't denied that you have an interest in doing that. Would you like our assistance?>
<You're hiding something.>
<I'm not hiding anything. I warned you two days ago that magical girls' attempts to do this have always ended in tragedy, like in Yukuni City. Normally, we work to help magical girls in maintaining secrecy, but it's not strictly necessary for us to do so. Would you like us to stop?>
It's odd that he's being so cooperative. Then again, Kyubey always makes itself sound cooperative, so this is probably some sort of trap.
<Hmm… do you think you could stop just within the Shinwa area, starting when I or someone I'm in active cooperation with makes a public announcement?> you ask, knowing that it'll make a trap of it no matter what you say.
<That is certainly a reasonable suggestion. We can do just that.>
<By the way, do you know anything about these two?> You show him Ayase and Luca's Soul Gems. <How did they end up like that?>
<I'm afraid I can't share anything about other magical girls' wishes or powers.>
<Then… why were they carrying around such a large number of Soul Gems? Isn't that dangerous? Some of them looked quite darkened when I found them…>
<That is a problem. If one of them had fully depleted her magic in such close proximity, the result could've been devastating.>
<You mean, a Walpurgisnacht-type witch.>
<That is one possible outcome, yes.>
<They were taking the Soul Gems to Kamihama, weren't they?> Sango asks. <Is it possible that that was someone's goal all along?>
<I can't possibly say. Those two magical girls didn't cooperate with anyone besides each other, and I can't speak to magical girls within Asunaro, as you well know.>
<But if they had significantly more Soul Gems in their 'collection', they probably came from somewhere else. The Kansai region, or Fukuoka, maybe? There'd be nothing preventing you from recruiting them there, and Kamihama's been a problem for you for months, hasn't it, Kyubey?> you ask, the possibility only too plausible.
<It's certainly a dangerous situation, but that kind of approach is far too risky. There's no guarantee that a witch that large could even be defeated. We can't rely on the appearance of girls with potential like yours, Kaname Madoka.>
<Wait a second,> you answer. <If Walpurgisnacht is arriving in this country on April 30th anyway… why would you need a Walpurgisnacht-type in Kamihama before that? Unless… oh. Oh, dear. They… I remember now.>
<I'd be very interested to hear what it is you know, Kaname Madoka.>
<They're planning to control Walpurgisnacht, aren't they? You need to hit them before their preparations are complete, because the arrival of a Walpurgisnacht-type on schedule will just advance their plans. So you used these girls as a time bomb. You even told us that Soul Gems left unattended will eventually exhaust their magic.>
<That is a very interesting theory. To have information like that… but you aren't even a magical girl, are you? To be using other souls without even a contract… just what are you?>
<Someone who might contract with you when the time is right,> you answer enigmatically, poking at the tip of Kyubey's tail as it waves back and forth. You'd like to just kill it, but it'd make a mess of the car and you'd have to explain it. And, you're in the back of a police car, so you can't exactly wind down the windows.
You know your potential is like catnip to Kyubey. That might be quite a good analogy, actually - it's so great that it probably messes up its utility function completely just inputting it. You should probably be careful, though - you don't really want a whole herd of Kyubeys following you around chorusing your every action with 'contract, contract!'
<It's true that your potential is beyond our ability to measure. The fact that you're able to produce the records of magical girls from entirely different possibilities is completely unprecedented - we really have no way of knowing just how long we could preserve the universe using your power alone.>
<Then, wouldn't it be a big problem for you if you upset me, Kyubey?>
<…>
<Oh, Umika-san… we won't be able to talk about Kyubey to people in Asunaro, will we?>
<That's a problem, actually. But I don't want to just tamper with the other Umika's magic, but she doesn't have her memories of casting it right now. What should I do…?>
<It might be less of a problem than you think. Let me just try something,> you respond, and then…
"Ishijima-san, do you mind if we make a bit of a mess here in your car?"
"Uhm… that depends on what you mean by 'a mess'. I'd prefer if you don't tamper with police property, but as long as you put it back and don't distract me from driving, it should be okay…" She's stopped at a traffic light anyway. The roads are more than just busy at this time of morning, and it seems like she's conscientious enough to not turn on the siren when things aren't actually urgent.
"Basically, there's a wide-range information control enchantment active in Asunaro, and you won't be able to remember some of the things I need to tell you if it's still in place." Of course, it does a lot of other things too, but Ishijima won't have context for most of them, so there's little point in explaining.
<Wait, you want to take that down now?> Umika glances over at you with narrowed eyes. <Without any warning?>
<We have everything we need to reconstruct the system.>
<…I suppose we do, yes.> Sango answers, looking back at you through the barrier between the seats.
You feel a disturbance on your lap; see a hole open up in the barrier; and then with a loud, sharp squeak, the alert Kyubey is swept off your knees and pinned against the wall, a tiny red spot on its neck. <Umika, you usurp the magic. I'll-> Sango's telepathy abruptly cuts off, as Kyubey's relay to you goes inactive.
"…did you just shoot someone in my car?"
"A dangerous magical creature you can't see," says Sango simply. "Don't worry, I won't leave a mark."
"Mmm. We're fine back here," you add, and hand Sango the dead Incubator. "You'll need this and a way to siphon grief, right?"
"That's correct. Would you object to extracting a program from yourself?"
"I wouldn't, but, um… it won't work, I think. My purification is wish magic, so you'd need… um, let me try something, actually."
"I'll… just be here driving, okay?" The policewoman pulls away from the junction, and up onto the highway leading to Asunaro.
You look out across the city, apartment and office blocks, shopping malls and parks passing by, and reach out once again to another, spookier Madoka…
[Mmm… can I get another favour?] you ask, hoping quietly that you aren't going to have to pay later on for all these favours.
[Again?] answers Gretchen, making the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. She's being a bit spookier than usual, you think.
[Um… sort of. I need a certain type of familiar. The same type you gave me at the mall yesterday.]
[I didn't give you a familiar, and you didn't even go to the mall yesterday. That's why you went now, right?]
[I did too! In the other timeline!]
[Did that happen? Ehihihi~]
[It definitely did. But if you're going to be like this, we'll just make it for the first time again.]
[You're being awfully proactive. Shall we make a game out of it?]
[If you like. Aquarius.]
[Minion of the witch of despair.]
[Their task is to gather tears.]
[This minion gathers the sorrows of the universe within its body and offers them as wine at the witch's table.]
[The tears they gather reflect the witch's vanity, as they steal away despair so that new witches are never born.]
[Their patience is vaster than the sea of stars, yet even filling that sea with a single thimble cannot compare to the ever-growing infinitude of their task.]
[Wow. I sort of feel bad for them now…]
[Don't cry, or you'll just make them even more work. And… vanity? Really?]
[I think we both are, a little bit.]
[Ehihihihi~]
You look down to your lap, and a glittering golden chalice the colour of a Soul Gem's cage resting in it, its pastel-feathered wings folded. Quietly, you run your fingers along its rim, before handing it to Sango in the front seat.
The rest of the journey takes rather a while - the heavy traffic proves, while tedious, a blessing to your ability to get things done. You check in with Sayaka-senpai via your soul-telepathy and relay to her the situation, worried though she is. You mention your suspicions about Kyubey's plan with the Soujus, and ask her to follow up the Hijiri situation with Niko.
You talk with Umika about making significant changes to Asunaro's enchantments, as she removes the memory block on Kyubey and strips them down to just a framework - the block on magical girl candidates' ability to perceive Kyubey, the wraith transmutation system and almost nothing else. You'd like to implement an emergency, or even full system for automatically purifying Gems, but Umika tells you it could take several days to implement, even with the magic from disassembling the familiars.
Meanwhile, Sango is performing somewhat unsettling manipulations on the Kyubey corpse and Aquarius-type familiar in the front seat that you're less than eager to watch, and rather glad Ishijima-san can't see.
She, of course, is very intently watching the road, even in the thick traffic of 8:50 on a weekday morning, though she does do a double take when Umika mentions that the only effective way to track Kyubey's movements would be to monitor the senses of every human in the city. The little rat just resembles actual rats and squirrels too much, apparently.
Eventually, though, the car pulls in outside the police station, and you check on Umika and Sango's progress.
"Okay, it's stable. The emergency system isn't in yet - I'll work on it tonight with Umika. The rest should work, though," Umika says as she feels the car stop, shutting her magical book with a snap. You'd feel guilty for asking her to work on the move like this, but magical girls don't get motion sick to begin with.
"How about you, Sango-san? How's the pseudo… oh." Your face falls as you look over the unsightly mess on the green-haired magical girl's lap - a half-dissected Kyubey with segments of the familiar seemingly fused into its cottony flesh. "Um, is that going to be okay…?"
"No. I can carry on later, though." She pulls a cylindrical specimen jar out of seemingly nowhere, scooping the mess inside - you'd seen her do the same thing before with the Soujus' body, which definitely shouldn't fit into something that size. "There."
You take a look at Ishijima's face, and smile sympathetically. She's already looking a bit frazzled, and you haven't even started the explanation. From the sound of it outside the car, the other two officers are still joking around, not taking the situation seriously.
Now, you'll be snatching away that joy.
You look back to the familiar, but it's gone; only the polished wooden Soul Gem cases remain, stacked haphazardly together. "…eh?"
[That type makes mischief if it's left unattended, dear. So I made it disappear~]
[O-oh. Thank you… but, um, I'm more worried about Homura-chan.]
[It could've been a lot worse. The doll you encountered here is the Yakimochi of Cowardice, so the feelings in it just made her put up a front and then run away into stopped time. I think you even helped. A little.]
[Jealousy of Cowardice…?]
[No, it's spelled with the kanji for 'guilty' and 'feeling'.]
[Did you make that up?]
[No, actually. There's something that happens after Walpurgisnacht in Kamihama in one timeline, but you don't have living memories of it, so there's nothing I can do. Don't worry, it's impossible for it to happen with us on the case~]
[I'll… take your word for it.]
"Um… apparently the familiar was removed. I think it was about to get up to some mischief…"
"Normally, the kind of mischief familiars like is walking people into traffic or off tall buildings," Sango observes in a monotone.
"N-no, I think it was just going to steal that crate of office chairs… a-anyway, um, Sango-san, could you make some clones in uniforms like the mall staff, and bring the Soul Gems up?"
"Fetching and carrying? If I must…"
You draw quite a few odd looks as you leave through the delivery entrance, but nobody stops you to question you. Really, it wouldn't matter even if they called the police, because the police are already on their way. The three of you, minus the Sango clones, do end up having to wait about half an hour outside the delivery entrance, unobtrusively gathered up with the boxes behind one of the many trucks parked there, as the sun slowly rises in the sky.
You spend a little time chatting about this and that over your store-bought breakfast - novels, Homura-chan, the weather, a little about Oriko's father. All the time, you're gathering up your courage, preparing yourself to be absolutely brazen in the face of the police.
At last, three police cars pull in, their sirens silent, and park next to one of the supermarket's delivery trucks. You count one from the Mitakihara police, and two from Asunaro, you think. Five officers climb out, led by Ishijima-san, and start looking around. Now's your cue, before they start asking strange questions.
You step out, the Soujus' two Soul Gems in hand, stride toward the officers, and drop the enchantment making you unnoticeable. "Good morning, Ishijima-keiji."
All five of them turn to stare at you, blinking in confusion. "A-are… are you the anonymous caller who contacted us?" asks the policewoman, her composure momentarily broken by the uncanny emergence of a creepy pink-haired girl in mourning dress.
"I am. We've rescued a number of girls from captivity, and we'd be more than happy to entrust their safety to the police."
"I don't… see anyone else…" she says nervously. "Are they hiding somewhere?"
"You could say that." You raise your voice a little. "You two, could you bring the boxes out?"
Soon enough, they're all stacked by your feet, as the officers stare at the three of you like you've got three heads. Each, that is - though, you suppose Sango sometimes literally does. "Ah… miss, I'm not sure how to say this, but…"
"Would you be so kind as to let the young lady explain, Yamada?" Ishijima interrupts.
You hold up Ayase's Soul Gem. "Simply put, this is a crystallized soul. This specific one belongs to one of the perpetrators, Souju Ayase." Sango quietly opens one of the boxes and swivels it toward the police, revealing eight more Soul Gems.
"So what, we're dealing with magic, now? Give me a break," another officer complains.
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to need you to believe me," you say as forcefully as you can manage, using the black Soul Gem's power to instil yourself with some of that same cold confidence you'd tried to use on Homura. It's a lot easier on yourself - though, you probably shouldn't get into the habit.
"Oi, Sou," one of them mutters. "Are her eyes glowing?"
You ignore him, and continue. "First of all, there are many families anxiously waiting the return of sisters and daughters, and I don't want them to stay sad. Second, even after they return, they'll be in serious danger if you aren't prepared to work with me long-term. Third," you hesitate before continuing, but you feel like you have to impress upon them what they're dealing with. "If you don't agree to cooperate with me, we could just wipe your memories and do the whole thing over until you do, and I'll be really sad if we have to do that. And, fourth…"
This one's a bit of a gamble, but you're confident they'll take the bait. "Recently, your departments have been getting overwhelmed with weird cases, haven't they? Girls mysteriously moving to Kamihama City unaccompanied, even from abroad. Mob violence in Yukuni City. Property damage and murders in Futatsugi City. Strings of disappearances, or mass unconsciousness in Kamihama City. And even monster sightings in Asunaro City, right?"
You elect not to mention a massive theft of munitions from the JSDF, even though you know one happened - there's a good chance that one was covered up to save face, and you'd also rather like to protect Homura-chan's operational security.
All five of the police officers stare at you slack-jawed. "How… how do you know about all that stuff? Who… are you?" one of them asks.
"You're not supposed to ask anonymous informants that, I think," you chide. "But since I'm going to need to work with you for a while… Kaname Madoka, 14. I'm enrolled in, and currently attending Mitakihara Middle School. You can check the attendance record if you like, by the way - I'm over there and in class as well right now, so I'm not playing truant."
"…and the other two?" he asks, increasingly incredulous.
"Let's pretend they're just sliders for now. It's simpler that way."
"…simpler than what?"
"Would you mind taking us all back to the station in Asunaro? I think it'd be better and more comfortable than talking here."
The two from Mitakihara give you the stink-eye now. "Why Asunaro?"
"I'm afraid she's right. We have jurisdiction over the case," Ishijima says, after quietly counting up the approximate size of the boxes. "Although, Kaname-san, if there's eight in the smaller boxes, twelve in the larger ones, and twenty-four in that big one, that adds up to over a hundred. The case I'm investigating only involves twenty-three girls."
"Mmm. It's a complicated situation, and, um… I'd rather get back to somewhere more private before I discuss things any further. There are probably confidentiality issues with talking about the details of a case involving minors somewhere like this, right, Ishijima-san."
"Y-yes, yes, that would be a thing. Yamada, Joujima, load the cases into my car." She approaches one of the officers from Mitakihara, and mutters something under her breath into his ear. After that, she opens the doors to let you in her car. You offer Sango the front seat - it'll make conversation slightly more difficult, since it's a police car, but you remember, in amongst the glimpse you saw of her memories when you purified that combined witch, one of her being taken into custody by the police when she was young.
So now you're being driven down to Asunaro in a police car, Ishijima and Sango in the front, and you and Umika in the back. You're hoping you can just stay quiet and prepare your explanations for the group, when something small, white and fuzzy hops out of the footwell and onto your lap, its tail swishing disarmingly.
Oh, no.
Why'd that have to show up now?
<What do you want?> you ask, looking down at Kyubey with faint disgust. It looks back up at you, face unchanging as it curls into a ball.
<Two days ago, you asked me what would happen if magical girls made their existence public knowledge. It appears that you're interested in following through on that, Kaname Madoka.>
<Um… not right now, I think. We just need the police to help us return some magical girls to their homes.>
<You haven't denied that you have an interest in doing that. Would you like our assistance?>
<You're hiding something.>
<I'm not hiding anything. I warned you two days ago that magical girls' attempts to do this have always ended in tragedy, like in Yukuni City. Normally, we work to help magical girls in maintaining secrecy, but it's not strictly necessary for us to do so. Would you like us to stop?>
It's odd that he's being so cooperative. Then again, Kyubey always makes itself sound cooperative, so this is probably some sort of trap.
<Hmm… do you think you could stop just within the Shinwa area, starting when I or someone I'm in active cooperation with makes a public announcement?> you ask, knowing that it'll make a trap of it no matter what you say.
<That is certainly a reasonable suggestion. We can do just that.>
<By the way, do you know anything about these two?> You show him Ayase and Luca's Soul Gems. <How did they end up like that?>
<I'm afraid I can't share anything about other magical girls' wishes or powers.>
<Then… why were they carrying around such a large number of Soul Gems? Isn't that dangerous? Some of them looked quite darkened when I found them…>
<That is a problem. If one of them had fully depleted her magic in such close proximity, the result could've been devastating.>
<You mean, a Walpurgisnacht-type witch.>
<That is one possible outcome, yes.>
<They were taking the Soul Gems to Kamihama, weren't they?> Sango asks. <Is it possible that that was someone's goal all along?>
<I can't possibly say. Those two magical girls didn't cooperate with anyone besides each other, and I can't speak to magical girls within Asunaro, as you well know.>
<But if they had significantly more Soul Gems in their 'collection', they probably came from somewhere else. The Kansai region, or Fukuoka, maybe? There'd be nothing preventing you from recruiting them there, and Kamihama's been a problem for you for months, hasn't it, Kyubey?> you ask, the possibility only too plausible.
<It's certainly a dangerous situation, but that kind of approach is far too risky. There's no guarantee that a witch that large could even be defeated. We can't rely on the appearance of girls with potential like yours, Kaname Madoka.>
<Wait a second,> you answer. <If Walpurgisnacht is arriving in this country on April 30th anyway… why would you need a Walpurgisnacht-type in Kamihama before that? Unless… oh. Oh, dear. They… I remember now.>
<I'd be very interested to hear what it is you know, Kaname Madoka.>
<They're planning to control Walpurgisnacht, aren't they? You need to hit them before their preparations are complete, because the arrival of a Walpurgisnacht-type on schedule will just advance their plans. So you used these girls as a time bomb. You even told us that Soul Gems left unattended will eventually exhaust their magic.>
<That is a very interesting theory. To have information like that… but you aren't even a magical girl, are you? To be using other souls without even a contract… just what are you?>
<Someone who might contract with you when the time is right,> you answer enigmatically, poking at the tip of Kyubey's tail as it waves back and forth. You'd like to just kill it, but it'd make a mess of the car and you'd have to explain it. And, you're in the back of a police car, so you can't exactly wind down the windows.
You know your potential is like catnip to Kyubey. That might be quite a good analogy, actually - it's so great that it probably messes up its utility function completely just inputting it. You should probably be careful, though - you don't really want a whole herd of Kyubeys following you around chorusing your every action with 'contract, contract!'
<It's true that your potential is beyond our ability to measure. The fact that you're able to produce the records of magical girls from entirely different possibilities is completely unprecedented - we really have no way of knowing just how long we could preserve the universe using your power alone.>
<Then, wouldn't it be a big problem for you if you upset me, Kyubey?>
<…>
<Oh, Umika-san… we won't be able to talk about Kyubey to people in Asunaro, will we?>
<That's a problem, actually. But I don't want to just tamper with the other Umika's magic, but she doesn't have her memories of casting it right now. What should I do…?>
<It might be less of a problem than you think. Let me just try something,> you respond, and then…
"Ishijima-san, do you mind if we make a bit of a mess here in your car?"
"Uhm… that depends on what you mean by 'a mess'. I'd prefer if you don't tamper with police property, but as long as you put it back and don't distract me from driving, it should be okay…" She's stopped at a traffic light anyway. The roads are more than just busy at this time of morning, and it seems like she's conscientious enough to not turn on the siren when things aren't actually urgent.
"Basically, there's a wide-range information control enchantment active in Asunaro, and you won't be able to remember some of the things I need to tell you if it's still in place." Of course, it does a lot of other things too, but Ishijima won't have context for most of them, so there's little point in explaining.
<Wait, you want to take that down now?> Umika glances over at you with narrowed eyes. <Without any warning?>
<We have everything we need to reconstruct the system.>
<…I suppose we do, yes.> Sango answers, looking back at you through the barrier between the seats.
You feel a disturbance on your lap; see a hole open up in the barrier; and then with a loud, sharp squeak, the alert Kyubey is swept off your knees and pinned against the wall, a tiny red spot on its neck. <Umika, you usurp the magic. I'll-> Sango's telepathy abruptly cuts off, as Kyubey's relay to you goes inactive.
"…did you just shoot someone in my car?"
"A dangerous magical creature you can't see," says Sango simply. "Don't worry, I won't leave a mark."
"Mmm. We're fine back here," you add, and hand Sango the dead Incubator. "You'll need this and a way to siphon grief, right?"
"That's correct. Would you object to extracting a program from yourself?"
"I wouldn't, but, um… it won't work, I think. My purification is wish magic, so you'd need… um, let me try something, actually."
"I'll… just be here driving, okay?" The policewoman pulls away from the junction, and up onto the highway leading to Asunaro.
You look out across the city, apartment and office blocks, shopping malls and parks passing by, and reach out once again to another, spookier Madoka…
[Mmm… can I get another favour?] you ask, hoping quietly that you aren't going to have to pay later on for all these favours.
[Again?] answers Gretchen, making the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. She's being a bit spookier than usual, you think.
[Um… sort of. I need a certain type of familiar. The same type you gave me at the mall yesterday.]
[I didn't give you a familiar, and you didn't even go to the mall yesterday. That's why you went now, right?]
[I did too! In the other timeline!]
[Did that happen? Ehihihi~]
[It definitely did. But if you're going to be like this, we'll just make it for the first time again.]
[You're being awfully proactive. Shall we make a game out of it?]
[If you like. Aquarius.]
[Minion of the witch of despair.]
[Their task is to gather tears.]
[This minion gathers the sorrows of the universe within its body and offers them as wine at the witch's table.]
[The tears they gather reflect the witch's vanity, as they steal away despair so that new witches are never born.]
[Their patience is vaster than the sea of stars, yet even filling that sea with a single thimble cannot compare to the ever-growing infinitude of their task.]
[Wow. I sort of feel bad for them now…]
[Don't cry, or you'll just make them even more work. And… vanity? Really?]
[I think we both are, a little bit.]
[Ehihihihi~]
You look down to your lap, and a glittering golden chalice the colour of a Soul Gem's cage resting in it, its pastel-feathered wings folded. Quietly, you run your fingers along its rim, before handing it to Sango in the front seat.
The rest of the journey takes rather a while - the heavy traffic proves, while tedious, a blessing to your ability to get things done. You check in with Sayaka-senpai via your soul-telepathy and relay to her the situation, worried though she is. You mention your suspicions about Kyubey's plan with the Soujus, and ask her to follow up the Hijiri situation with Niko.
You talk with Umika about making significant changes to Asunaro's enchantments, as she removes the memory block on Kyubey and strips them down to just a framework - the block on magical girl candidates' ability to perceive Kyubey, the wraith transmutation system and almost nothing else. You'd like to implement an emergency, or even full system for automatically purifying Gems, but Umika tells you it could take several days to implement, even with the magic from disassembling the familiars.
Meanwhile, Sango is performing somewhat unsettling manipulations on the Kyubey corpse and Aquarius-type familiar in the front seat that you're less than eager to watch, and rather glad Ishijima-san can't see.
She, of course, is very intently watching the road, even in the thick traffic of 8:50 on a weekday morning, though she does do a double take when Umika mentions that the only effective way to track Kyubey's movements would be to monitor the senses of every human in the city. The little rat just resembles actual rats and squirrels too much, apparently.
Eventually, though, the car pulls in outside the police station, and you check on Umika and Sango's progress.
"Okay, it's stable. The emergency system isn't in yet - I'll work on it tonight with Umika. The rest should work, though," Umika says as she feels the car stop, shutting her magical book with a snap. You'd feel guilty for asking her to work on the move like this, but magical girls don't get motion sick to begin with.
"How about you, Sango-san? How's the pseudo… oh." Your face falls as you look over the unsightly mess on the green-haired magical girl's lap - a half-dissected Kyubey with segments of the familiar seemingly fused into its cottony flesh. "Um, is that going to be okay…?"
"No. I can carry on later, though." She pulls a cylindrical specimen jar out of seemingly nowhere, scooping the mess inside - you'd seen her do the same thing before with the Soujus' body, which definitely shouldn't fit into something that size. "There."
You take a look at Ishijima's face, and smile sympathetically. She's already looking a bit frazzled, and you haven't even started the explanation. From the sound of it outside the car, the other two officers are still joking around, not taking the situation seriously.
Now, you'll be snatching away that joy.
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
The first prototype is always messy.
Ⅲ.10 // our disagreements seem so small now
What happens after that is about as awkward as you expect. Umika works on identifying the Soul Gems while you write up a dossier for the officers and Sango, after giving a quick 'yes, magic is real' demonstration with an absolutely flat expression, checks over the station's case records for incidents she'd been involved in or knows about.
Then you have to deal with the part where you explain to three normal adults (the two from Mitakihara had disappeared off somewhere) that magical girls get to have a wish come true without them asking inane questions like 'couldn't you just wish for infinite wishes', which is a struggle until you start explaining how Kyubey actually works.
It's only then that the cops finally get it, when you start comparing him to idol recruiters and worse; when you mention that Mama did a population dynamics analysis and you compare the results to a pyramid scheme. When the two men Ishijima-san brought with her actually start seeing you as an adult, and one who's probably seen more of the horrors of the world than they have.
One of them starts crying. You don't ask. Perhaps he realized what happened to a childhood sweetheart, or a distant relative…
"Now, for all this… I'm sorry to say, there's very little you can do about Kyubey directly. It's not even possible for normal people to perceive him, and there's probably no way to build technology to do it, because his technology is so much in advance of Earth's. What we can do is protect people in other ways. My parents actually suggested putting Faust on the middle school curriculum, for example."
"Faust?" asks Yamada nervously. You'd given him a little time after finishing the explanation, but now he just looks broken.
"If they're referring to Goethe's Faust, it's an 18th century German play sometimes considered the greatest work of German literature," Ishijima explains. "It's about a scholar who falls into despair after trying to learn everything about the world, and makes a deal with the Devil."
"Mmm, that's it. I turned into a giant Brocken spectre called Gretchen and destroyed the entire world in ten days one time."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Can… can any magical girl do that?"
"I'm a bit special. Normally, witches cause serial suicides or homicides, not natural disasters," you answer. "If just any magical girl could do that, the world wouldn't still be here. Anyway, the point is that conventional criminal justice won't work in the world of magical girls, and if you try, it won't work out, and might even get a lot of officers killed."
"So, then… why did you even come to us?" asks Joujima.
"Because the public trusts the police in this country, and wouldn't trust magical girls; because there's something crazy going on in Kamihama that's keeping your colleagues so busy with magical cases they don't have time for the ones they can actually solve; and because I need you on my side so my magical girls have the time they need to solve magical problems.
But also, because the connection to Goethe's Faust isn't just academic - a giant witch called Walpurgisnacht is arriving here on April 30th. She'll manifest as a supercell off the coast and flatten the entire Shinwa metropolitan area from Futatsugi to Asunaro if we can't defeat her."
The room falls silent, as the three of them just stare. Eventually, Ishijima asks, "how do you know this?" in a small voice.
"Time travel, precognition, and Kyubey confirmed it. He almost never says anything that's actually untrue, even though he's the most prolific liar on the planet," you explain with a grimace. "Oh, and… don't ask about using precognition to work the stock market. It's almost impossible to control visions, even for the rare magical girls who can have them at all." you add, telling a whopping Incubator truth yourself, since you're fairly sure that's exactly what the Oriko duo are doing right now.
"…right. So you're going to need us to… organize an evacuation for all nine million people living in the Shinwa area?"
"Maybe. If it looks like we won't make it. But I know several ways to defeat her. It's possible to win with a very small number of magical girls, but not without the battlefield moving to the point that many shelters are destroyed, and it's rare for anyone to return from the battle. I think we'd need fifty to a hundred to destroy her before she comes onshore, and closer to a thousand to do it without any casualties at all."
"Kaname-san, is this… I'm not comfortable with the idea that we can't do anything but let children fight on our behalf," Ishijima admits, her face falling. "Is there no other way?"
"Mmmm… I suppose there is one other way. Ishijima-san, if you could have God come down from heaven and solve all of your problems, solve every case and crime, satisfy everyone's needs and bring about world peace, would you do that? Do you think that would be the right thing to do, even if it meant admitting that humanity's problems can't be solved by humanity alone?"
"…how am I even supposed to answer that?"
"I'm trying my best," you answer, offering her a light smile. "Anyway - Umika-san should have a list of names of all the girls whose Soul Gems we have here, and you can check it against the police's list of missing persons. We've recovered bodies to match a lot of them, but in many cases, the body might've been discarded, or even discovered by the police and the girl considered legally dead. In those cases, we'll need Sango-san to produce a suitable body, and I don't know how long it could take her to do that."
"Y-you can do that?" All three officers look thoroughly exhausted from all the revelations, but especially Ishijima-san.
"It's possible, with the right magic. Honestly, there are far more difficult things. A magical girl's wish can even bring entirely new people into existence, or change the past before it was even made. Sometimes those people spring into existence fully documented, and with everyone remembering them as always being there, and sometimes they don't. Sometimes, when you change the past, you remember it, and sometimes you don't. Even I'm sometimes surprised by what our magic can do…"
The officers are just boggling.
"I'm sorry. All I've done is scare and confuse you. I'm meant to be spreading hope here…" You stand up, take a quick walk around the room, slap your cheeks and shake your head, trying to shake off the tension. It works a little, but…
You've been cold, almost callous and casual about horrors beyond mortal understanding for this whole conversation. It's so unlike you, really, but it just felt…
Oh, right.
It's this transformation, isn't it?
Of course it is. Maybe you can do something about that, but not now, not here.
But if you untransform here, you'll just be in the borrowed pajamas you were wearing at Umika's house, though…
You've got to cheer yourself up and take charge properly, like a Goddess. The three of them look like they desperately need it.
"Ummm… do you mind if I step out for a moment?"
"Not at all. The ladies' is out of there, then down the corridor and the last door on the right," Ishijima-san says, glad to have a simple question and a brief reprieve.
Unsurprisingly, the ladies' room is small and somewhat undermaintained; fortunately, though, it's somewhere you can be sure you won't be spied on if you're going to change.
And, you certainly need to, if you're right in thinking that the girl with the black Soul Gem's disposition is rubbing off on you. It shouldn't be a surprise, though - just using someone else's soul isn't exactly normal. Maybe Kyubey'd have tried to guilt-trip you for it, if you hadn't consigned it to use as raw materials?
You quickly think over the possibilities. Many of your precious girls are out in the world right now, and might well collapse if you started using their souls here while their bodies are more than 100 metres away. Then there's the rest of the Pleiades Saints, whom you barely know, so you can't say for sure what your rapport would be like, or if it'd even be possible.
Once you rule all of those out, there's just one left, though.
Mami-san, of course.
You untransform, close your eyes, and pray to your heart, thinking of that elegant, brave yet fragile girl who was the very first magical girl you met. Believing in justice, and holding that ideal close as the black Soul Gem dematerializes, and sinks back deep, deep into your soul.
[Kaname-san…]
[Mmm. It's me, Mami-san. You said you wanted to speak to Kyubey, didn't you?]
[…I very much would like some answers from him, after all he's done.]
[He's not here right now, but I caused him some trouble today, and I don't think he said his piece, so he might come after me again soon.]
[I see. Is everyone safe right now?]
[Mmm. I brought Michiru to the Pleiades Saints in this timeline, so almost everything was resolved right there and then. I'm at the police station right now, getting them to help out returning a lot of girls who lost their bodies.]
[You… you're telling the police about magical girls? But… I… why did I… never even think to try that?]
[That's a good question. Kyubey definitely helps with coverups, and I sort of think it has its paws in hero and magical girl anime, making sure we keep thinking about secret identities. There might be some other force at work too - it said something about misfortune happening to people who try to reveal the truth, and what happened in Yukuni City matches that…]r
[Yukuni City?]
[Mmm. I don't really know the details, but Mikuni-san said there was some kind of conflict between the locals. The police department there probably know more than I do.]
[Ah.] A pause, a sense of shimmering within her soul. [I can't help but notice you have a strange presence to you, Kaname-san… did you do something?]
[I was transformed until just a moment a go, but I was using someone else's Soul Gem to do it. It's probably her you can sense…]
[…I didn't think that was possible, and if a Soul Gem is a magical girl's…]
[Mmm. There's actually a few ways to do it, I think, but she offered to let me use her power that way. She just wants to rest, I think. She… she asked me to make a world where she doesn't get tricked by Kyubey.]
[I can't help but sympathize, after what I've learned, Kaname-san. It sounds as if…]
[Mmm. There was a time when I said those words to someone, too. But I don't regret becoming the Law of the Cycle.]
[…]
[When I did that, I never thought I'd be in this situation. But the truth is, I only ever saved magical girls in death. When it comes to their struggles in life, I could only throw them a little gift in the form of the wraiths, and that comes at the cost of human suffering, too.
But, from the very beginning, the very first world, when Kaname Madoka became a magical girl to save a single cat, it was Tomoe Mami I looked up to, who taught me how to be a magical girl, and showed me the justice I needed to believe in.
So, Mami-san… do you want to help me, here and now, this very last time? To shed light on all the wickedness, reveal all the secrets, and bring that justice to the world? Until being a magical girl is a truly good thing, and worth choosing?]
[Kaname-san… you mean it? You think that's really possible?] It feels as if her soul is shining brighter than before, and you catch a faint fragrance of rose tea. A blush, perhaps?
[I do. I mean… on the one hand, it's Kyubey we're fighting. But on the other hand, it's just Kyubey. They don't understand the first thing about the power they've given us. And this time, we won't just have magic and miracles on our side, but everyone who fought in the past so we could reach here, and everyone's hopes for the future.]
[You really make it sound like we can change this world… but, ah, may I ask you something, Kaname-san?]
[You can.]
[This is a different timeline, you said… so, does that mean…?]
[Mmm. There's a Tomoe Mami who's still alive in this world. It's like that for Sayaka, too, and Mikuni-san, and Michiru-san and all her friends. Sayaka-senpai said once it's sort of like being a guardian angel…]
[A guardian… angel? And, Sakura-san?]
[No, not for her. Come to think of it, I never asked her about angels. I wonder what she'd say?]
[Perhaps I'll ask her myself. Our disagreements seem so small now… yes, I'll help you. Maybe this is what we should've done all along?]
You gently open your eyes to golden light, streaming across the inside of the dingy room, and the sensation of a warm embrace. You can feel Mami's presence with you, ribbons wrapping around your body and a brilliant gleam at your neck.
You look to the mirror, savouring the feeling, and see yourself, dressed in a stylish pinstripe suit over a creamy-white blouse edged in gold, a yellow bolo tie around the collar fastened with a five-petaled flower pin - Mami's Soul Gem. Your hair is tied in twintails as usual, with yellow ribbons kind of like your own, but it seems much longer than you remember a few days ago; and your eyes have a golden sheen to them.
More than that, though, you feel confident - full of Mami's strong convictions and the ideals she wants to live up to, but backed up by your unshakeable decisiveness and determination. And the clothes make you feel a bit like Mama, too. You stride out of the room, an officer heading for the men's room standing aside with what might even have been awestruck deference as you head back to Ishijima-san's office with singular purpose.
Then you have to deal with the part where you explain to three normal adults (the two from Mitakihara had disappeared off somewhere) that magical girls get to have a wish come true without them asking inane questions like 'couldn't you just wish for infinite wishes', which is a struggle until you start explaining how Kyubey actually works.
It's only then that the cops finally get it, when you start comparing him to idol recruiters and worse; when you mention that Mama did a population dynamics analysis and you compare the results to a pyramid scheme. When the two men Ishijima-san brought with her actually start seeing you as an adult, and one who's probably seen more of the horrors of the world than they have.
One of them starts crying. You don't ask. Perhaps he realized what happened to a childhood sweetheart, or a distant relative…
"Now, for all this… I'm sorry to say, there's very little you can do about Kyubey directly. It's not even possible for normal people to perceive him, and there's probably no way to build technology to do it, because his technology is so much in advance of Earth's. What we can do is protect people in other ways. My parents actually suggested putting Faust on the middle school curriculum, for example."
"Faust?" asks Yamada nervously. You'd given him a little time after finishing the explanation, but now he just looks broken.
"If they're referring to Goethe's Faust, it's an 18th century German play sometimes considered the greatest work of German literature," Ishijima explains. "It's about a scholar who falls into despair after trying to learn everything about the world, and makes a deal with the Devil."
"Mmm, that's it. I turned into a giant Brocken spectre called Gretchen and destroyed the entire world in ten days one time."
"You're kidding, right?"
"Can… can any magical girl do that?"
"I'm a bit special. Normally, witches cause serial suicides or homicides, not natural disasters," you answer. "If just any magical girl could do that, the world wouldn't still be here. Anyway, the point is that conventional criminal justice won't work in the world of magical girls, and if you try, it won't work out, and might even get a lot of officers killed."
"So, then… why did you even come to us?" asks Joujima.
"Because the public trusts the police in this country, and wouldn't trust magical girls; because there's something crazy going on in Kamihama that's keeping your colleagues so busy with magical cases they don't have time for the ones they can actually solve; and because I need you on my side so my magical girls have the time they need to solve magical problems.
But also, because the connection to Goethe's Faust isn't just academic - a giant witch called Walpurgisnacht is arriving here on April 30th. She'll manifest as a supercell off the coast and flatten the entire Shinwa metropolitan area from Futatsugi to Asunaro if we can't defeat her."
The room falls silent, as the three of them just stare. Eventually, Ishijima asks, "how do you know this?" in a small voice.
"Time travel, precognition, and Kyubey confirmed it. He almost never says anything that's actually untrue, even though he's the most prolific liar on the planet," you explain with a grimace. "Oh, and… don't ask about using precognition to work the stock market. It's almost impossible to control visions, even for the rare magical girls who can have them at all." you add, telling a whopping Incubator truth yourself, since you're fairly sure that's exactly what the Oriko duo are doing right now.
"…right. So you're going to need us to… organize an evacuation for all nine million people living in the Shinwa area?"
"Maybe. If it looks like we won't make it. But I know several ways to defeat her. It's possible to win with a very small number of magical girls, but not without the battlefield moving to the point that many shelters are destroyed, and it's rare for anyone to return from the battle. I think we'd need fifty to a hundred to destroy her before she comes onshore, and closer to a thousand to do it without any casualties at all."
"Kaname-san, is this… I'm not comfortable with the idea that we can't do anything but let children fight on our behalf," Ishijima admits, her face falling. "Is there no other way?"
"Mmmm… I suppose there is one other way. Ishijima-san, if you could have God come down from heaven and solve all of your problems, solve every case and crime, satisfy everyone's needs and bring about world peace, would you do that? Do you think that would be the right thing to do, even if it meant admitting that humanity's problems can't be solved by humanity alone?"
"…how am I even supposed to answer that?"
"I'm trying my best," you answer, offering her a light smile. "Anyway - Umika-san should have a list of names of all the girls whose Soul Gems we have here, and you can check it against the police's list of missing persons. We've recovered bodies to match a lot of them, but in many cases, the body might've been discarded, or even discovered by the police and the girl considered legally dead. In those cases, we'll need Sango-san to produce a suitable body, and I don't know how long it could take her to do that."
"Y-you can do that?" All three officers look thoroughly exhausted from all the revelations, but especially Ishijima-san.
"It's possible, with the right magic. Honestly, there are far more difficult things. A magical girl's wish can even bring entirely new people into existence, or change the past before it was even made. Sometimes those people spring into existence fully documented, and with everyone remembering them as always being there, and sometimes they don't. Sometimes, when you change the past, you remember it, and sometimes you don't. Even I'm sometimes surprised by what our magic can do…"
The officers are just boggling.
"I'm sorry. All I've done is scare and confuse you. I'm meant to be spreading hope here…" You stand up, take a quick walk around the room, slap your cheeks and shake your head, trying to shake off the tension. It works a little, but…
You've been cold, almost callous and casual about horrors beyond mortal understanding for this whole conversation. It's so unlike you, really, but it just felt…
Oh, right.
It's this transformation, isn't it?
Of course it is. Maybe you can do something about that, but not now, not here.
But if you untransform here, you'll just be in the borrowed pajamas you were wearing at Umika's house, though…
You've got to cheer yourself up and take charge properly, like a Goddess. The three of them look like they desperately need it.
"Ummm… do you mind if I step out for a moment?"
"Not at all. The ladies' is out of there, then down the corridor and the last door on the right," Ishijima-san says, glad to have a simple question and a brief reprieve.
Unsurprisingly, the ladies' room is small and somewhat undermaintained; fortunately, though, it's somewhere you can be sure you won't be spied on if you're going to change.
And, you certainly need to, if you're right in thinking that the girl with the black Soul Gem's disposition is rubbing off on you. It shouldn't be a surprise, though - just using someone else's soul isn't exactly normal. Maybe Kyubey'd have tried to guilt-trip you for it, if you hadn't consigned it to use as raw materials?
You quickly think over the possibilities. Many of your precious girls are out in the world right now, and might well collapse if you started using their souls here while their bodies are more than 100 metres away. Then there's the rest of the Pleiades Saints, whom you barely know, so you can't say for sure what your rapport would be like, or if it'd even be possible.
Once you rule all of those out, there's just one left, though.
Mami-san, of course.
You untransform, close your eyes, and pray to your heart, thinking of that elegant, brave yet fragile girl who was the very first magical girl you met. Believing in justice, and holding that ideal close as the black Soul Gem dematerializes, and sinks back deep, deep into your soul.
[Kaname-san…]
[Mmm. It's me, Mami-san. You said you wanted to speak to Kyubey, didn't you?]
[…I very much would like some answers from him, after all he's done.]
[He's not here right now, but I caused him some trouble today, and I don't think he said his piece, so he might come after me again soon.]
[I see. Is everyone safe right now?]
[Mmm. I brought Michiru to the Pleiades Saints in this timeline, so almost everything was resolved right there and then. I'm at the police station right now, getting them to help out returning a lot of girls who lost their bodies.]
[You… you're telling the police about magical girls? But… I… why did I… never even think to try that?]
[That's a good question. Kyubey definitely helps with coverups, and I sort of think it has its paws in hero and magical girl anime, making sure we keep thinking about secret identities. There might be some other force at work too - it said something about misfortune happening to people who try to reveal the truth, and what happened in Yukuni City matches that…]r
[Yukuni City?]
[Mmm. I don't really know the details, but Mikuni-san said there was some kind of conflict between the locals. The police department there probably know more than I do.]
[Ah.] A pause, a sense of shimmering within her soul. [I can't help but notice you have a strange presence to you, Kaname-san… did you do something?]
[I was transformed until just a moment a go, but I was using someone else's Soul Gem to do it. It's probably her you can sense…]
[…I didn't think that was possible, and if a Soul Gem is a magical girl's…]
[Mmm. There's actually a few ways to do it, I think, but she offered to let me use her power that way. She just wants to rest, I think. She… she asked me to make a world where she doesn't get tricked by Kyubey.]
[I can't help but sympathize, after what I've learned, Kaname-san. It sounds as if…]
[Mmm. There was a time when I said those words to someone, too. But I don't regret becoming the Law of the Cycle.]
[…]
[When I did that, I never thought I'd be in this situation. But the truth is, I only ever saved magical girls in death. When it comes to their struggles in life, I could only throw them a little gift in the form of the wraiths, and that comes at the cost of human suffering, too.
But, from the very beginning, the very first world, when Kaname Madoka became a magical girl to save a single cat, it was Tomoe Mami I looked up to, who taught me how to be a magical girl, and showed me the justice I needed to believe in.
So, Mami-san… do you want to help me, here and now, this very last time? To shed light on all the wickedness, reveal all the secrets, and bring that justice to the world? Until being a magical girl is a truly good thing, and worth choosing?]
[Kaname-san… you mean it? You think that's really possible?] It feels as if her soul is shining brighter than before, and you catch a faint fragrance of rose tea. A blush, perhaps?
[I do. I mean… on the one hand, it's Kyubey we're fighting. But on the other hand, it's just Kyubey. They don't understand the first thing about the power they've given us. And this time, we won't just have magic and miracles on our side, but everyone who fought in the past so we could reach here, and everyone's hopes for the future.]
[You really make it sound like we can change this world… but, ah, may I ask you something, Kaname-san?]
[You can.]
[This is a different timeline, you said… so, does that mean…?]
[Mmm. There's a Tomoe Mami who's still alive in this world. It's like that for Sayaka, too, and Mikuni-san, and Michiru-san and all her friends. Sayaka-senpai said once it's sort of like being a guardian angel…]
[A guardian… angel? And, Sakura-san?]
[No, not for her. Come to think of it, I never asked her about angels. I wonder what she'd say?]
[Perhaps I'll ask her myself. Our disagreements seem so small now… yes, I'll help you. Maybe this is what we should've done all along?]
You gently open your eyes to golden light, streaming across the inside of the dingy room, and the sensation of a warm embrace. You can feel Mami's presence with you, ribbons wrapping around your body and a brilliant gleam at your neck.
You look to the mirror, savouring the feeling, and see yourself, dressed in a stylish pinstripe suit over a creamy-white blouse edged in gold, a yellow bolo tie around the collar fastened with a five-petaled flower pin - Mami's Soul Gem. Your hair is tied in twintails as usual, with yellow ribbons kind of like your own, but it seems much longer than you remember a few days ago; and your eyes have a golden sheen to them.
More than that, though, you feel confident - full of Mami's strong convictions and the ideals she wants to live up to, but backed up by your unshakeable decisiveness and determination. And the clothes make you feel a bit like Mama, too. You stride out of the room, an officer heading for the men's room standing aside with what might even have been awestruck deference as you head back to Ishijima-san's office with singular purpose.
Ⅲ.11 // would you give up who you are for that?
When you get back, the three police officers are drinking coffee and talking nervously, but fall silent as you enter. Umika and Sango are still working at a smaller desk in the corner, paperwork and labeled, faintly glowing Soul Gems scattered between them.
"I'm back now. Umika-san, do you have the list finished yet?"
"Just a couple more… Ayame Haori, Tsubomi Sakiko… I think that's everyone." She hands you several pages of paper documents in painstakingly neat handwriting, listing over a hundred names, along with Soul Gem colour, case number and location of origin.
"Thank you, Umika-san." You read across the list, looking for the first name from Asunaro. "Case #7, number 4… olive green, okay, this is Hinata-san." You scoop up a Soul Gem, and smile at her as you delicately set her down on Ishijima's desk.
"So, earlier, I explained what being a magical girl is like. It's terribly bleak, no matter what Kyubey says about it being for the sake of the universe. You can't stop being a magical girl, and you can't stop needing to hunt once you've become one. And, like I said, there's people who've made wishes with him knowing the truth about his contract, and even managed to cheat him for a time."
You smile, looking over the three of them, your eyes probably still glowing faintly in gold. "It's all but impossible for humanity to beat him. I'm the only one who's ever succeeded. You can think of him as a utilitarian materialist, really. He doesn't understand miracles or the sublime, only physical phenomena, and because of that, he has one huge weakness. He doesn't stand a chance against God."
"Um." Joujima puts up his hand nervously, looking like a confused kid in class. "Kaname-san, I don't understand how that helps us. D-do you just want us to go and pray to God?"
You shake your head, still smiling. "There's no need. I don't mind if people pray, but I'm not really jealous like that. Everyone deserves to be saved, after all…"
"Kaname-san, I don't know how to say this, but…" Ishijima says nervously, looking you straight in the eye. "…you can't just go around telling people you're God."
"It's not like that, though. I'm not saying that because I want people to worship me or anything. That's not the kind of faith I'm looking for at all. But… if God was actually standing in front of you, how would you know?"
"That's not very convincing. I don't mind working with you, but… if you want people to accept you as God, you'll have to prove it."
"Mmm. I thought you'd say something like that. I can't really just use my powers however I want. I mean… I think that right now, you're thinking of asking me if you can meet Remi-san again." You see her eyes go wide, hear her breath catch for a second. She's letting herself believe it might be possible.
"I want to answer that wish," you continue. "But the Remi-san you want to see - is she the Remi-san you remember, or a Remi-san who had the chance to grow up by your side? If she was the Remi-san you remember, would you be happy to spend time with her, even if she was still young enough to be your daughter? And if she was a Remi-san who'd had the chance to grow up, would you want your past changed so that you'd always been with her? Would you give up who you are now for that?"
You pause, and let her take in the conundrum, spend a few moments in thought.
"It's okay. Questions like that are difficult even for God. Shall we work out what we can do for Hinata-san here, first of all?"
Ten hours later, you're feeling a bit exhausted, yet both of you are very satisfied. Between your now-considerable charisma, unshakeable stubbornness and possibly a little of Umika's mind magic, you've built the confused and scared officers back up, given them a role, and completely torn up the status quo in Asunaro.
With Michiru's help, and a few more of the Aquarius-type familiars, you've pretty much repurposed the Pleiades Saints as a support group for magical girls across the city, addressed local grief shortages, and reunited thirty-one girls with worried yet overjoyed families.
The local police chief doesn't have the faintest idea what you did - he thinks you're some sort of important witness, you think, but he's impressed enough that he's given Ishijima-san considerable latitude to work on other cases across the region with other departments, and assigned Joujima and Yamada to her as subordinates. It's no independent division for magical girl cases, but it's a strong start.
There's still the matter of the sizeable number of Soul Gems the Soujus stole before arriving here. Your Umika managed to identify all of them, but the police database lists most of them as presumed dead, some as far afield as Sapporo, and it'll take Sango some considerable time to reconstruct bodies for them.
As you're on the way back to the station, eager to get home before dinner, though, you get a call from Niko.
"We found Hijiri Kanna. Come quickly - you need to see this." She sounds spooked - like something's gone terribly wrong. She sends you her location - an electrical transformer station on the east edge of town, not too far from the train station.
You rush over there as fast as you can manage, letting Mami take control of your body and leap from building to building far faster than the buses would carry you.
Your arrival displaces a murder of crows, that rise into the sky and circle around, cawing tauntingly - a few of their number having the telltale round masks of Liese-type familiars. You stay low as you enter, relying on Mami's ribbons to ground you amid the hum and buzz of high-voltage electricity, but the moment you step inside the low concrete building, you immediately notice what has Niko so worried:
Hijiri Kanna herself, bound and blindfolded in the corner of the machinery-filled room. She looks unconscious at first, but lying at her feet is a shattered Soul Gem.
You rush over, kneeling down to check the Gem - marked with a double hexagon, the design very similar to Niko's own. "She's…"
"No, it's… much, much weirder than that."
You turn to Hijiri's body and shuffle closer. Check her breathing. Check her pulse. "She's… alive? How?"
"I don't know. I'll keep her under and have Umika check on her. She should never have been a magical girl in the first place, but there's normally no way out of the contract. You've never heard of one, right?"
You pick up the broken Soul Gem and look more closely, squinting in the dim light for a moment, until your eyes begin to glow and reveal the fine details. It doesn't look like it was simply smashed with blunt force - more like… it broke open from the inside, and something flew out.
Her soul itself, returning to her body?
"Mmm. I've never seen something like this before."
"I'm just glad she's alive. You know me well already - even my wish, don't you?"
"I do."
"I was planning to just fade away, and let her take my place."
"I know. It's up to you, but… I think you made too much space for misunderstandings."
"So in the end, it's Kyubey's fault again."
"Mmm." You kneel down, and gather up the rest of the gem fragments. "Niko-san, do you mind if I take this with me?"
"I don't mind. Show it to your Umika, when you can."
As you gather it up, you notice something else, too, though - a crimson feather, its tip curled in on itself like the petal of a spider lily. Fluffy, more like down than a flight feather. You don't recognize it - Homura's feathers were always black - but even so, it reminds you of her. Or of someone trying to evoke her.
"I'm going back to Mitakihara for today. If anything bad happens, you can contact me right away, okay?" You tuck away the feather in your pocket. Niko doesn't need to know about it, and you're sure it'll be no use to Umika's analysis.
You find yourself dwelling on the subject for the whole duration of the train ride back to Mitakihara, turning the broken Gem and feather over and over in your hands, sitting alone, but with the gentle whisper of spirits in your heart.
It gets stranger, too, with every text that arrives from Niko - Hijiri's alive and well, she doesn't have any powers, she remembers being a magical girl and is furious with Niko, but is powerless to act on that, she doesn't remember who attacked her or how she ended up in the transformer station. And… she can't see Juubey, either.
You'd like to believe all this is the result of someone's wish. But the feather makes you think otherwise.
You wonder if it's a message.
Or, perhaps… a calling card.
"I'm back now. Umika-san, do you have the list finished yet?"
"Just a couple more… Ayame Haori, Tsubomi Sakiko… I think that's everyone." She hands you several pages of paper documents in painstakingly neat handwriting, listing over a hundred names, along with Soul Gem colour, case number and location of origin.
"Thank you, Umika-san." You read across the list, looking for the first name from Asunaro. "Case #7, number 4… olive green, okay, this is Hinata-san." You scoop up a Soul Gem, and smile at her as you delicately set her down on Ishijima's desk.
"So, earlier, I explained what being a magical girl is like. It's terribly bleak, no matter what Kyubey says about it being for the sake of the universe. You can't stop being a magical girl, and you can't stop needing to hunt once you've become one. And, like I said, there's people who've made wishes with him knowing the truth about his contract, and even managed to cheat him for a time."
You smile, looking over the three of them, your eyes probably still glowing faintly in gold. "It's all but impossible for humanity to beat him. I'm the only one who's ever succeeded. You can think of him as a utilitarian materialist, really. He doesn't understand miracles or the sublime, only physical phenomena, and because of that, he has one huge weakness. He doesn't stand a chance against God."
"Um." Joujima puts up his hand nervously, looking like a confused kid in class. "Kaname-san, I don't understand how that helps us. D-do you just want us to go and pray to God?"
You shake your head, still smiling. "There's no need. I don't mind if people pray, but I'm not really jealous like that. Everyone deserves to be saved, after all…"
"Kaname-san, I don't know how to say this, but…" Ishijima says nervously, looking you straight in the eye. "…you can't just go around telling people you're God."
"It's not like that, though. I'm not saying that because I want people to worship me or anything. That's not the kind of faith I'm looking for at all. But… if God was actually standing in front of you, how would you know?"
"That's not very convincing. I don't mind working with you, but… if you want people to accept you as God, you'll have to prove it."
"Mmm. I thought you'd say something like that. I can't really just use my powers however I want. I mean… I think that right now, you're thinking of asking me if you can meet Remi-san again." You see her eyes go wide, hear her breath catch for a second. She's letting herself believe it might be possible.
"I want to answer that wish," you continue. "But the Remi-san you want to see - is she the Remi-san you remember, or a Remi-san who had the chance to grow up by your side? If she was the Remi-san you remember, would you be happy to spend time with her, even if she was still young enough to be your daughter? And if she was a Remi-san who'd had the chance to grow up, would you want your past changed so that you'd always been with her? Would you give up who you are now for that?"
You pause, and let her take in the conundrum, spend a few moments in thought.
"It's okay. Questions like that are difficult even for God. Shall we work out what we can do for Hinata-san here, first of all?"
Ten hours later, you're feeling a bit exhausted, yet both of you are very satisfied. Between your now-considerable charisma, unshakeable stubbornness and possibly a little of Umika's mind magic, you've built the confused and scared officers back up, given them a role, and completely torn up the status quo in Asunaro.
With Michiru's help, and a few more of the Aquarius-type familiars, you've pretty much repurposed the Pleiades Saints as a support group for magical girls across the city, addressed local grief shortages, and reunited thirty-one girls with worried yet overjoyed families.
The local police chief doesn't have the faintest idea what you did - he thinks you're some sort of important witness, you think, but he's impressed enough that he's given Ishijima-san considerable latitude to work on other cases across the region with other departments, and assigned Joujima and Yamada to her as subordinates. It's no independent division for magical girl cases, but it's a strong start.
There's still the matter of the sizeable number of Soul Gems the Soujus stole before arriving here. Your Umika managed to identify all of them, but the police database lists most of them as presumed dead, some as far afield as Sapporo, and it'll take Sango some considerable time to reconstruct bodies for them.
As you're on the way back to the station, eager to get home before dinner, though, you get a call from Niko.
"We found Hijiri Kanna. Come quickly - you need to see this." She sounds spooked - like something's gone terribly wrong. She sends you her location - an electrical transformer station on the east edge of town, not too far from the train station.
You rush over there as fast as you can manage, letting Mami take control of your body and leap from building to building far faster than the buses would carry you.
Your arrival displaces a murder of crows, that rise into the sky and circle around, cawing tauntingly - a few of their number having the telltale round masks of Liese-type familiars. You stay low as you enter, relying on Mami's ribbons to ground you amid the hum and buzz of high-voltage electricity, but the moment you step inside the low concrete building, you immediately notice what has Niko so worried:
Hijiri Kanna herself, bound and blindfolded in the corner of the machinery-filled room. She looks unconscious at first, but lying at her feet is a shattered Soul Gem.
You rush over, kneeling down to check the Gem - marked with a double hexagon, the design very similar to Niko's own. "She's…"
"No, it's… much, much weirder than that."
You turn to Hijiri's body and shuffle closer. Check her breathing. Check her pulse. "She's… alive? How?"
"I don't know. I'll keep her under and have Umika check on her. She should never have been a magical girl in the first place, but there's normally no way out of the contract. You've never heard of one, right?"
You pick up the broken Soul Gem and look more closely, squinting in the dim light for a moment, until your eyes begin to glow and reveal the fine details. It doesn't look like it was simply smashed with blunt force - more like… it broke open from the inside, and something flew out.
Her soul itself, returning to her body?
"Mmm. I've never seen something like this before."
"I'm just glad she's alive. You know me well already - even my wish, don't you?"
"I do."
"I was planning to just fade away, and let her take my place."
"I know. It's up to you, but… I think you made too much space for misunderstandings."
"So in the end, it's Kyubey's fault again."
"Mmm." You kneel down, and gather up the rest of the gem fragments. "Niko-san, do you mind if I take this with me?"
"I don't mind. Show it to your Umika, when you can."
As you gather it up, you notice something else, too, though - a crimson feather, its tip curled in on itself like the petal of a spider lily. Fluffy, more like down than a flight feather. You don't recognize it - Homura's feathers were always black - but even so, it reminds you of her. Or of someone trying to evoke her.
"I'm going back to Mitakihara for today. If anything bad happens, you can contact me right away, okay?" You tuck away the feather in your pocket. Niko doesn't need to know about it, and you're sure it'll be no use to Umika's analysis.
You find yourself dwelling on the subject for the whole duration of the train ride back to Mitakihara, turning the broken Gem and feather over and over in your hands, sitting alone, but with the gentle whisper of spirits in your heart.
It gets stranger, too, with every text that arrives from Niko - Hijiri's alive and well, she doesn't have any powers, she remembers being a magical girl and is furious with Niko, but is powerless to act on that, she doesn't remember who attacked her or how she ended up in the transformer station. And… she can't see Juubey, either.
You'd like to believe all this is the result of someone's wish. But the feather makes you think otherwise.
You wonder if it's a message.
Or, perhaps… a calling card.
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
Spooky. Now who would do that...
I don't think something that strange will happen, but it might. Kyubey doesn't seem to realize how broken this world is at all and is just doing his usual thing, though...
And yeah, to be clear, even with the full power of the Law of the Cycle, Madoka would find it genuinely difficult to turn a magical girl back into a human without just winding back to the past and preventing the contract; it's also usually impossible for anyone else to do it without a wish, and wishes of that nature usually just wind back causality anyway. What's going on here is extremely abnormal!
damn, for a goddess, Madoka sure does suck at her job, if she contracts, she should word her wish in a way that let's be an all powerfull goddess without limits(maybe like the greek gods, where she could make and avatar to interact with the mortal world, while keeping the Law Of Cycles hidden and protected)
Ⅲ.12 // hmph! i don't need men anyway!
By the time you make it back home, it's already well into sunset, almost completely dark outside. You feel like you've been away for weeks, exhausted like you've barely slept. Which, you suppose, is technically true for a given subset of your subjective experience, but from the perspective of anyone else, you skipped school yesterday, ran off to another town, made some new friends and threw a party.
Well, it's probably for the best this way. You don't bother to knock, just let yourself in and take off your shoes.
"Welcome home!" you hear from the kitchen, and head over to say hi to Papa.
"I'm back, Papa," you reply with a smile, looking around for Mama - apparently she's working late again.
"Good evening, Mado-" he starts, looking up from chopping vegetables… and stopping short. "Wait, weren't you upstairs? Or…?"
"Mmm. I'm upstairs and down here. It's sort of like… Papa, you know the concept of 'emanation' in theology, right? Or it might be more like bunrei."
"…" He seems to stop, gears turning in his head. He's like that for several moments, until a pan on the stove starts to hiss, and he quickly rushes to pay attention to it like nothing had happened. "It's been a while since I've heard those words. Then… shall I cook for five tonight, Madoka?"
"Mmhm! I've been working hard today, so make enough for second helpings, please!"
"Okay!" He pauses in thought again. "Should I get the guest room ready again?"
"Don't worry about it," you reply casually, and head upstairs.
Madoka's already in her room, working on an assignment before dinner. "Oh! Nice suit! Is that- oh, it's one of Mami-san's!"
"Mmm. I thought I'd dress up for talking to the police, and the parents, you know?"
"Did it all go well?"
"Hmmm… it could be better, but it could be worse. Ishijima-san wants us to save her childhood friend before she'll do anything too crazy for us. I think I might've overwhelmed her a bit, ehihihi."
"You do look a bit intense, Madoka-chan. You've got the same kind of aura as Homura-chan used to, I think…"
You lean over her shoulder and take a peek at the assignment. "Mmm, thought it was this one. Do you remember all the answers?"
"Bits and pieces. You kept most of the memories, remember!"
"That's good. Do your best and figure them out on your own, okay?"
"That's not fair…" she complains with a mock-pout.
"Using memories from parallel universes to know all your test answers is what isn't fair, Madoka-chan. Using omniscience isn't very fair, either…"
"Oh, um, Kyouko said you were taking too long to show up, and told me to give you this." She hands you a little cloth pouch in a lurid neon green that looks like it came free with some energy drink or something. You can't rule out that she shoplifted it, but you've got more important things to worry about. "It's a Grief Seed, right? I didn't know what you wanted to do with this one, so I didn't touch it."
"Oh, the birdcage witch! I don't think this should change too much, so I'll just…" You pull the pouch open and watch Madoka take a look inside. "…oh! Do you want to do it?"
"I think I should try. It's the same thing either way, right, and I can do Grief Cubes just fine."
"Ehihi. Let's do it, then, and see if we remember anything different?"
You open the pouch a little more; she picks up the Grief Seed, clasping it tight in her hands. You watch strands of inky blackness spread down her fingers and up her arms like a poison in her veins, feel a pang in your heart. You smell whiskey, bad cologne and cigarettes, blood, hear the creak of a cage door.
Your vision blurs as you look to your bedside clock, the time reading ΠU:LL. Madoka closes her eyes, her hands tense…
You blink, once. She opens her hands in surprise. The Grief Seed is gone.
"I… think I need to sit down. Is it always that bad for you, Madoka-chan?" She sits on the bed, tugging your hand so as to have you sit beside her.
"Mmm… I think it depends on the witch. I mean, we're sort of disassembling the universe and putting it back together starting from the moment before the witch was born, right?"
"So, the longer ago it was, the more weird things get? Or maybe it's more like, the size of the shift in karma?"
"It's something like that, but it probably also depends if we know them in this world, and if we recognize the images… that kind of thing."
Your hand finds hers, and squeezes it gently. "You're going to be okay, right?"
"Mmm, I think so." She leans over and kisses your cheek. "Ehihihi~ That's for yesterday."
You pull her close and kiss her forehead. It just feels right - although, you'll have a pretty awkward time of it if anyone sees you doing this.
"So, remember anything?" she asks conspiratorially, leaning against your shoulder.
"Nothing seems different. We're still here together, I still remember spending the whole day with the police, too. What about you?"
"Oh, well… Saotome-sensei was acting a bit weird. Not very weird, more like… you remember she broke up with her boyfriend a few days ago, right? She was all like, 'hmph! I don't need men anyway!'" kind of thing…
"You think Mama said something to her?"
"I don't think so. I mean, why would that change because a witch was erased?"
"Hmmm- oh! Um… Madoka-chan, she's… she's gone. She's not here."
"W-well, we erased the birdcage witch, didn't we? So of course the Grief Seed is-"
"No, that's what I mean. The witch was erased, so Sonomi-san's soul should be here, inside me! She's not here!"
"Uhm…" Madoka blushes a little, one finger on the corner of her mouth. "So… she ran away while you were asleep one night, maybe?"
"I… guess that could've… no, wait, she… oh! I realized she was there back when I was at Oriko's house, but… she'd already slipped away by then. Before I even… so, maybe she escaped during the night, really early on Sunday morning, before Homura-chan came here…?"
"Huh, she could've done. But then, where did she go? Did she show up at that bar Mama and Saotome-sensei go to?"
"But then… no, wait, Mama probably left earlier than sensei, because she got home while we were outside looking at the moon and Mami-san got hurt…"
"So maybe she's… um, we should probably ask Mama about this."
Unfortunately, she doesn't make it home in time for dinner. It's just you two - you having changed back out of Mami's suit into more normal clothes; Papa, and a very rambunctious Tatsuya who seems delighted to suddenly have two big sisters.
"Two Madokas! Two Madokas!" he yells triumphantly, waving his little knife and fork in the air and doing anything besides settling down to have dinner. He's using a weird counter, too - one for iterations of something, which would work better for Homura. If it's not the one for people, you'd prefer the one for round things or yen, at least.
"Should I have stayed upstairs?" you ask, sitting down at the extra place set beside Madoka.
"There's no need for that. Come here, Tatsuya…"
It takes him a little, but soon, Tatsuya's happily enjoying his own dinner, and you have a chance to chat over piping hot bowls of Papa's homemade stew.
"You know, now I'm seeing you two next to each other, you don't look quite alike. Did you decide to grow your hair out, Madoka?"
"Mmm… it's less that I decided," you answer, "and more like it just started growing this fast! It was short three days ago, I promise!" You've got to be careful not to get it in the broth - you're not used to having hair this long!
"She's a lot more magic than I am, so things like that happen. Her eyes start glowing as well, sometimes," explains Madoka, before turning her full attention to the stew.
"Yeah, Ishijima-san… um, she's a policewoman in Asunaro I was helping out with some things… she was a bit spooked when she first saw it. I felt really bad for her!"
"You do leave quite an impression in that suit. Where did you get it - more magic?"
"Mmmhm! Mami-san made it for me."
"Oh, apparently the books I ordered are arriving tomorrow. The ones on Diviners by Satomi Tasuke, remember?"
"Mmmm, mnn!" you just nod, your mouth full of tasty vegetables.
"I must admit I'm feeling a little trepidation about actually reading them, knowing what I know; but needs must. How was your day, Madoka?"
You've got to be impressed at how well Papa seems to be taking this 'two Madokas' thing.
Fortunately, Madoka answers while you're emptying your mouth. "School wasn't as weird today. Actually, it was so normal that it was weird. Saotome-sensei's examples in English class were…"
"…they weren't about boyfriends, or getting married?" you fill in for her, just in time.
"Mhm, mhm! And Kyouko calmed down a lot too…"
"…that's because I called her to apologize." You're pretty sure she hasn't actually forgiven you yet.
"Yaeko's group were really quiet… though, actually, um, maybe they were just giving each other the silent treatment?"
"Don't worry about Yaeko. I'm sure they'll be okay." You don't really think helping them figure out whatever happened to them after Gretchen kissed them is high on your list of priorities.
"What about that Japanese history test you said you had?" Papa asks, focusing in on the mundane questions.
"92," Madoka replies with a smile. "I got all the stuff about Taira no Masakado's rebellion right, but messed up some of the details about esoteric Buddhism."
"Oh, that one… I think I only got 78 on that the first time around. I completely botched some of the economics questions." If you took it now, you'd get full marks, although you're fairly sure one of the answers the teacher wanted is actually incorrect. You only found that one out by becoming omniscient, though.
"What about you, Madoka? You said you were helping the police, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I was in Asunaro overnight with an old friend of Mami-san, but we got attacked by a traveling Soul Gem thief. We managed to get all the Soul Gems she'd stolen, but there were 112 of them, and a bunch of them were girls from the Kansai region, so we had to get the police involved and everything."
"I… see." Papa takes a moment to contemplate the situation over his food. "If… it's a Soul Gem thief, wouldn't that not be a thief, but a kidnapper?"
"Mhm! The police weren't sure about that either. I don't know how it's going to go down on file… one of us might have to go back personally and help out more. It's going to take a long time to get everyone home…"
"That's if none of them decide they want to go to Kamihama, too," Madoka reminds you.
"Hmm… I'd prefer if they stayed in Asunaro for a while. From what Sayaka-senpai remembered, the Magius's system works… but we never found out how, or what they're using to power it. I wish I could remember…"
"Are crimes like that something that happens often, then?"
You shake your head. "I don't think so. There's no real reason to steal Soul Gems, and it's actually really dangerous to gather a lot in one place. When it comes to magical girl crimes, it's mostly just fights over resource shortages…"
At that moment, you're interrupted by Tatsuya, who's finished his food and started playing around again.
"Oh, dear. Shall I take him upstairs?"
"Before that…" Both of you hold out your almost-empty bowls. "Seconds, please!"
It's past ten in the evening when Mama finally gets home from work. Madoka said she'd go to bed after finishing her assignment, but she's probably still awake chatting with Sayaka. And you're in the living room, reading one of Papa's books on comparative theology while you fill in Saki from the Pleiades Saints on the police stuff.
"Welcome home, Mama," you call as she arrives, bringing her bowl of stew with her into the living room and sitting down on the couch beside you.
"I'm finally home… um, Madoka, did your hair grow?"
"Mmm. I've been using lots of magic, and I think that's why. I'm not a magical girl still, don't worry - it's sort of complicated to explain. Oh, I'm also upstairs, but I think I might already be in bed up there."
"…huh?"
"Oh, um… there's a lot of magical girl stuff I need to do, but I don't want to not be going to school, so I made an extra me. She's not as magical, though, and she doesn't know spoilers for the next month's test questions, ehihi~"
"You can do that? How many times have I wished I could be in two places at once, and you just go and do it. Oh, Madoka…" She takes a seat beside you, having a taste of the stew. "Oh, it's delicious as usual…"
"Mmm! I was really hungry, though, so Papa had to make sure we left some for you…"
"Being in two places at once means you have to eat twice as much food, huh."
"Oh, right! Um, Madoka said Saotome-sensei was acting weird in class. Have you heard from her?"
"She invited me out drinking on Friday, and said she had a surprise for me, but other than that, no…"
"Then… um, do you know the name, 'Makina Sonomi', Mama?"
She blinks a few times, caught unawares by old memories. "Sonomi? She was my junior in high school and university. She used to ride with me too, back then…"
"So that's why I remembered her name in particular! Um… when did you last see her?"
"About four years ago. She used to go drinking with Kazuko and I, but she just suddenly stopped showing up one day. The police couldn't… no. She didn't."
"Um… when you knew her in high school, did she often disappear late at night, or break into places she shouldn't be?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
"There were a few times. More than a few times, really. I wondered if she'd got mixed up in something shady, like drug trafficking, or compensated dating…"
"I don't think it's that. I think she was already a magical girl when you met her, and she kept fighting for all that time, without telling anyone."
"Tch. I told her, whatever she was having trouble with, I'd help her. I'd have believed her. So why'd she have to…" Mama's slipping into coarser language, a slight roughness to her 'r' sounds as if recalling her yankee days.
She eats for a while, quiet and thoughtful as you look back to your book. You don't know how she'll react to you telling her, really… but she'll find out soon enough regardless.
"Mama, I think I know what Saotome-san's surprise is…"
"Oh, that! She was probably drinking when she texted me. I bet it's just a new boyfriend…"
"Um… no, it is pretty amazing. You see, I sort of might've, um… brought Sonomi-san back from the dead."
Oh, dear. You've never seen Mama make some of those expressions before. Pained, blushing, even a little frightened. Things must've been more complicated than she let on…
"W-well, it's not quite from the dead, exactly. It's more like…"
She closes her eyes, and puts a finger to her lips. Then, speaks much more gently, her eyes a little tearful. "I think I get it. She couldn't keep up with the hunting any longer, and her Soul Gem turned dark. So, you're saying you found her witch and you… purified her, or turned her back?"
"Mmm. That's what happened… only, well, it's more like I changed it so she never became a witch to begin with- um. There's… something that I can show you that'll explain everything, I think. Not physically, it's like… it's a scary and bittersweet memory. I… always wanted to show it to you and Papa, but I never could until now."
"And, do you want to show us right now?"
"I'd like that, Mama."
It's not long before the three of you have gathered up in the living room, Mama's dinner finished and the kitchen tidied away. Madoka's curled up in bed, but she already knows about this, so there's no need to bring her - and, of course, you couldn't show Tatsuya something so scary.
You've moved to a chair opposite the couch, where Mama and Papa are sitting together nervously, and you're wearing the black Soul Gem on your finger, filtering through the countless records stored in your soul for one, very special memory.
"I've found it, I think. Before we go on, is it okay if I use magic to affect your perception? It should be sort of like being in virtual reality, or in a dream," you ask, wanting to be absolutely sure they're prepared.
They look to each other, sharing some unspoken emotion, then nod. "If it's something that's important to what you're doing, then it's okay. Whatever it is, we're happy to see it."
"Then… I'm going to start." What you're doing is… probably technically breaking every rule of causality and karma that exists, but you'd be sad if you didn't get to do it, so it's probably okay.
You close your eyes, clasp your hands together, reach out for the magic you've been given… and await the sound of the storm.
Well, it's probably for the best this way. You don't bother to knock, just let yourself in and take off your shoes.
"Welcome home!" you hear from the kitchen, and head over to say hi to Papa.
"I'm back, Papa," you reply with a smile, looking around for Mama - apparently she's working late again.
"Good evening, Mado-" he starts, looking up from chopping vegetables… and stopping short. "Wait, weren't you upstairs? Or…?"
"Mmm. I'm upstairs and down here. It's sort of like… Papa, you know the concept of 'emanation' in theology, right? Or it might be more like bunrei."
"…" He seems to stop, gears turning in his head. He's like that for several moments, until a pan on the stove starts to hiss, and he quickly rushes to pay attention to it like nothing had happened. "It's been a while since I've heard those words. Then… shall I cook for five tonight, Madoka?"
"Mmhm! I've been working hard today, so make enough for second helpings, please!"
"Okay!" He pauses in thought again. "Should I get the guest room ready again?"
"Don't worry about it," you reply casually, and head upstairs.
Madoka's already in her room, working on an assignment before dinner. "Oh! Nice suit! Is that- oh, it's one of Mami-san's!"
"Mmm. I thought I'd dress up for talking to the police, and the parents, you know?"
"Did it all go well?"
"Hmmm… it could be better, but it could be worse. Ishijima-san wants us to save her childhood friend before she'll do anything too crazy for us. I think I might've overwhelmed her a bit, ehihihi."
"You do look a bit intense, Madoka-chan. You've got the same kind of aura as Homura-chan used to, I think…"
You lean over her shoulder and take a peek at the assignment. "Mmm, thought it was this one. Do you remember all the answers?"
"Bits and pieces. You kept most of the memories, remember!"
"That's good. Do your best and figure them out on your own, okay?"
"That's not fair…" she complains with a mock-pout.
"Using memories from parallel universes to know all your test answers is what isn't fair, Madoka-chan. Using omniscience isn't very fair, either…"
"Oh, um, Kyouko said you were taking too long to show up, and told me to give you this." She hands you a little cloth pouch in a lurid neon green that looks like it came free with some energy drink or something. You can't rule out that she shoplifted it, but you've got more important things to worry about. "It's a Grief Seed, right? I didn't know what you wanted to do with this one, so I didn't touch it."
"Oh, the birdcage witch! I don't think this should change too much, so I'll just…" You pull the pouch open and watch Madoka take a look inside. "…oh! Do you want to do it?"
"I think I should try. It's the same thing either way, right, and I can do Grief Cubes just fine."
"Ehihi. Let's do it, then, and see if we remember anything different?"
You open the pouch a little more; she picks up the Grief Seed, clasping it tight in her hands. You watch strands of inky blackness spread down her fingers and up her arms like a poison in her veins, feel a pang in your heart. You smell whiskey, bad cologne and cigarettes, blood, hear the creak of a cage door.
Your vision blurs as you look to your bedside clock, the time reading ΠU:LL. Madoka closes her eyes, her hands tense…
You blink, once. She opens her hands in surprise. The Grief Seed is gone.
"I… think I need to sit down. Is it always that bad for you, Madoka-chan?" She sits on the bed, tugging your hand so as to have you sit beside her.
"Mmm… I think it depends on the witch. I mean, we're sort of disassembling the universe and putting it back together starting from the moment before the witch was born, right?"
"So, the longer ago it was, the more weird things get? Or maybe it's more like, the size of the shift in karma?"
"It's something like that, but it probably also depends if we know them in this world, and if we recognize the images… that kind of thing."
Your hand finds hers, and squeezes it gently. "You're going to be okay, right?"
"Mmm, I think so." She leans over and kisses your cheek. "Ehihihi~ That's for yesterday."
You pull her close and kiss her forehead. It just feels right - although, you'll have a pretty awkward time of it if anyone sees you doing this.
"So, remember anything?" she asks conspiratorially, leaning against your shoulder.
"Nothing seems different. We're still here together, I still remember spending the whole day with the police, too. What about you?"
"Oh, well… Saotome-sensei was acting a bit weird. Not very weird, more like… you remember she broke up with her boyfriend a few days ago, right? She was all like, 'hmph! I don't need men anyway!'" kind of thing…
"You think Mama said something to her?"
"I don't think so. I mean, why would that change because a witch was erased?"
"Hmmm- oh! Um… Madoka-chan, she's… she's gone. She's not here."
"W-well, we erased the birdcage witch, didn't we? So of course the Grief Seed is-"
"No, that's what I mean. The witch was erased, so Sonomi-san's soul should be here, inside me! She's not here!"
"Uhm…" Madoka blushes a little, one finger on the corner of her mouth. "So… she ran away while you were asleep one night, maybe?"
"I… guess that could've… no, wait, she… oh! I realized she was there back when I was at Oriko's house, but… she'd already slipped away by then. Before I even… so, maybe she escaped during the night, really early on Sunday morning, before Homura-chan came here…?"
"Huh, she could've done. But then, where did she go? Did she show up at that bar Mama and Saotome-sensei go to?"
"But then… no, wait, Mama probably left earlier than sensei, because she got home while we were outside looking at the moon and Mami-san got hurt…"
"So maybe she's… um, we should probably ask Mama about this."
Unfortunately, she doesn't make it home in time for dinner. It's just you two - you having changed back out of Mami's suit into more normal clothes; Papa, and a very rambunctious Tatsuya who seems delighted to suddenly have two big sisters.
"Two Madokas! Two Madokas!" he yells triumphantly, waving his little knife and fork in the air and doing anything besides settling down to have dinner. He's using a weird counter, too - one for iterations of something, which would work better for Homura. If it's not the one for people, you'd prefer the one for round things or yen, at least.
"Should I have stayed upstairs?" you ask, sitting down at the extra place set beside Madoka.
"There's no need for that. Come here, Tatsuya…"
It takes him a little, but soon, Tatsuya's happily enjoying his own dinner, and you have a chance to chat over piping hot bowls of Papa's homemade stew.
"You know, now I'm seeing you two next to each other, you don't look quite alike. Did you decide to grow your hair out, Madoka?"
"Mmm… it's less that I decided," you answer, "and more like it just started growing this fast! It was short three days ago, I promise!" You've got to be careful not to get it in the broth - you're not used to having hair this long!
"She's a lot more magic than I am, so things like that happen. Her eyes start glowing as well, sometimes," explains Madoka, before turning her full attention to the stew.
"Yeah, Ishijima-san… um, she's a policewoman in Asunaro I was helping out with some things… she was a bit spooked when she first saw it. I felt really bad for her!"
"You do leave quite an impression in that suit. Where did you get it - more magic?"
"Mmmhm! Mami-san made it for me."
"Oh, apparently the books I ordered are arriving tomorrow. The ones on Diviners by Satomi Tasuke, remember?"
"Mmmm, mnn!" you just nod, your mouth full of tasty vegetables.
"I must admit I'm feeling a little trepidation about actually reading them, knowing what I know; but needs must. How was your day, Madoka?"
You've got to be impressed at how well Papa seems to be taking this 'two Madokas' thing.
Fortunately, Madoka answers while you're emptying your mouth. "School wasn't as weird today. Actually, it was so normal that it was weird. Saotome-sensei's examples in English class were…"
"…they weren't about boyfriends, or getting married?" you fill in for her, just in time.
"Mhm, mhm! And Kyouko calmed down a lot too…"
"…that's because I called her to apologize." You're pretty sure she hasn't actually forgiven you yet.
"Yaeko's group were really quiet… though, actually, um, maybe they were just giving each other the silent treatment?"
"Don't worry about Yaeko. I'm sure they'll be okay." You don't really think helping them figure out whatever happened to them after Gretchen kissed them is high on your list of priorities.
"What about that Japanese history test you said you had?" Papa asks, focusing in on the mundane questions.
"92," Madoka replies with a smile. "I got all the stuff about Taira no Masakado's rebellion right, but messed up some of the details about esoteric Buddhism."
"Oh, that one… I think I only got 78 on that the first time around. I completely botched some of the economics questions." If you took it now, you'd get full marks, although you're fairly sure one of the answers the teacher wanted is actually incorrect. You only found that one out by becoming omniscient, though.
"What about you, Madoka? You said you were helping the police, didn't you?"
"Yeah. I was in Asunaro overnight with an old friend of Mami-san, but we got attacked by a traveling Soul Gem thief. We managed to get all the Soul Gems she'd stolen, but there were 112 of them, and a bunch of them were girls from the Kansai region, so we had to get the police involved and everything."
"I… see." Papa takes a moment to contemplate the situation over his food. "If… it's a Soul Gem thief, wouldn't that not be a thief, but a kidnapper?"
"Mhm! The police weren't sure about that either. I don't know how it's going to go down on file… one of us might have to go back personally and help out more. It's going to take a long time to get everyone home…"
"That's if none of them decide they want to go to Kamihama, too," Madoka reminds you.
"Hmm… I'd prefer if they stayed in Asunaro for a while. From what Sayaka-senpai remembered, the Magius's system works… but we never found out how, or what they're using to power it. I wish I could remember…"
"Are crimes like that something that happens often, then?"
You shake your head. "I don't think so. There's no real reason to steal Soul Gems, and it's actually really dangerous to gather a lot in one place. When it comes to magical girl crimes, it's mostly just fights over resource shortages…"
At that moment, you're interrupted by Tatsuya, who's finished his food and started playing around again.
"Oh, dear. Shall I take him upstairs?"
"Before that…" Both of you hold out your almost-empty bowls. "Seconds, please!"
It's past ten in the evening when Mama finally gets home from work. Madoka said she'd go to bed after finishing her assignment, but she's probably still awake chatting with Sayaka. And you're in the living room, reading one of Papa's books on comparative theology while you fill in Saki from the Pleiades Saints on the police stuff.
"Welcome home, Mama," you call as she arrives, bringing her bowl of stew with her into the living room and sitting down on the couch beside you.
"I'm finally home… um, Madoka, did your hair grow?"
"Mmm. I've been using lots of magic, and I think that's why. I'm not a magical girl still, don't worry - it's sort of complicated to explain. Oh, I'm also upstairs, but I think I might already be in bed up there."
"…huh?"
"Oh, um… there's a lot of magical girl stuff I need to do, but I don't want to not be going to school, so I made an extra me. She's not as magical, though, and she doesn't know spoilers for the next month's test questions, ehihi~"
"You can do that? How many times have I wished I could be in two places at once, and you just go and do it. Oh, Madoka…" She takes a seat beside you, having a taste of the stew. "Oh, it's delicious as usual…"
"Mmm! I was really hungry, though, so Papa had to make sure we left some for you…"
"Being in two places at once means you have to eat twice as much food, huh."
"Oh, right! Um, Madoka said Saotome-sensei was acting weird in class. Have you heard from her?"
"She invited me out drinking on Friday, and said she had a surprise for me, but other than that, no…"
"Then… um, do you know the name, 'Makina Sonomi', Mama?"
She blinks a few times, caught unawares by old memories. "Sonomi? She was my junior in high school and university. She used to ride with me too, back then…"
"So that's why I remembered her name in particular! Um… when did you last see her?"
"About four years ago. She used to go drinking with Kazuko and I, but she just suddenly stopped showing up one day. The police couldn't… no. She didn't."
"Um… when you knew her in high school, did she often disappear late at night, or break into places she shouldn't be?" you ask, already knowing the answer.
"There were a few times. More than a few times, really. I wondered if she'd got mixed up in something shady, like drug trafficking, or compensated dating…"
"I don't think it's that. I think she was already a magical girl when you met her, and she kept fighting for all that time, without telling anyone."
"Tch. I told her, whatever she was having trouble with, I'd help her. I'd have believed her. So why'd she have to…" Mama's slipping into coarser language, a slight roughness to her 'r' sounds as if recalling her yankee days.
She eats for a while, quiet and thoughtful as you look back to your book. You don't know how she'll react to you telling her, really… but she'll find out soon enough regardless.
"Mama, I think I know what Saotome-san's surprise is…"
"Oh, that! She was probably drinking when she texted me. I bet it's just a new boyfriend…"
"Um… no, it is pretty amazing. You see, I sort of might've, um… brought Sonomi-san back from the dead."
Oh, dear. You've never seen Mama make some of those expressions before. Pained, blushing, even a little frightened. Things must've been more complicated than she let on…
"W-well, it's not quite from the dead, exactly. It's more like…"
She closes her eyes, and puts a finger to her lips. Then, speaks much more gently, her eyes a little tearful. "I think I get it. She couldn't keep up with the hunting any longer, and her Soul Gem turned dark. So, you're saying you found her witch and you… purified her, or turned her back?"
"Mmm. That's what happened… only, well, it's more like I changed it so she never became a witch to begin with- um. There's… something that I can show you that'll explain everything, I think. Not physically, it's like… it's a scary and bittersweet memory. I… always wanted to show it to you and Papa, but I never could until now."
"And, do you want to show us right now?"
"I'd like that, Mama."
It's not long before the three of you have gathered up in the living room, Mama's dinner finished and the kitchen tidied away. Madoka's curled up in bed, but she already knows about this, so there's no need to bring her - and, of course, you couldn't show Tatsuya something so scary.
You've moved to a chair opposite the couch, where Mama and Papa are sitting together nervously, and you're wearing the black Soul Gem on your finger, filtering through the countless records stored in your soul for one, very special memory.
"I've found it, I think. Before we go on, is it okay if I use magic to affect your perception? It should be sort of like being in virtual reality, or in a dream," you ask, wanting to be absolutely sure they're prepared.
They look to each other, sharing some unspoken emotion, then nod. "If it's something that's important to what you're doing, then it's okay. Whatever it is, we're happy to see it."
"Then… I'm going to start." What you're doing is… probably technically breaking every rule of causality and karma that exists, but you'd be sad if you didn't get to do it, so it's probably okay.
You close your eyes, clasp your hands together, reach out for the magic you've been given… and await the sound of the storm.
a little on madokami and cheating
I wouldn't be so harsh on her. She did make her wish in extreme circumstances under severe emotional duress and it still achieved more or less everything she envisioned, which is more than can be said for really a lot of wishes. It's less that she sucks for not being able to do something that's categorically impossible, and more that because her wish messes with causality leaving no evidence behind, Madokami's default way for dealing with problems as a 'magical girl' is to mess with causality, leaving no evidence behind. You can think of it as her wish magic - a super-powerful wish magic that does more or less everything, but has inherent limitations because an uncaused cause external to the universe interfering in causality is inherently destabilizing under most circumstances.
Now, she could, absolutely, cheat around that restriction if not doing so would leave magical girls crying, and in fact, is doing so quite heavily right now, just to exist. But certain feats, like taking a soul out of a Soul Gem and putting it back into its owner's body, or resurrecting the dead, are most easily achieved by amending causality to prevent the thing from happening in the first place, using Madoka's magic, and she doesn't have the records of any magical girl who could do it a different way right now, so she's a bit baffled that something like that was achieved to begin with.
Off the record, a certain queen of France could do it, but Madoka doesn't have any recollection of the particulars of something that happened in medieval France right now. I'm going to say Hiiragi Nemu could attempt to do things like that too, but it might not work out so well.
There'll be a bit more about how Madokami works in the next post, by the way, but for now, I'll just say that because of the particular parameters of her wish, she can theoretically cheat around a lot of her own restrictions and basically make the universe behave how she wants through the somewhat petulant, self-serving justification of 'I'll cry if I don't get to do this'. She's a good, honest, sincere girl, though, who's never faked her tears (except in school play), so she (fortunately?) isn't the sort of person who'd exploit this to be a huge cosmic brat.
- Location
- An Unspecified Corner
Hm. I... ship it?
New reader, just want to say that this... quest? fic? Not sure what it technically qualifies as - is awesome and I can't imagine the work that it would take to think about a separate timeline with all the causality manipulation. Thank you very much for this excellent work.
New reader, just want to say that this... quest? fic? Not sure what it technically qualifies as - is awesome and I can't imagine the work that it would take to think about a separate timeline with all the causality manipulation. Thank you very much for this excellent work.
idk man, still souds like a skill issue to me, if i had enough karma to rewrite an entire multiverse and experience apotheosis, i would simply not suck at it:
Kind of a jerk way to dismiss the struggles of a prepubescent God whose doing the best they can.idk man, still souds like a skill issue to me, if i had enough karma to rewrite an entire multiverse and experience apotheosis, i would simply not suck at it:
Just go ahead and ignore the fact that she's doing her best to not let the power get to her head and is still trying to help people instead of going on a power trip like you just said.
Ⅲ.13 // our daughter is really amazing
"This is the Mitakihara Municipal Office. An evacuation order has been given…" Public announcements echo over the sound system in the hastily repurposed community centre as bedraggled and windswept families file in from across the neighbourhood. Outside, trees bend back and forth, leaves and entire branches being torn off by the strong wind. In the distance, the storm clouds churn and swirl over the ocean, and you know, somewhere out there, Homura is waiting for it to begin.
Your family's just sitting along with the others, on a mat laid out and allocated for them. Mama and Papa from back then are doing their best to stay calm for Tatsuya, of course, leaving Madoka to sit, deep in thought.
"Is this a sleepover? Are we camping?" Tatsuya asks, not really understanding the situation.
"That's right. We're all camping here tonight!"
{This is…} It's Papa's voice, but different from the one in the memory. The real one, viewing the memory with you.
{This is the morning following April 30th, 20×●. Right now, it's midnight on the evening of Walpurgisnacht, on the Brocken in Germany.} you reply. {This is the 108th iteration, by the way - um, you could call it a maha-kalpa, but I think that's a bit violent, and it sort of mixes things up a bit, too. It's not strictly wrong, though- um... that part will make sense later.}
{Is the city going to be okay?} asks your mother, as the lights flicker a little.
{Mmm. In a sense, anyway, this time. Well, this is the last maha-kalpa that will be experienced by this lost trichilocosm, but rather than me explaining it, it's best you see for yourself.}
Time passes, in the way of a dream - without waiting, it's simply clear that it's a little later. The light outside is slightly brighter, the storm closer…
The building shakes, and the lights almost go out entirely. Madoka gets to her feet and turns away, clenching her hands.
"What's wrong, Madoka?" asks Mama hurriedly.
"I-I need to use the bathroom." It's embarrassing, really. That you couldn't be honest even in this loop. She leaves, and the memory follows her, out to a gallery looking out on the storm, where Kyubey's waiting atop a railing. Branches are hurled past, the trunks of the trees outside creaking and bending.
{Can you see him?}
{That's Kyubey? He certainly has a disarming look to him.} comments Papa.
{I definitely wouldn't trust him.} Mama's got that yankee voice again. You can imagine her clobbering him with a baseball bat, if she could see him for real.
<Is it true that Homura can win by herself?>
<Would you believe my words if I told you?> Neither of their mouths are moving, a stark contrast to the raging tempest outside.
<By now, there's no point in words. Go and see with your own eyes just how far Akemi Homura can get against the Walpurgisnacht.>
<Why does she push herself so hard to fight?>
<Because she hasn't abandoned hope yet. If it comes to that, I'm sure she'll even reduce this timeline to nothing like the others, and continue to fight. She'll just continue to repeat this meaningless sequence.
It's no longer possible for her to stop, or to give up. The moment she allows herself to believe that everything was pointless and Madoka's fate can never be changed, Akemi Homura will succumb to despair and become a Grief Seed. She knows this too - which is why she doesn't have a choice. She has to keep fighting, even if she has no chance of winning.>
<So you're saying as long as she continues to hope, she can't be saved?>
<That's right. Just like every other magical girl throughout history. Madoka, you watched it with me, didn't you?>
Madoka turns away from Kyubey and begins to sob, those painful memories returning. <But, but…>
{Out there, a girl who's important to me is fighting against the storm. She's doing everything in her power to stop it from reaching here - she stole weapons from the SDF, tried her best to recruit every magical girl she could… but Kyubey made sure she had to face it alone. So there'd be no choice but for me to go and save her.}
{Did you?}
{Mmm. I saved her, like it wanted me to. But I didn't give it what it wanted.}
{I'm gonna clobber that little rat.}
{You won't be able to see it. But… it's okay. I have some ideas for how to beat it this time.}
"But…" Madoka turns away, heading resolutely for the exit, beginning to rush down a set of steps. And is caught, Mama's hand around her wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Mom…"
"I have to go save my friend-"
"Leave that to the firefighters. We civilians have to stay put." You'd almost never seen her this fierce before.
"It has to be me!"
And then she slaps Madoka, and you can still feel the sting, a little, even now. You should've been more honest from the beginning. Why do magical girls never tell the truth to the people who care about them?
{I'm sorry, Mama. I… even after Sayaka died, and Mami and Kyouko too, I still couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth. I wanted to make amends for that, now that I have the chance in this world.}
{You weren't joking when you said it was going to be painful… I can't believe I slapped you.}
{It's okay. This world isn't on a path to tragedy like that one. This time, I won't accept an answer that needs any sacrifices. Not even me.}
"You're not the only person in this world!" she yells. "Do you even know how much the people around you-"
"I know." Madoka answers, interrupting her with a hand to her cheek, her mind made up. "I really do understand."
Mama's staring at her. Judging her. Making up her mind.
"I love you too, Mom. Dad, too. I know how much you all care about me. I know I need to value my own life.
But this is different. It's because you're all so important to me that I have to protect you. That's exactly why… there's somewhere I have to be right now!"
"And you can't tell me what this is about?"
Madoka shakes her head. You know you were absolutely convinced you couldn't, back then… but you don't remember why. Even after Sayaka's funeral, you couldn't tell anyone. Not Mama, not Kyousuke, not Hitomi…
"Take me with you, then."
"I can't. Stay with Papa and Tatsuya. Don't make them worry about you."
You can see the Mama from the memory wavering, even as she knows you won't come back from this.
"You said I grew up to be a good girl, right? That I don't tell lies, and I don't do bad things. Do you still believe that? Will you trust that what I'm doing is right?"
{I told Homura-chan once that I'd never have the courage to do something like this. I really underestimated myself…}
{Nobody does, until the time comes that they have to, I think.} answers Papa.
Mama is firmer. {Nobody should have to.}
The Mama in the memory reaches out… but second-guesses herself. "Are you certain you're not screwing up here? You're not being misled by anyone's lies?"
"Mm." Madoka nods. And receives a slap on the back, pushing her onward down the steps. "Thank you, Mama."
She runs. Through the fierce storm, past shattered trees, downed signs, overturned cars. Past a parade of clowns and green elephants, bells ringing louder than the howling wind. Past uprooted buildings, the wreckage warped into the roots of a vast concrete tree. And inside she goes, drawn by an instinct for her route, for her destination.
It's not a labyrinth, but it's very like one - the inside of the tree eerily calm, patterned in monochrome. She ascends, turning, rushing, and exits high atop the carnage, to where a dark-haired magical girl lies bleeding, her leg trapped under rubble.
Kyubey's waiting, of course.
And in the distance, the witch hangs upside-down from her giant gear, wimple and veil blowing in the wind, skyscrapers whipping around her and tearing apart into clouds of debris.
{So that's a witch's real form. She looks… almost like a collage, like she's been pasted onto the world.}
{Mmm. That's Walpurgisnacht. She's made up of hundreds of souls, maybe thousands, gathered up over the ages. People used to say she was the strongest witch of all. She doesn't have a labyrinth, and she doesn't really have any one person's individual characteristics, so she meshes better with the real world than most of them.}
{Most of them are worse?}
{Mmm. Not stronger, but weirder.}
{Is this going to happen again…?}
{We'll stop it. We're strong, this time, and we won't let Kyubey lie to us.}
{I hope so.}
"Homura-chan, I'm sorry. I'm going to become a magical girl now."
"I- no, you can't-!"
"I finally know what I want. I've found the wish I truly want granted. So I'll use my life for that wish."
"Don't! Because then, what have I- what have I been…" Homura's struggling, trying to pull free, but in vain.
{That girl… have we met her?}
{No. She exists in this world, but she swapped places with Kirika-chan for some reason, so she's in Kazamino City. I met her on Sunday, actually. She… I owe her a lot, but she doesn't remember.}
{I'd like to meet her, one day.}
{Maybe after all this is over, I'll bring her home and introduce her to you.}
Madoka steps toward her, kneels and takes her hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry… But I believe it's because you've protected me for so long, and put so much hope in me, that I'm the person I am now. I'm really, so sorry… but this is the answer I've finally found. Please, believe in me - I promise the answer I've found won't be in vain."
"Madoka…" She begins to cry slowly.
<Now that you've become a causal singularity around which the destiny of numerous worlds revolves, no matter how enormous the wish, you will most likely be able to realize it.>
"You're telling the truth, right?"
{He is. Homura-chan did something that's not really meant to be done. Every time she couldn't save me, she turned back time to March 16th, repeating these six weeks over and over. Because of that, she created an attractor within causality that bound my fate to the fate of the universe itself. I don't think Kyubey actually realized something like that could happen until it did…}
<Now, Kaname Madoka, what is the wish you will pay for with your soul?>
Mama and Papa are silent, as the understanding begins to sink in.
"I…" Madoka takes a deep breath. "I want to erase all witches before they are even born. I will erase every single witch in every universe, past and future, with my own hands." She begins to shine with a blinding light, even Homura covering her eyes before it.
<If that wish- if that wish were to come true, it wouldn't just be on the scale of temporal manipulation. You'd be opposing karmic destiny - the very laws of causality themselves!>
She shines yet brighter, not speaking a word, but clear in confirming her intent.
<Do you truly intend to become a god?>
{I don't think Kyubey had a concept of 'god' before this. He doesn't remember either, of course.}
"I don't mind becoming a god or anything else. All those magical girls who held onto their hopes and fought against witches - I don't want to see them cry. I want them to stay smiling until the end. If any rule or law stands in my way, I will destroy it and rewrite it. That is my prayer. That is my wish. Now, grant it, Incubator!"
After that, you watch as she transforms in a brilliant halo of light. She strings her bow, lets loose a single arrow that rains down in multitudes. She parts the clouds, and calms the storm, and a brilliant blue sky appears, its light shining ever brighter as pink arrows shoot off to banish distant darkness. The witch breaks apart, cloth and metal flaking away until only the gear remains, splitting as the silhouettes of spent magical girls whirl in their final dance.
And the memory unravels, and falls apart, and you're back in the living room of the Kaname household again.
"I can't show you any more after that, because the rest isn't made for human eyes to see. Really, it's a paradox for the knowledge to exist in the universe - the primum movens isn't meant to provide evidence for its own cause, but there's mitigating circumstances this time."
"So… what happened?" Papa asks, looking quite overwhelmed, but also full of intense curiosity.
"Imagine you're knitting a scarf, and you realize, suddenly, that you made a mistake right at the beginning, and the entire stitching pattern you used is wrong, so you have to take the whole thing apart. But it's not like you've wasted any of the wool, so you just unravel it, fix the mistake and put it back together with the same wool you used before. It's sort of like that, but for the universe.
There are a lot of patterns in causality that act as attractors, so even though I erased all the witches, most of the same events happened anyway. But I wasn't allowed to be present in the first maha-kalpa. Or the second, actually, initially. I got to sneak back into the world because someone created an even bigger paradox, and the causal attractors still left a space for Kaname Madoka to exist."
"…aren't there still witches in this world, though?" Mama points out, not yet really at peace with your explanation. You think she's got Saotome-sensei and Sonomi-san on her mind.
"Mmm. I think someone made some sort of paradox that lets witches exist, but also there's a rule barring external interference this time, so in order for the wish I made to still function, the world has to let me incarnate here and have a causal record as a mortal existence. Everyone forgot I existed before, but it's still really sad sometimes to just watch over people, so I think I like this better… oh, right! Um… Papa, on Saturday night there was that whole panic with the moon, right? And you were quoting Lovecraft, and we were comparing things to that…"
"I remember, yes."
"Well, um, basically, the way a wish like that actually works, is hope and despair have to balance out to zero, no matter what you do. So what it does, is it lets magical girls live out their lives and spread hope, and then when their Soul Gems turn completely dark, and it's time for despair, it transfers their entire causal burden into me. So their soul gets stored as a record, and the karmic imbalance accumulates on me. Then, eventually, after all the witches in all the universes are erased, I fulfill my destiny and instantaneously become a witch, only, then I erase that witch too, and that destiny is transferred back to me as well."
"That's a divergent sequence, though, Madoka. Wouldn't that require an absolute infinity to exist?"
"Mhm. Actually, it lets several exist. Because Kyubey uses his contracts as a means to harvest energy that isn't bounded by traditional statistical thermodynamics, the upper bound on the viable lifespan of the universe also becomes an absolute infinity, and the amount of hope brought by magical girls over that span is also infinite."
"But doesn't that mean the amount of despair is also infinite?"
"Actually, um, I can kind of cheat at that part too. I don't really want to suffer infinite despair, so I found a bunch of ways around it that are… um, well, basically I'd have to explain how karma is quantized in detail, and I honestly don't remember in my current state. The important part is that everything's basically going to be okay, because I'm here.
But, um, the witch in the moon - one of them, anyway - is mine, or rather, she's one of the records of Kaname Madoka that was detached from me, like the Madoka upstairs. She's sort of required to exist to keep the balance working because of the particulars of the paradox and the rule against external interference, or that's how I think it works, anyway. So, um, you don't need to worry that I'm some kind of dangerous eldritch creature like Azathoth or Yaldabaoth or something. I'm nothing that bad, really."
Mama's fallen quiet, just leaning against Papa, murmuring things like, 'our daughter is really amazing, isn't she?'. You've probably exhausted her - that or it was the baldy in Accounting.
"Mmm. I'm sorry I kept us all up so late talking about complicated subjects. I just… recently, I've really been feeling how similar keeping secrets is to just telling lies. I don't want to become like Kyubey, pretending like I'm a good girl who doesn't tell lies, but using secrets and half-truths all the time and telling myself that's different."
"That's good. I'm glad you feel that way…" answers Mama, her eyes shut as she rests on Papa's shoulder.
"Tomorrow, I think…"
You don't have another expedition set up yet, so…
"I think I'm just going to go to school," you say, as if it wouldn't be a big deal in the least.
"You're sure, Madoka?" Papa asks, once again just taking something a bit ridiculous in stride. "You know only Madoka is enrolled right now, though, and… aren't you too old to be in middle school?"
Huh. You hadn't thought of it quite like that before. In principle, you're several quintillion years too old to be in middle school, at least.
"If Madoka's enrolled, then I'm enrolled. Besides, I need to talk to the teachers about some things."
You're also a bit worried about what might be happening in places like Futatsugi. Although, at the same time, you've got a few good reasons to go to school, most of all Sayaka and Kyouko; and because of Oriko's warning, you don't really want to leave town on anything major until tomorrow.
And, of course, being at school doesn't stop you from keeping in touch with what's going on in Kazamino and Asunaro.
Really, though… you think you just want a little taste of calm and normality before you dive back into the thick of things.
"If you're sure that's what you need to do, Madoka. Are you going to bed now?"
"Mmm, I think so. I really did a lot today…"
"Good night, then, Madoka. Sleep well."
You leave behind Mama and Papa, and head up to your room, change into pajamas, and nestle into bed with Madoka. It's warm and comfortable, and you think, maybe, if you curl up just so, you'll be able to avoid rolling out during the night.
Soon enough, you're drifting off into slumber, your hand gently entwined in Madoka's.
Your family's just sitting along with the others, on a mat laid out and allocated for them. Mama and Papa from back then are doing their best to stay calm for Tatsuya, of course, leaving Madoka to sit, deep in thought.
"Is this a sleepover? Are we camping?" Tatsuya asks, not really understanding the situation.
"That's right. We're all camping here tonight!"
{This is…} It's Papa's voice, but different from the one in the memory. The real one, viewing the memory with you.
{This is the morning following April 30th, 20×●. Right now, it's midnight on the evening of Walpurgisnacht, on the Brocken in Germany.} you reply. {This is the 108th iteration, by the way - um, you could call it a maha-kalpa, but I think that's a bit violent, and it sort of mixes things up a bit, too. It's not strictly wrong, though- um... that part will make sense later.}
{Is the city going to be okay?} asks your mother, as the lights flicker a little.
{Mmm. In a sense, anyway, this time. Well, this is the last maha-kalpa that will be experienced by this lost trichilocosm, but rather than me explaining it, it's best you see for yourself.}
Time passes, in the way of a dream - without waiting, it's simply clear that it's a little later. The light outside is slightly brighter, the storm closer…
The building shakes, and the lights almost go out entirely. Madoka gets to her feet and turns away, clenching her hands.
"What's wrong, Madoka?" asks Mama hurriedly.
"I-I need to use the bathroom." It's embarrassing, really. That you couldn't be honest even in this loop. She leaves, and the memory follows her, out to a gallery looking out on the storm, where Kyubey's waiting atop a railing. Branches are hurled past, the trunks of the trees outside creaking and bending.
{Can you see him?}
{That's Kyubey? He certainly has a disarming look to him.} comments Papa.
{I definitely wouldn't trust him.} Mama's got that yankee voice again. You can imagine her clobbering him with a baseball bat, if she could see him for real.
<Is it true that Homura can win by herself?>
<Would you believe my words if I told you?> Neither of their mouths are moving, a stark contrast to the raging tempest outside.
<By now, there's no point in words. Go and see with your own eyes just how far Akemi Homura can get against the Walpurgisnacht.>
<Why does she push herself so hard to fight?>
<Because she hasn't abandoned hope yet. If it comes to that, I'm sure she'll even reduce this timeline to nothing like the others, and continue to fight. She'll just continue to repeat this meaningless sequence.
It's no longer possible for her to stop, or to give up. The moment she allows herself to believe that everything was pointless and Madoka's fate can never be changed, Akemi Homura will succumb to despair and become a Grief Seed. She knows this too - which is why she doesn't have a choice. She has to keep fighting, even if she has no chance of winning.>
<So you're saying as long as she continues to hope, she can't be saved?>
<That's right. Just like every other magical girl throughout history. Madoka, you watched it with me, didn't you?>
Madoka turns away from Kyubey and begins to sob, those painful memories returning. <But, but…>
{Out there, a girl who's important to me is fighting against the storm. She's doing everything in her power to stop it from reaching here - she stole weapons from the SDF, tried her best to recruit every magical girl she could… but Kyubey made sure she had to face it alone. So there'd be no choice but for me to go and save her.}
{Did you?}
{Mmm. I saved her, like it wanted me to. But I didn't give it what it wanted.}
{I'm gonna clobber that little rat.}
{You won't be able to see it. But… it's okay. I have some ideas for how to beat it this time.}
"But…" Madoka turns away, heading resolutely for the exit, beginning to rush down a set of steps. And is caught, Mama's hand around her wrist.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Mom…"
"I have to go save my friend-"
"Leave that to the firefighters. We civilians have to stay put." You'd almost never seen her this fierce before.
"It has to be me!"
And then she slaps Madoka, and you can still feel the sting, a little, even now. You should've been more honest from the beginning. Why do magical girls never tell the truth to the people who care about them?
{I'm sorry, Mama. I… even after Sayaka died, and Mami and Kyouko too, I still couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth. I wanted to make amends for that, now that I have the chance in this world.}
{You weren't joking when you said it was going to be painful… I can't believe I slapped you.}
{It's okay. This world isn't on a path to tragedy like that one. This time, I won't accept an answer that needs any sacrifices. Not even me.}
"You're not the only person in this world!" she yells. "Do you even know how much the people around you-"
"I know." Madoka answers, interrupting her with a hand to her cheek, her mind made up. "I really do understand."
Mama's staring at her. Judging her. Making up her mind.
"I love you too, Mom. Dad, too. I know how much you all care about me. I know I need to value my own life.
But this is different. It's because you're all so important to me that I have to protect you. That's exactly why… there's somewhere I have to be right now!"
"And you can't tell me what this is about?"
Madoka shakes her head. You know you were absolutely convinced you couldn't, back then… but you don't remember why. Even after Sayaka's funeral, you couldn't tell anyone. Not Mama, not Kyousuke, not Hitomi…
"Take me with you, then."
"I can't. Stay with Papa and Tatsuya. Don't make them worry about you."
You can see the Mama from the memory wavering, even as she knows you won't come back from this.
"You said I grew up to be a good girl, right? That I don't tell lies, and I don't do bad things. Do you still believe that? Will you trust that what I'm doing is right?"
{I told Homura-chan once that I'd never have the courage to do something like this. I really underestimated myself…}
{Nobody does, until the time comes that they have to, I think.} answers Papa.
Mama is firmer. {Nobody should have to.}
The Mama in the memory reaches out… but second-guesses herself. "Are you certain you're not screwing up here? You're not being misled by anyone's lies?"
"Mm." Madoka nods. And receives a slap on the back, pushing her onward down the steps. "Thank you, Mama."
She runs. Through the fierce storm, past shattered trees, downed signs, overturned cars. Past a parade of clowns and green elephants, bells ringing louder than the howling wind. Past uprooted buildings, the wreckage warped into the roots of a vast concrete tree. And inside she goes, drawn by an instinct for her route, for her destination.
It's not a labyrinth, but it's very like one - the inside of the tree eerily calm, patterned in monochrome. She ascends, turning, rushing, and exits high atop the carnage, to where a dark-haired magical girl lies bleeding, her leg trapped under rubble.
Kyubey's waiting, of course.
And in the distance, the witch hangs upside-down from her giant gear, wimple and veil blowing in the wind, skyscrapers whipping around her and tearing apart into clouds of debris.
{So that's a witch's real form. She looks… almost like a collage, like she's been pasted onto the world.}
{Mmm. That's Walpurgisnacht. She's made up of hundreds of souls, maybe thousands, gathered up over the ages. People used to say she was the strongest witch of all. She doesn't have a labyrinth, and she doesn't really have any one person's individual characteristics, so she meshes better with the real world than most of them.}
{Most of them are worse?}
{Mmm. Not stronger, but weirder.}
{Is this going to happen again…?}
{We'll stop it. We're strong, this time, and we won't let Kyubey lie to us.}
{I hope so.}
"Homura-chan, I'm sorry. I'm going to become a magical girl now."
"I- no, you can't-!"
"I finally know what I want. I've found the wish I truly want granted. So I'll use my life for that wish."
"Don't! Because then, what have I- what have I been…" Homura's struggling, trying to pull free, but in vain.
{That girl… have we met her?}
{No. She exists in this world, but she swapped places with Kirika-chan for some reason, so she's in Kazamino City. I met her on Sunday, actually. She… I owe her a lot, but she doesn't remember.}
{I'd like to meet her, one day.}
{Maybe after all this is over, I'll bring her home and introduce her to you.}
Madoka steps toward her, kneels and takes her hand.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry… But I believe it's because you've protected me for so long, and put so much hope in me, that I'm the person I am now. I'm really, so sorry… but this is the answer I've finally found. Please, believe in me - I promise the answer I've found won't be in vain."
"Madoka…" She begins to cry slowly.
<Now that you've become a causal singularity around which the destiny of numerous worlds revolves, no matter how enormous the wish, you will most likely be able to realize it.>
"You're telling the truth, right?"
{He is. Homura-chan did something that's not really meant to be done. Every time she couldn't save me, she turned back time to March 16th, repeating these six weeks over and over. Because of that, she created an attractor within causality that bound my fate to the fate of the universe itself. I don't think Kyubey actually realized something like that could happen until it did…}
<Now, Kaname Madoka, what is the wish you will pay for with your soul?>
Mama and Papa are silent, as the understanding begins to sink in.
"I…" Madoka takes a deep breath. "I want to erase all witches before they are even born. I will erase every single witch in every universe, past and future, with my own hands." She begins to shine with a blinding light, even Homura covering her eyes before it.
<If that wish- if that wish were to come true, it wouldn't just be on the scale of temporal manipulation. You'd be opposing karmic destiny - the very laws of causality themselves!>
She shines yet brighter, not speaking a word, but clear in confirming her intent.
<Do you truly intend to become a god?>
{I don't think Kyubey had a concept of 'god' before this. He doesn't remember either, of course.}
"I don't mind becoming a god or anything else. All those magical girls who held onto their hopes and fought against witches - I don't want to see them cry. I want them to stay smiling until the end. If any rule or law stands in my way, I will destroy it and rewrite it. That is my prayer. That is my wish. Now, grant it, Incubator!"
After that, you watch as she transforms in a brilliant halo of light. She strings her bow, lets loose a single arrow that rains down in multitudes. She parts the clouds, and calms the storm, and a brilliant blue sky appears, its light shining ever brighter as pink arrows shoot off to banish distant darkness. The witch breaks apart, cloth and metal flaking away until only the gear remains, splitting as the silhouettes of spent magical girls whirl in their final dance.
And the memory unravels, and falls apart, and you're back in the living room of the Kaname household again.
"I can't show you any more after that, because the rest isn't made for human eyes to see. Really, it's a paradox for the knowledge to exist in the universe - the primum movens isn't meant to provide evidence for its own cause, but there's mitigating circumstances this time."
"So… what happened?" Papa asks, looking quite overwhelmed, but also full of intense curiosity.
"Imagine you're knitting a scarf, and you realize, suddenly, that you made a mistake right at the beginning, and the entire stitching pattern you used is wrong, so you have to take the whole thing apart. But it's not like you've wasted any of the wool, so you just unravel it, fix the mistake and put it back together with the same wool you used before. It's sort of like that, but for the universe.
There are a lot of patterns in causality that act as attractors, so even though I erased all the witches, most of the same events happened anyway. But I wasn't allowed to be present in the first maha-kalpa. Or the second, actually, initially. I got to sneak back into the world because someone created an even bigger paradox, and the causal attractors still left a space for Kaname Madoka to exist."
"…aren't there still witches in this world, though?" Mama points out, not yet really at peace with your explanation. You think she's got Saotome-sensei and Sonomi-san on her mind.
"Mmm. I think someone made some sort of paradox that lets witches exist, but also there's a rule barring external interference this time, so in order for the wish I made to still function, the world has to let me incarnate here and have a causal record as a mortal existence. Everyone forgot I existed before, but it's still really sad sometimes to just watch over people, so I think I like this better… oh, right! Um… Papa, on Saturday night there was that whole panic with the moon, right? And you were quoting Lovecraft, and we were comparing things to that…"
"I remember, yes."
"Well, um, basically, the way a wish like that actually works, is hope and despair have to balance out to zero, no matter what you do. So what it does, is it lets magical girls live out their lives and spread hope, and then when their Soul Gems turn completely dark, and it's time for despair, it transfers their entire causal burden into me. So their soul gets stored as a record, and the karmic imbalance accumulates on me. Then, eventually, after all the witches in all the universes are erased, I fulfill my destiny and instantaneously become a witch, only, then I erase that witch too, and that destiny is transferred back to me as well."
"That's a divergent sequence, though, Madoka. Wouldn't that require an absolute infinity to exist?"
"Mhm. Actually, it lets several exist. Because Kyubey uses his contracts as a means to harvest energy that isn't bounded by traditional statistical thermodynamics, the upper bound on the viable lifespan of the universe also becomes an absolute infinity, and the amount of hope brought by magical girls over that span is also infinite."
"But doesn't that mean the amount of despair is also infinite?"
"Actually, um, I can kind of cheat at that part too. I don't really want to suffer infinite despair, so I found a bunch of ways around it that are… um, well, basically I'd have to explain how karma is quantized in detail, and I honestly don't remember in my current state. The important part is that everything's basically going to be okay, because I'm here.
But, um, the witch in the moon - one of them, anyway - is mine, or rather, she's one of the records of Kaname Madoka that was detached from me, like the Madoka upstairs. She's sort of required to exist to keep the balance working because of the particulars of the paradox and the rule against external interference, or that's how I think it works, anyway. So, um, you don't need to worry that I'm some kind of dangerous eldritch creature like Azathoth or Yaldabaoth or something. I'm nothing that bad, really."
Mama's fallen quiet, just leaning against Papa, murmuring things like, 'our daughter is really amazing, isn't she?'. You've probably exhausted her - that or it was the baldy in Accounting.
"Mmm. I'm sorry I kept us all up so late talking about complicated subjects. I just… recently, I've really been feeling how similar keeping secrets is to just telling lies. I don't want to become like Kyubey, pretending like I'm a good girl who doesn't tell lies, but using secrets and half-truths all the time and telling myself that's different."
"That's good. I'm glad you feel that way…" answers Mama, her eyes shut as she rests on Papa's shoulder.
"Tomorrow, I think…"
You don't have another expedition set up yet, so…
"I think I'm just going to go to school," you say, as if it wouldn't be a big deal in the least.
"You're sure, Madoka?" Papa asks, once again just taking something a bit ridiculous in stride. "You know only Madoka is enrolled right now, though, and… aren't you too old to be in middle school?"
Huh. You hadn't thought of it quite like that before. In principle, you're several quintillion years too old to be in middle school, at least.
"If Madoka's enrolled, then I'm enrolled. Besides, I need to talk to the teachers about some things."
You're also a bit worried about what might be happening in places like Futatsugi. Although, at the same time, you've got a few good reasons to go to school, most of all Sayaka and Kyouko; and because of Oriko's warning, you don't really want to leave town on anything major until tomorrow.
And, of course, being at school doesn't stop you from keeping in touch with what's going on in Kazamino and Asunaro.
Really, though… you think you just want a little taste of calm and normality before you dive back into the thick of things.
"If you're sure that's what you need to do, Madoka. Are you going to bed now?"
"Mmm, I think so. I really did a lot today…"
"Good night, then, Madoka. Sleep well."
You leave behind Mama and Papa, and head up to your room, change into pajamas, and nestle into bed with Madoka. It's warm and comfortable, and you think, maybe, if you curl up just so, you'll be able to avoid rolling out during the night.
Soon enough, you're drifting off into slumber, your hand gently entwined in Madoka's.
UrsaTempest
Don't Panic!
Two Madokas at school! But one Madoka is bigger?
Madoka's parents have earned permanent bragging rights.
They are a little overwhelmed (and who wouldn't be) but they've got her back.
"What's that Karen little Alice won the spelling bee? Well our daughter is the literal goddess of Magical Girls."
Ⅲ.14 // oh, goodness! whatever is this?
You dream of paperwork. It's not really surprising, after all the police work; but you dream of yourself as God, stacks of paperwork larger than galaxies closing in around you, filled with all the minutiae of running the universe.
It's so unfair. It doesn't even work this way!
But you just keep toiling, on your own, as Clara Dolls deliver yet more paperwork to you, giggling as you drown beneath it.
Another dream, wrapped in the gleam of silver and crystal.
You run through a thick forest, Hitomi by your side, fleeing from something. Water's flowing all around you. You're trying to flee uphill, to high ground, but no matter the direction you go, you find yourself stumbling back into river mud, your feet deep in the muck.
Grasping hands rise from the depths, grabbing at the two of you by the ankles, dragging you down, down…
Malicious whispers echo around you, and the silhouettes of magical girls you don't know dance in the mire, taunting as they push you back in.
You sink down to your knees, then your thighs, as a clammy mist closes in, and space warps into psychedelic patterns that gradually eat away at the dream…
Another dream, and you're dancing in a spotlight, a string puppet leaping and twirling as a graceful ballerina. The dance loops and repeats again and again, even as you try to struggle against your strings.
No matter how much strength you try to put in, the strings just draw you back, turning your motions into another part of the dance. You look down, and see your feet tapping across the surface of a vast palm; look up, and see the blue-eyed Devil's face sneering down at you.
You long for the skies, to spread your wings and shuck your strings, leap ever higher and higher, your spirit yearning to reach…
At last, you awaken, in a tangled mess with Madoka and plushies everywhere. Both of you managed to say in bed, at least, and yet, even so, something's off. Faint stars hover over your covers, lazily forming constellations with lines of light; and the floor and sheets are strewn with glimmering cosmic dust.
But more than that, your back is tingling, a strange yet familiar energy building in two places beneath your shoulders…
You glance at the bedside clock. 6:52. Not a bad time to be waking up, you note with a little smile. You snuggle up with Madoka, gently planting a kiss on her cheek and squeezing her hand. "Wake up, Madoka," you whisper.
"mmm… morning." She gradually awakens, squeezing you back as her eyes flutter open. "Wh-what happened? It's all glittery…"
"I think I got a bit cosmic in my dream…" you reply, untangling yourself from her and slipping out of bed. Your back still feels slightly odd.
"Did you have a nice dream?" She joins you, sitting on the bedside, watching the two of you in the mirror. It's true - you don't look quite the same. You look a little more tanned than her, your hair is much longer, and your eyes are undeniably gold by now.
You shake your head and wrap an arm around her. "I didn't. But… I think I might've had a prophetic dream. I sensed a little of Oriko's magic for a moment…"
"Hm? It… wasn't too bad, was it?"
"It was, but… I don't think it'll happen soon. Hitomi and I were in a forest riverbed, running away from something. There's nothing like that around here; it must've been in the country… but why would Hitomi be there?"
"I don't know. That's really weird. Let's do our best to look after her, okay?"
"Mmm. Oh, um… could you have a look at my back? It's feeling all tingly…"
"Your back? You mean, um- okay, I can…"
She lifts up the back of your pajamas, her warm hands gentle against your back. You close your eyes, and let her feel around, fingers climbing higher…
"O-oh. Madoka, you've got, um…" And then she touches something filmy and sensitive and cosmic, squeezing between thumb and finger, and you feel this warm, intense energy spreading through your wings, and this sense of lightness, almost as if you could just float away from the ground entirely…
"I can't believe even those came back…"
"They're really cute! You might be able to fly if they get bigger, too…" She doesn't touch them again directly, but now she's poking around where they meet your skin, and it's a little tickly…
"Ehihihihihi, s-stop that! O-or I'll find a way to give some to you too, see how you like it!"
"That just makes me want to do it more, though…"
"So much for my normal school days. You sound like Sayaka right now, though… oh, no, she'll want to touch them, won't she?"
"Mmhm!"
And so your morning starts with a cute and cosmic surprise.
There's another problem, though, you discover as you go to get dressed.
You've only got one clean school uniform right now, and Madoka's already taking it. You've got no choice but to improvise.
[Mami-san, Mami-san!]
You feel her spirit stir within you, and her ribbon wrap around your finger, forming a ring. [Good morning, Kaname-sa- oh, my. Is something the matter?]
[My wings came through and none of my clothes will fit! And I'm going to school today!] you complain undignifiedly, little wings flapping about in distress.
[Wings? Dear me, you do, too!] You fidget and squirm as you feel the tips of ribbons tickling your back, just between your wings. Even Mami's teasing you!
[Th-that tickles!]
[O-oh. Should I stop, Kaname-san?]
[Uhm… y-you don't have to, but don't do something like that when I'm around other people, okay?]
[Of course. Hmm… they're very thin, so you shouldn't need too much space around them. If you're going to school, it has to be…] Golden and cream-coloured ribbons wrap around you, making you look almost like a TV magical girl in the mirror - then quickly blending into each other, taking shape piece by piece into what's unmistakeably a rules-compliant Mitakihara Middle School uniform. Well, aside from the two small slits on the back for your wings, anyway.
[Oh! Thank you!] You smile and kiss the ring on your finger, drawing what feels like a full-body blush from your own body…
[K-Kaname-san-! Y-you can't just… k-kiss people's souls like that!] You can sense her tender feelings, her indecision…
[Mmm? Should I not have?]
[N-no, I didn't say that, um…]
[Then, hmm… should I do it more?]
[D-don't you have school to get to, Kaname-san?]
[Oh, that's right! I should be getting ready!] You start heading back to the bathroom, but… try to keep using your not-quite-telepathy at the same time, slow and shaky. [And… it's okay to just call me Madoka. We're not really senpai and kouhai any more, after all…]
[Th-then, um,] she answers, sharing a tender, blossoming feeling, […please call me Mami-chan!]
You have your breakfast quickly, hurrying to leave at the same time as Madoka - and soon, you and her are off to school, hand in hand. The two of you draw a lot of looks as you pass, and even more as people catch sight of your wings, but you don't mind. You don't care in the least - you've had enough of being subtle and unnoticed.
You turn the corner and arrive at where you'd normally meet with Sayaka and the others, and there they are, waiting with smiles.
Smiles that slowly falter, Hitomi even freezing mid-wave. "Good morning, Mado… ka…"
"Good morning!" you reply, untroubled. Well, not completely untroubled. That dream about her was certainly ominous, not to mention the fate of all magical girls that lies in your hands, and such. But you're not going to worry yourself about little things like maintaining the appearance of normality.
"Good morning!" Madoka echoes, stepping up beside you.
Hitomi looks from one to the other, blinking and rubbing her eyes as if it were some trick of the light. "My, my…"
"W-w-wait, Madoka, why did you bring Madoka with you? I-I can't-! I'm in awe! W-why didn't I think of bringing a doppelganger to school first?" improvises Sayaka hastily, trying to play the whole thing off.
"…doppelganger? They certainly do look similar, but…" Hitomi walks around you, leaning close to inspect you from every angle. "This one has different eyes, and her hair is longer than the usual Madoka-san, and… oh, goodness! Whatever is this?"
"Eh, what're you looking at- whoa, whoa, those are…" Even Kyouko's rendered speechless at the sight of your little wings. Come to think of it, wouldn't she…
"Uhm… please don't touch them. They're quite… o-o-oh…" It's too late. Sayaka's already tickling them with her fingertips, and your eyes are glowing, and you can feel yourself getting lighter!, and there's stardust everywhere!!, and you faintly wonder if Hitomi can even see most of what's going on, and, oh, she can!!!, her eyes have gone so big and round and this is so much of a situation you're worried you might float away and-
<Good morning, Kaname Madoka, Miki Sayaka, Sakura Kyouko.>
Oh, no - the rat is here, and you're completely back down to earth. At least it doesn't seem to be addressing Hitomi - that's a small blessing.
<What're you doing here, you rat bastard?> Kyouko snarls, her composure quickly returning.
<It's nothing that should cause problems for you. Actually, we detected an enormous distortion in causality here in Mitakihara, on a scale that shouldn't normally be possible. We wanted to verify the safety of you girls directly, and ask if you'd noticed anything strange.>
<Don't-> you begin, but you're quickly interrupted by someone else - and besides, you're more occupied with trying to escape Sayaka playing with your wings!
<You. Did you think anyone here would believe your story after what you've done, Kyubey?>
<Tomoe Mami? Your presence here is certainly unexpected, but I'm starting to understand the big picture here. Are you a possibility that was brought here from some other timeline?>
<Oi, oi, Mami's here too? I- oi, Madoka, what did you do?>
<I'll be asking the questions, Kyubey.>
"I-is something going on? Everyone's looking into each other's eyes so intensely…" She looks into your golden eyes too, staring as if trying to reach your soul. "I can't believe it, even though I'm seeing it with my own eyes! Are you, perhaps…" she asks,
<Are you, perhaps…> Kyubey continues, heedless…
"<Some kind of god?>"
Well, this is a problem. You can't exactly bring out a weapon here in broad daylight with students all around. Dispensing with subtlety is one thing, but pulling out a spear or a gun could give completely the wrong impression.
"U-uhm, well… ehihihi…" You rub the back of your head bashfully. How are you even meant to answer a question like that?
[I'll take care of Kyubey, Madoka. There's no need to worry about a thing.]
<This is a surprise, Kyubey,> Mami answers for you on one side. <You always told me that you didn't think there was such a thing as gods.>
<The concept of a 'god' is something we've never found evidence for, but that doesn't mean we can't construct a hypothetical definition…>
You quickly tune out Mami and Kyubey's telepathic discussion, so you can focus on Hitomi.
"You finally found out Madoka's secret! Watch out, Hitomi - now we'll have to induct you into our secret cult…" Sayaka's making spooky gestures, trying way too hard to 'cover' for you. You appreciate it, in a way, but this situation is far out of control, you genuinely don't know when she's going to drop it, and there's a chance she might scare Hitomi if she keeps this up because what you've got going on is obviously not normal.
At this point, you've got no reason to leave her out of the loop entirely, though. It's not as if she has the potential.
"Don't worry, Hitomi. We don't have time right now, but I'll explain everything later. Come up to the roof after third period, okay?"
"Oh! I'm being invited into a forbidden world-!"
"It's just the school roof, Hitomi," Madoka says.
"Yeah, but it's Mitakihara Middle School roof, it's a pile of gothic architecture where it wouldn't be surprising to walk out and see people dueling, even," Sayaka points out.
"Or the meetings of a secret cult?"
"Yeah, yeah, like that!"
"We're not actually a cult or anything, don't worry," you reassure her. "Although I don't mind listening to your prayers. I'll do my best to answer them, ehihihi~"
"My. That's a little presumptuous of you, Madoka-san. Will you forgive me for being a little skeptical?"
You glance toward the bushes by the side of the road as the group turns a corner, where, you're sure, lurks a creature known for offering any wish people can imagine. "Mmm. It's not good to take offers like that without question. Sorry, Hitomi."
"Oi, Madoka… won't Saotome-sensei get weird about…" Kyouko gestures vaguely toward you, "…all this?"
"Mmm. Maybe a little bit. It'll be okay, I think. I hope so, anyway."
"You're not worried about pics of all this ending up on the internet?" asks Sayaka, giving up on the bit.
"Hmm… maybe I'm counting on that?"
"Suit yourself. But I'm not getting you out of trouble." Kyouko says, still bitter at you. "And don't you dare go bewitching anyone."
You notice a slight flow of Grief, and a rustle in the bushes just off the path - and a dead Kyubey tumbles into the stream, beginning to float downstream unseen and unacknowledged.
[He was very forthcoming, but I think I've heard all I need to.]
It's so unfair. It doesn't even work this way!
But you just keep toiling, on your own, as Clara Dolls deliver yet more paperwork to you, giggling as you drown beneath it.
Another dream, wrapped in the gleam of silver and crystal.
You run through a thick forest, Hitomi by your side, fleeing from something. Water's flowing all around you. You're trying to flee uphill, to high ground, but no matter the direction you go, you find yourself stumbling back into river mud, your feet deep in the muck.
Grasping hands rise from the depths, grabbing at the two of you by the ankles, dragging you down, down…
Malicious whispers echo around you, and the silhouettes of magical girls you don't know dance in the mire, taunting as they push you back in.
You sink down to your knees, then your thighs, as a clammy mist closes in, and space warps into psychedelic patterns that gradually eat away at the dream…
Another dream, and you're dancing in a spotlight, a string puppet leaping and twirling as a graceful ballerina. The dance loops and repeats again and again, even as you try to struggle against your strings.
No matter how much strength you try to put in, the strings just draw you back, turning your motions into another part of the dance. You look down, and see your feet tapping across the surface of a vast palm; look up, and see the blue-eyed Devil's face sneering down at you.
You long for the skies, to spread your wings and shuck your strings, leap ever higher and higher, your spirit yearning to reach…
At last, you awaken, in a tangled mess with Madoka and plushies everywhere. Both of you managed to say in bed, at least, and yet, even so, something's off. Faint stars hover over your covers, lazily forming constellations with lines of light; and the floor and sheets are strewn with glimmering cosmic dust.
But more than that, your back is tingling, a strange yet familiar energy building in two places beneath your shoulders…
You glance at the bedside clock. 6:52. Not a bad time to be waking up, you note with a little smile. You snuggle up with Madoka, gently planting a kiss on her cheek and squeezing her hand. "Wake up, Madoka," you whisper.
"mmm… morning." She gradually awakens, squeezing you back as her eyes flutter open. "Wh-what happened? It's all glittery…"
"I think I got a bit cosmic in my dream…" you reply, untangling yourself from her and slipping out of bed. Your back still feels slightly odd.
"Did you have a nice dream?" She joins you, sitting on the bedside, watching the two of you in the mirror. It's true - you don't look quite the same. You look a little more tanned than her, your hair is much longer, and your eyes are undeniably gold by now.
You shake your head and wrap an arm around her. "I didn't. But… I think I might've had a prophetic dream. I sensed a little of Oriko's magic for a moment…"
"Hm? It… wasn't too bad, was it?"
"It was, but… I don't think it'll happen soon. Hitomi and I were in a forest riverbed, running away from something. There's nothing like that around here; it must've been in the country… but why would Hitomi be there?"
"I don't know. That's really weird. Let's do our best to look after her, okay?"
"Mmm. Oh, um… could you have a look at my back? It's feeling all tingly…"
"Your back? You mean, um- okay, I can…"
She lifts up the back of your pajamas, her warm hands gentle against your back. You close your eyes, and let her feel around, fingers climbing higher…
"O-oh. Madoka, you've got, um…" And then she touches something filmy and sensitive and cosmic, squeezing between thumb and finger, and you feel this warm, intense energy spreading through your wings, and this sense of lightness, almost as if you could just float away from the ground entirely…
"I can't believe even those came back…"
"They're really cute! You might be able to fly if they get bigger, too…" She doesn't touch them again directly, but now she's poking around where they meet your skin, and it's a little tickly…
"Ehihihihihi, s-stop that! O-or I'll find a way to give some to you too, see how you like it!"
"That just makes me want to do it more, though…"
"So much for my normal school days. You sound like Sayaka right now, though… oh, no, she'll want to touch them, won't she?"
"Mmhm!"
And so your morning starts with a cute and cosmic surprise.
There's another problem, though, you discover as you go to get dressed.
You've only got one clean school uniform right now, and Madoka's already taking it. You've got no choice but to improvise.
[Mami-san, Mami-san!]
You feel her spirit stir within you, and her ribbon wrap around your finger, forming a ring. [Good morning, Kaname-sa- oh, my. Is something the matter?]
[My wings came through and none of my clothes will fit! And I'm going to school today!] you complain undignifiedly, little wings flapping about in distress.
[Wings? Dear me, you do, too!] You fidget and squirm as you feel the tips of ribbons tickling your back, just between your wings. Even Mami's teasing you!
[Th-that tickles!]
[O-oh. Should I stop, Kaname-san?]
[Uhm… y-you don't have to, but don't do something like that when I'm around other people, okay?]
[Of course. Hmm… they're very thin, so you shouldn't need too much space around them. If you're going to school, it has to be…] Golden and cream-coloured ribbons wrap around you, making you look almost like a TV magical girl in the mirror - then quickly blending into each other, taking shape piece by piece into what's unmistakeably a rules-compliant Mitakihara Middle School uniform. Well, aside from the two small slits on the back for your wings, anyway.
[Oh! Thank you!] You smile and kiss the ring on your finger, drawing what feels like a full-body blush from your own body…
[K-Kaname-san-! Y-you can't just… k-kiss people's souls like that!] You can sense her tender feelings, her indecision…
[Mmm? Should I not have?]
[N-no, I didn't say that, um…]
[Then, hmm… should I do it more?]
[D-don't you have school to get to, Kaname-san?]
[Oh, that's right! I should be getting ready!] You start heading back to the bathroom, but… try to keep using your not-quite-telepathy at the same time, slow and shaky. [And… it's okay to just call me Madoka. We're not really senpai and kouhai any more, after all…]
[Th-then, um,] she answers, sharing a tender, blossoming feeling, […please call me Mami-chan!]
You have your breakfast quickly, hurrying to leave at the same time as Madoka - and soon, you and her are off to school, hand in hand. The two of you draw a lot of looks as you pass, and even more as people catch sight of your wings, but you don't mind. You don't care in the least - you've had enough of being subtle and unnoticed.
You turn the corner and arrive at where you'd normally meet with Sayaka and the others, and there they are, waiting with smiles.
Smiles that slowly falter, Hitomi even freezing mid-wave. "Good morning, Mado… ka…"
"Good morning!" you reply, untroubled. Well, not completely untroubled. That dream about her was certainly ominous, not to mention the fate of all magical girls that lies in your hands, and such. But you're not going to worry yourself about little things like maintaining the appearance of normality.
"Good morning!" Madoka echoes, stepping up beside you.
Hitomi looks from one to the other, blinking and rubbing her eyes as if it were some trick of the light. "My, my…"
"W-w-wait, Madoka, why did you bring Madoka with you? I-I can't-! I'm in awe! W-why didn't I think of bringing a doppelganger to school first?" improvises Sayaka hastily, trying to play the whole thing off.
"…doppelganger? They certainly do look similar, but…" Hitomi walks around you, leaning close to inspect you from every angle. "This one has different eyes, and her hair is longer than the usual Madoka-san, and… oh, goodness! Whatever is this?"
"Eh, what're you looking at- whoa, whoa, those are…" Even Kyouko's rendered speechless at the sight of your little wings. Come to think of it, wouldn't she…
"Uhm… please don't touch them. They're quite… o-o-oh…" It's too late. Sayaka's already tickling them with her fingertips, and your eyes are glowing, and you can feel yourself getting lighter!, and there's stardust everywhere!!, and you faintly wonder if Hitomi can even see most of what's going on, and, oh, she can!!!, her eyes have gone so big and round and this is so much of a situation you're worried you might float away and-
<Good morning, Kaname Madoka, Miki Sayaka, Sakura Kyouko.>
Oh, no - the rat is here, and you're completely back down to earth. At least it doesn't seem to be addressing Hitomi - that's a small blessing.
<What're you doing here, you rat bastard?> Kyouko snarls, her composure quickly returning.
<It's nothing that should cause problems for you. Actually, we detected an enormous distortion in causality here in Mitakihara, on a scale that shouldn't normally be possible. We wanted to verify the safety of you girls directly, and ask if you'd noticed anything strange.>
<Don't-> you begin, but you're quickly interrupted by someone else - and besides, you're more occupied with trying to escape Sayaka playing with your wings!
<You. Did you think anyone here would believe your story after what you've done, Kyubey?>
<Tomoe Mami? Your presence here is certainly unexpected, but I'm starting to understand the big picture here. Are you a possibility that was brought here from some other timeline?>
<Oi, oi, Mami's here too? I- oi, Madoka, what did you do?>
<I'll be asking the questions, Kyubey.>
"I-is something going on? Everyone's looking into each other's eyes so intensely…" She looks into your golden eyes too, staring as if trying to reach your soul. "I can't believe it, even though I'm seeing it with my own eyes! Are you, perhaps…" she asks,
<Are you, perhaps…> Kyubey continues, heedless…
"<Some kind of god?>"
Well, this is a problem. You can't exactly bring out a weapon here in broad daylight with students all around. Dispensing with subtlety is one thing, but pulling out a spear or a gun could give completely the wrong impression.
"U-uhm, well… ehihihi…" You rub the back of your head bashfully. How are you even meant to answer a question like that?
[I'll take care of Kyubey, Madoka. There's no need to worry about a thing.]
<This is a surprise, Kyubey,> Mami answers for you on one side. <You always told me that you didn't think there was such a thing as gods.>
<The concept of a 'god' is something we've never found evidence for, but that doesn't mean we can't construct a hypothetical definition…>
You quickly tune out Mami and Kyubey's telepathic discussion, so you can focus on Hitomi.
"You finally found out Madoka's secret! Watch out, Hitomi - now we'll have to induct you into our secret cult…" Sayaka's making spooky gestures, trying way too hard to 'cover' for you. You appreciate it, in a way, but this situation is far out of control, you genuinely don't know when she's going to drop it, and there's a chance she might scare Hitomi if she keeps this up because what you've got going on is obviously not normal.
At this point, you've got no reason to leave her out of the loop entirely, though. It's not as if she has the potential.
"Don't worry, Hitomi. We don't have time right now, but I'll explain everything later. Come up to the roof after third period, okay?"
"Oh! I'm being invited into a forbidden world-!"
"It's just the school roof, Hitomi," Madoka says.
"Yeah, but it's Mitakihara Middle School roof, it's a pile of gothic architecture where it wouldn't be surprising to walk out and see people dueling, even," Sayaka points out.
"Or the meetings of a secret cult?"
"Yeah, yeah, like that!"
"We're not actually a cult or anything, don't worry," you reassure her. "Although I don't mind listening to your prayers. I'll do my best to answer them, ehihihi~"
"My. That's a little presumptuous of you, Madoka-san. Will you forgive me for being a little skeptical?"
You glance toward the bushes by the side of the road as the group turns a corner, where, you're sure, lurks a creature known for offering any wish people can imagine. "Mmm. It's not good to take offers like that without question. Sorry, Hitomi."
"Oi, Madoka… won't Saotome-sensei get weird about…" Kyouko gestures vaguely toward you, "…all this?"
"Mmm. Maybe a little bit. It'll be okay, I think. I hope so, anyway."
"You're not worried about pics of all this ending up on the internet?" asks Sayaka, giving up on the bit.
"Hmm… maybe I'm counting on that?"
"Suit yourself. But I'm not getting you out of trouble." Kyouko says, still bitter at you. "And don't you dare go bewitching anyone."
You notice a slight flow of Grief, and a rustle in the bushes just off the path - and a dead Kyubey tumbles into the stream, beginning to float downstream unseen and unacknowledged.
[He was very forthcoming, but I think I've heard all I need to.]
- Location
- An Unspecified Corner
I do suppose there are worse ways for Mami to confront Kyubey.
If Madoka and Madoka hugged Kirika at the same time, would she melt?
If Madoka and Madoka hugged Kirika at the same time, would she melt?
Shouldn't it be Mami-san?
Madoka already calls her that way, and the way I understand it, -san is more formal than -chan
This, basically. Also, the alive Mami attending school will be staying Mami-san. Even the Mamis are proliferating now! Things are out of control!
Ⅲ.15 // theology and ethics are my specialties
Things are no less interesting once you get to school - first of all, since Kirika transferred in, there's no free seats in class, so you decide to do the next best thing and sit on the teacher's podium.
By the time Saotome-sensei arrives, most of the class are out of their seats, crowding around you and answering all sorts of questions… and trying to touch your wings, unfortunately. Why does everyone want to touch them?
She doesn't immediately react unusually on opening the door, just… "Kaname-san, everyone, would you return to your seats?"
As everyone spreads out and leaves you be, you point out the obvious problem here. "Mmm… Saotome-sensei, there's not room in my seat."
She looks over, and blinks a few times. "Ah… this is…" You watch her eyes flick to Madoka in her seat, and back to you.
"I'm sorry, but… I think you may be in the wrong classroom…"
You shake your head. "No, Kaname Madoka is in this class, and I'm Kaname Madoka."
"But… ah, um… I'm sorry, everyone, we'll be starting a little late today. Kaname-san, would you come with me?"
"Umm… should I come too?" Madoka asks, getting up from her seat.
"That might be for the best, Kaname-san."
So, she takes the two of you to the teachers' lounge, where, unsurprisingly, there aren't many teachers, because everyone's with their own class. The PE teachers don't have their own classroom, so one of them is there, reading a newspaper with utter disinterest for his surroundings. You think he's got earphones in, too.
Saotome-sensei takes one look at him, then takes you up to the far other end of the room. "Kaname-san, d-do you think you could explain what's happened here?
"Mmm. I need to be away from school lots between now and the end of next month, so I figured out a way we could be in two places at once," you explain simply.
"A-and, the… um…" she lowers her voice to a whisper. "…wings?"
"Mmm… that one's a bit private, but… oh, I know. A secret for a secret is fair, so… I'll explain it if you tell me where Makina Sonomi is," you answer, with the gentlest smile in the world.
And she blushes, her cheeks pink as, for a moment, your homeroom teacher is completely lost for words.
"H-how do you know Sono-I-I mean, Makina-san?"
"That's another secret," says Madoka, her smile a little more mischievous. "We shouldn't be giving away all our secrets so easily…"
"So, which one do you want?"
"…hmph. I mustn't have my students treat me this way. I shall have to speak to Junko about this." Oh, dear, she's remembered her position.
"Hmm… actually, I suppose I could explain both. Did Mama- my mother, that is, ask you to look into anything about schools in Kamihama recently?" you ask, recalling the events of Saturday evening.
"Junko? She did, actually - I haven't got around to it yet, of course… I've been very busy indeed."
"With Sonomi-san?" interjects Madoka slyly, hands behind her back.
"…" The two of you really have her sweating now, but maybe this is a bit too mean.
"You see, the truth is," you begin, "I gained a great magical power recently, and I brought Sonomi-san back from the dead. The wings are because I've been using my magic so much - they still haven't grown out fully yet, though." You're honestly not sure what you'll be able to do when they grow out, considering they're sort of meant to be a transcendent symbol rather than something with a strictly physical existence.
"I-I see. So… ah," she rallies rather effectively, "since you seem to be well on the way to surpassing human understanding, should I take that to imply that you have no further need for my classes, Kaname-san?"
"Umm…"
"No, I'll still be coming to school, Saotome-sensei," Madoka says. "Madoka's going to be busy all over the region soon, but I'll be here, so there's no need to worry."
"I think I understand. Still, I have to have something to explain to the other teachers why there's an extra Madoka in class today… could you come with me to the principal's office?"
"Okay!" the two of you chorus, hoping Saotome-sensei doesn't get back to some kind of riot.
Being a good girl, you've actually never been summoned to the principal's office, one of the few rooms in the building that actually looks like it belongs in a normal school with normal, non-glass walls. You wait outside with Madoka for a couple of minutes, before you're finally summoned in, past the secretary who's wearing a very forced smile.
The principal is an older, balding man you rarely see outside of opening and closing ceremonies, who looks like he's put every ounce of his distinctiveness as a person into his perfectly maintained moustache. He hurriedly scoops up and dons his glasses as the three of you enter.
"Dear me. Yes. Kaname-kun and… Kaname-san?"
"Mhm." "That's right!"
"So. I'm told that you'd like to sit in on Kaname Madoka-kun's classes today as a family member. Is that correct?"
"Hmm… well, it's not quite like that. It's not like I'm not part of her family, but you're talking about the thing where I just stand in the back of the class and watch, like they used to do in elementary school on parents' day?"
"Oh? I appear to have misunderstood, then. In what capacity are you here? A prospective transfer student? A student teacher?" Huh, is he having some trouble figuring out your age?
You've been eliciting some interesting reactions from people trying very hard to fit you into their worldview, but, if you've got to pick how to fit yourself in… you don't really have an answer ready.
You're feeling particularly impish today, though, it seems.
"Oh, I'm, um…" You don't know what the future might hold, but this might be the only day you get to mess around and spend time with your friends before you're traveling all over the place saving magical girls, struggling against Kyubey's schemes and, most likely, rising to global recognition.
And put that way…
"…I'm here to understudy one of the teachers." You almost offered to be a guidance counselor, but there's a nonzero chance you might've ended up seeing one of your friends in that capacity, and that'd just be awkward.
"I see, I see. I wasn't informed we had a student teacher coming. Do you have a particular subject of interest or specialization, Kaname-san?"
"Mmm… well, theology and ethics are my specialties, but at a middle school level, it'd be hard to teach that sort of lesson. Maybe I could do history, or home economics?"
[Glutton,] a witchy voice teases you from on high.
[I am not a glutton.]
"Kaname-san? Your… your eyes are…"
"O-oh, sorry, sir!" You probably spaced out in front of him, though you're getting better about that, you think.
The principal peers down at the computer screen at his desk, adjusting his glasses. "Hm-hm… that should be manageable. Saotome-kun, Kaname-kun, would you return to your classroom? I should think I can arrange matters from here."
You wave to Madoka, and then start negotiating which lessons you'll sit in on. It's unexpected, but the principal is surprisingly genial and accommodating about your requests, and quickly arranges for you to sit in on a history lesson in second period, and a home economics class in third; after that, he'd arrange a teacher for you to shadow, he said.
-
So, with first period free, you head outside, send some texts and make some calls. A text to Miho, asking her to head out to gather information in Takarazaki City. A text to Oriko, checking on the 'witch controller' she'd said might appear tonight. A quick call to Saki in Asunaro, and one to Ishijima-san, checking on the progress of the police. And then, a telepathic message to Sayaka-senpai.
[Morning, Sayaka-senpai!]
[O-oh, good morning, Madoka. Where are you?]
[I'm at school right now. Are you still in Asunaro?]
[Nah, I went back to Kazamino and crashed at Oriko's place.]
[Huh, I thought you'd be out of range if that's true…]
[I'm back in Mitakihara already. Oriko sent me to check out a couple places she saw in visions and report back.]
[That makes sense… um, how's Homura-chan?]
[She was a bit weird yesterday, but she seemed fine this morning.]
[No dolls chasing her about in Kazamino?]
[Hm? Going after the dolls, are you, Madoka?]
[Mmm. We need to, sooner or later.]
[Yeah. I thought at first they'd all be trying to bully Homura like that one time, so it was weird they didn't show up so much. But then I had an idea. Maybe most of them don't recognize her as Homura because the emotions and experiences they represent are severed from her?]
[Huh, that's actually possible.]
[So, wouldn't they go after people who are like the Homura they know, or situations that are connected to the emotion they contain?]
[That sounds difficult to investigate, Sayaka. Don't you think it's also possible they're just far away, or they've already been defeated and their earrings claimed by someone.]
[Yeah, I guess. Got to go know, but if one shows up in one of Oriko's visions, I'll tell you. Have fun at school, Madoka.]
[I'll see you tonight, Sayaka-senpai.]
After that, you switch your phone off, then head back to the staff lounge and read someone's abandoned newspaper until second period starts. You don't find it particularly interesting, though you do acquire a few new reasons to revolutionize the world by the end of May. And, well, there's almost nothing in there you couldn't find on your phone; though, curiously enough, the weather reports are very different between the phone and the newspaper.
You have a perfect oracle, though, and both predict rain tonight, so you don't need to care.
There's one other preparation you make, slipping into the teachers' lounge kitchen for a few minutes, too - a little surprise for class 1-D that'll help out later.
By the time Saotome-sensei arrives, most of the class are out of their seats, crowding around you and answering all sorts of questions… and trying to touch your wings, unfortunately. Why does everyone want to touch them?
She doesn't immediately react unusually on opening the door, just… "Kaname-san, everyone, would you return to your seats?"
As everyone spreads out and leaves you be, you point out the obvious problem here. "Mmm… Saotome-sensei, there's not room in my seat."
She looks over, and blinks a few times. "Ah… this is…" You watch her eyes flick to Madoka in her seat, and back to you.
"I'm sorry, but… I think you may be in the wrong classroom…"
You shake your head. "No, Kaname Madoka is in this class, and I'm Kaname Madoka."
"But… ah, um… I'm sorry, everyone, we'll be starting a little late today. Kaname-san, would you come with me?"
"Umm… should I come too?" Madoka asks, getting up from her seat.
"That might be for the best, Kaname-san."
So, she takes the two of you to the teachers' lounge, where, unsurprisingly, there aren't many teachers, because everyone's with their own class. The PE teachers don't have their own classroom, so one of them is there, reading a newspaper with utter disinterest for his surroundings. You think he's got earphones in, too.
Saotome-sensei takes one look at him, then takes you up to the far other end of the room. "Kaname-san, d-do you think you could explain what's happened here?
"Mmm. I need to be away from school lots between now and the end of next month, so I figured out a way we could be in two places at once," you explain simply.
"A-and, the… um…" she lowers her voice to a whisper. "…wings?"
"Mmm… that one's a bit private, but… oh, I know. A secret for a secret is fair, so… I'll explain it if you tell me where Makina Sonomi is," you answer, with the gentlest smile in the world.
And she blushes, her cheeks pink as, for a moment, your homeroom teacher is completely lost for words.
"H-how do you know Sono-I-I mean, Makina-san?"
"That's another secret," says Madoka, her smile a little more mischievous. "We shouldn't be giving away all our secrets so easily…"
"So, which one do you want?"
"…hmph. I mustn't have my students treat me this way. I shall have to speak to Junko about this." Oh, dear, she's remembered her position.
"Hmm… actually, I suppose I could explain both. Did Mama- my mother, that is, ask you to look into anything about schools in Kamihama recently?" you ask, recalling the events of Saturday evening.
"Junko? She did, actually - I haven't got around to it yet, of course… I've been very busy indeed."
"With Sonomi-san?" interjects Madoka slyly, hands behind her back.
"…" The two of you really have her sweating now, but maybe this is a bit too mean.
"You see, the truth is," you begin, "I gained a great magical power recently, and I brought Sonomi-san back from the dead. The wings are because I've been using my magic so much - they still haven't grown out fully yet, though." You're honestly not sure what you'll be able to do when they grow out, considering they're sort of meant to be a transcendent symbol rather than something with a strictly physical existence.
"I-I see. So… ah," she rallies rather effectively, "since you seem to be well on the way to surpassing human understanding, should I take that to imply that you have no further need for my classes, Kaname-san?"
"Umm…"
"No, I'll still be coming to school, Saotome-sensei," Madoka says. "Madoka's going to be busy all over the region soon, but I'll be here, so there's no need to worry."
"I think I understand. Still, I have to have something to explain to the other teachers why there's an extra Madoka in class today… could you come with me to the principal's office?"
"Okay!" the two of you chorus, hoping Saotome-sensei doesn't get back to some kind of riot.
Being a good girl, you've actually never been summoned to the principal's office, one of the few rooms in the building that actually looks like it belongs in a normal school with normal, non-glass walls. You wait outside with Madoka for a couple of minutes, before you're finally summoned in, past the secretary who's wearing a very forced smile.
The principal is an older, balding man you rarely see outside of opening and closing ceremonies, who looks like he's put every ounce of his distinctiveness as a person into his perfectly maintained moustache. He hurriedly scoops up and dons his glasses as the three of you enter.
"Dear me. Yes. Kaname-kun and… Kaname-san?"
"Mhm." "That's right!"
"So. I'm told that you'd like to sit in on Kaname Madoka-kun's classes today as a family member. Is that correct?"
"Hmm… well, it's not quite like that. It's not like I'm not part of her family, but you're talking about the thing where I just stand in the back of the class and watch, like they used to do in elementary school on parents' day?"
"Oh? I appear to have misunderstood, then. In what capacity are you here? A prospective transfer student? A student teacher?" Huh, is he having some trouble figuring out your age?
You've been eliciting some interesting reactions from people trying very hard to fit you into their worldview, but, if you've got to pick how to fit yourself in… you don't really have an answer ready.
You're feeling particularly impish today, though, it seems.
"Oh, I'm, um…" You don't know what the future might hold, but this might be the only day you get to mess around and spend time with your friends before you're traveling all over the place saving magical girls, struggling against Kyubey's schemes and, most likely, rising to global recognition.
And put that way…
"…I'm here to understudy one of the teachers." You almost offered to be a guidance counselor, but there's a nonzero chance you might've ended up seeing one of your friends in that capacity, and that'd just be awkward.
"I see, I see. I wasn't informed we had a student teacher coming. Do you have a particular subject of interest or specialization, Kaname-san?"
"Mmm… well, theology and ethics are my specialties, but at a middle school level, it'd be hard to teach that sort of lesson. Maybe I could do history, or home economics?"
[Glutton,] a witchy voice teases you from on high.
[I am not a glutton.]
"Kaname-san? Your… your eyes are…"
"O-oh, sorry, sir!" You probably spaced out in front of him, though you're getting better about that, you think.
The principal peers down at the computer screen at his desk, adjusting his glasses. "Hm-hm… that should be manageable. Saotome-kun, Kaname-kun, would you return to your classroom? I should think I can arrange matters from here."
You wave to Madoka, and then start negotiating which lessons you'll sit in on. It's unexpected, but the principal is surprisingly genial and accommodating about your requests, and quickly arranges for you to sit in on a history lesson in second period, and a home economics class in third; after that, he'd arrange a teacher for you to shadow, he said.
-
So, with first period free, you head outside, send some texts and make some calls. A text to Miho, asking her to head out to gather information in Takarazaki City. A text to Oriko, checking on the 'witch controller' she'd said might appear tonight. A quick call to Saki in Asunaro, and one to Ishijima-san, checking on the progress of the police. And then, a telepathic message to Sayaka-senpai.
[Morning, Sayaka-senpai!]
[O-oh, good morning, Madoka. Where are you?]
[I'm at school right now. Are you still in Asunaro?]
[Nah, I went back to Kazamino and crashed at Oriko's place.]
[Huh, I thought you'd be out of range if that's true…]
[I'm back in Mitakihara already. Oriko sent me to check out a couple places she saw in visions and report back.]
[That makes sense… um, how's Homura-chan?]
[She was a bit weird yesterday, but she seemed fine this morning.]
[No dolls chasing her about in Kazamino?]
[Hm? Going after the dolls, are you, Madoka?]
[Mmm. We need to, sooner or later.]
[Yeah. I thought at first they'd all be trying to bully Homura like that one time, so it was weird they didn't show up so much. But then I had an idea. Maybe most of them don't recognize her as Homura because the emotions and experiences they represent are severed from her?]
[Huh, that's actually possible.]
[So, wouldn't they go after people who are like the Homura they know, or situations that are connected to the emotion they contain?]
[That sounds difficult to investigate, Sayaka. Don't you think it's also possible they're just far away, or they've already been defeated and their earrings claimed by someone.]
[Yeah, I guess. Got to go know, but if one shows up in one of Oriko's visions, I'll tell you. Have fun at school, Madoka.]
[I'll see you tonight, Sayaka-senpai.]
After that, you switch your phone off, then head back to the staff lounge and read someone's abandoned newspaper until second period starts. You don't find it particularly interesting, though you do acquire a few new reasons to revolutionize the world by the end of May. And, well, there's almost nothing in there you couldn't find on your phone; though, curiously enough, the weather reports are very different between the phone and the newspaper.
You have a perfect oracle, though, and both predict rain tonight, so you don't need to care.
There's one other preparation you make, slipping into the teachers' lounge kitchen for a few minutes, too - a little surprise for class 1-D that'll help out later.
- Location
- Sweden
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I love the adults just absolutely freaking out internally at Madoka just casually going around being Madokami-Jesus. She really is bad at explaining herself.