You stand under a blooming cherry tree, sakura petals falling all around you to frame a panorama of the city below the cliffside in front of you, shining brilliantly like the starry sky above. The full moon shined, setting upon the ocean spreading out into the horizon.
You stare into its reflection.
You think your parents would be worried about you, staying outside this late at night, but they're on a business trip overseas right now. They have no say in what you want to do. They couldn't stop you from stepping forward into the night.
It is here, that your best friend, Kondo Kaoru, died without even a corpse to be seen, fighting against her senpai-turned-Witch, so Kyubey informed you.
The police had questioned you about her "disappearance," but you could say nothing of how she was a magical girl, saving people wherever she went because that would just get you labeled delusional, or worse, believed. Kyubey's policy on breaking the masquerade was made clear when she and her senpai had tried once to show the public that magic was real after finding out about the final fate of a magical girl, to mature into a Witch.
It just got many people's memories deleted and a severe warning that more extreme measures would be taken to remove the source that was unbalancing their system.
Her senpai was already feeling stressed from the magical girl life, mainly territorial conflicts with other magical girls, but when it was confirmed that she could never escape it, never break her fate of turning into a Witch or dying, never rely on society at large to help her, she started to fall apart.
You want to resent her senpai, for turning into a Witch, but you know that Kaoru would scold you for that. She would say to not forget that senpai had suffered too, that her heart had been broken too.
She would also say to not become a magical girl, but she is no longer here to say that.
She is no longer here to nag you about doing your homework and ask for advice in return. She is no longer here to cry on your shoulder, holding onto you as an anchor to a more normal world.
You stay silent for a long stretch of time.
You look towards Kyubey.
"Others would say to laugh when you are sad. Others would say to look up when you look down. I'm sure Kaoru would say something like that. Right, Kyubey?"
Kyubey replies, "I can neither confirm nor deny that with certainty, though I can predict that that sounds like her."
"I see, I see. I've been thinking about the things you've said to Kaoru and Mana-senpai. You've never explicitly lied once, have you? When they asked about where Witches come from, I realize now that you said they come from magical girls in a very roundabout way, such that we would interpret it to be the general curses of humans as a whole. Even now, like a lawyer and politician combined, you've said nothing of actual substance. You
can predict that that sounds like her, but that doesn't mean you
are predicting that Kaoru would say something like that. What do you think she would actually say to me?"
Kyubey says, "I do not have enough data to make an accurate prediction regarding your request."
"Why?"
Kyubey intones, "It was considered inefficient to gather in-depth information on Kondo Kaoru as she was always meant to be a short-term investment. In fact, it is remarkable that as the short-term investment she was, that she did not mature into a Witch immediately after Morishige Mana did so. Perhaps she felt a need to return to you? I believe this is the best attempt at sincere consolation I can make as of now. Was this not a likely implication behind your first question?"
"Yes... yes it was, Kyubey. Thank you, but if you can do that much, if you can be that nice, why is the magical girl system like this? Why does it have to be so cruel? Actually, scratch those questions, I have better ones suited to you. Why do you want magical girls to turn into Witches? What is the purpose behind the magical girl system?"
Kyubey says, "Have you heard of entropy?"
You nod.
Kyubey continues, "One day, the universe shall end. Imagine the universe as a string that is vibrating. What you humans call the Big Bang, is the supposedly inexplicable high-energy vibration of that string spawned from random fluctuations in it. As both ends of the string stretch out longer and longer, the vibration in that string smooths out, and eventually, that energy will be so spread out as to might as well have never existed for us in the universe as it is now. Probability states that such random fluctuations do not happen often enough to sustain the universe in its current state. Eventually, all energy will become unusable to us. This is, of course, a simplified explanation.
This was a troublesome state of affairs for our coalition of species and all yet-to-be-discovered species. We searched and searched for new physics and new techniques that could surpass the inevitable breakdown of the universe, but could not find any. Then, we stumbled upon a sapient species that still had emotions. You see, we had always known that emotions produce energy, but the energy put into a non-sapient creature producing emotions did not create enough, and so had expected the same to be for sapient species. Imagine our surprise when we found that emotional sapient species produce at least one nanosecond of a galaxy's worth more energy than is put into them. Using techniques too complicated to discuss in simplified terms, we could extend the life of the universe!
Your species is one of quintillions we have invested in to produce energy. Within your species, biological females, specifically six to about twenty years old, give or take, produce at the very least, twice as much energy as your male counterparts. Using the ecosystem produced by your emotions, known as karma, in conjunction with the phase change from despair to hope and hope to despair, we could have the lowest potential contractee produce in total if they complete all phase changes, human to magical girl, magical girl to Witch, at the very least the amount of energy a galaxy produces, from its birth to its death. We predict that your species has the potential to produce a god worthy of awe, one who could reshape all of reality at their will! Humanity, in this capacity, is certainly an unprecedented species."
"C-could I become a god? Could I revive Kaoru?"
Kyubey says, "Unfortunately, no, you do not have enough base potential to revive Kaoru. As to whether you could become a god, your current karmic potential is relatively high in comparison to the average magical girl, but if you contract in your current emotional state you could become one of the most powerful magical girls this world has ever seen, and of course, one of the most powerful Witches this world has ever seen. You certainly have the possibility of becoming a god."
You look away from Kyubey and clench your fist.
You know that Kaoru wouldn't want you to contract, but she is no longer here.
You cannot revive her. If you contract, you can no longer say that you are living for her sake.
Your parents always complained about you being selfish. Kaoru always complained, but she put up with it because you were her best friend.
If you weren't selfish, you would be standing here, sending her off with a smile.
You wouldn't be thinking about contracting.
Were you kind enough to her? Did you pay enough attention to her? Did you actually give anything of meaning to her?
None of that matters now, does it?
At the very least, you know you can do this - you can never forget her.
Even if your love for her is selfish, even if you never told her how much you loved her, that you even loved her in that way at all, you can always remember her.
Rather, you don't want to forget her.
"Others might say to live in her memory and move on. Others might say to honor what she fought for."
You look at Kyubey, determined.
"Kyubey, I will remember her. I will never move on. At this moment, I have created a world with her, where we spent an eternity with each other. I will never move on from this world. I want this world, this moment to be eternal. This moment cannot be eternal if I live as a Human. Since I will eventually die as a Human, I
must become a magical girl. As a magical girl, I can live forever. No, it's not that I live forever, as a magical girl, I can remember her forever, always living in this moment under the sakura tree."
Kyubey says, "Does this mean you have a wish?"
"Yes"
Kyubey intonates, "Are you willing to give your very soul for it? Are you willing to eventually become a monster for it? Is this truly the wish that shall overcome entropy?"
"Yes. Kyubey, no, that's not right. What is the name I should call you?"
Kyubey replies, "Kyubey is the nickname given to me by the current era of magical girls. The title I hold upon this planet is, Incubator."
"Then, Incubator! Grant my wish! I, Saigyouji Yuyuko,
wish [ ]!"
[ ] I wish to remember Kondo Kaoru forever!
[ ] I wish to remember this moment, where I have spent an eternity with Kondo Kaoru, forever!
[ ]
I wish to control grief! My own! That of others! The grief of the Witches! All of it! Pls, don't choose that wish. Just pls...
[ ] I wish to become a god!
Note: You'll get a conceptual version of Touhou Yuyuko's ability, the ability to manipulate death.
https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Yuyuko_Saigyouji#Ability
[ ] Write-in
Note: When writing in, please put in the wish and the intent behind it. That'll shape the power behind it. The more of your potential is invested into the wish, the less magic capacity you'll have before you turn into a Witch. Automatically, your potential will invest itself to fulfill the wish as best it can in accordance with the intent, but if you focus on getting more magic capacity, your potential will try more to fulfill the wish in letter, not in spirit.
Have a song:
Make sure to turn on the subtitles.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGmhRnI-ULA
