Fandom Madoka Magica: Matsuyama Mystery (IC)

[Dolches]

Agotta felt bad that Nozomi had to spend money on her. Even so, she reasoned that with what she had right now she'd probably have to choose between buying noodles or broth. "Thank you! I'll make sure to pay you back when I can!" Agotta asserted. Komi accepted Nozomi's offer as well, although in a much more abrasive manner. She's not gonna order a ludicrous amount of food just because someone else promised to pay, right? Komi seemed a little... rough around the edges, but surely she's not that type of person. Right? She pinched Agotta's cheek, which hurt a bit, and started talking about using her looks to get what she wants. "Wouldn't doing that be not cute?" Agotta asked. Apparently Aza was invited as well. Could miss Kyubey even eat? According to her, she could, and was more than willing to do so. Agotta was resolved to try her best not to break the bank.

Nozomi had lead them all to a small noodle stall, including the Pokémon. Agotta looked at the menu and thought for a bit. Her real thoughts were much more crude, but she was simply thinking of what would be the most filling relative to its price. Hmm... She looked over the items listed with her chin in her hand. Some of this stuff she never even tried. What should she get... Her eyes landed on Tonkotsu Ramen. It seemed as if her mouth saw it too, as she started salivating a little bit. It was somewhat expensive compared to some other items she could get, but... Her mind and heart were no match for her stomach in this battle, and she ordered it. "I'm sorry, Miss Nozomi... I tried to order something cheaper, I really did..." She said remorsefully, holding her head low. She'd probably spend a good bit of Saturday doing chores so that she could repay Nozomi. Nozomi's question to Komi was a little shocking. "She has parents?" Agotta blurted out. "You seem so cool that I forgot you also probably have parents and a bedtime and all that." She said absentmindedly to Komi as she watched the chef make her food with ravenous eyes.

Interactions:
Nellancholy GrieveWriter Karcen

 

[GrieveWriter]

Komi Murasa
Interaction/Mention: Dolches Nellancholy Karcen
Location: Tafton Towers Construction Site ==> Noodle Shop

"Shit, must be cockier than me if ya think you can handle any o' this, Red Eye." Komi shook her head at Aza's insinuation before snickering and giving a shrug "But guess we'll have to wait and see when ya get enough Komi Points."

She'd spoken with little hesitation or consideration, partially because mulling over any underlying meaning behind Red Eye's words didn't sound fun but also because she was already focusing that consideration on just how much of the menu she could break on Nui's dime. Following her over to the noodle stop, Komi was already assembling her meal in her head. Given its proximity to Tafton Towers, of course Komi would frequent it here and there. Since a good chunk of her income was donated in exchange for her epic performances, this was one of the first stops she'd have back in the day.

Of course, seeing as she could just beat down punks and rob 'em blind with relative ease nowadays, there were other places she could drop hard cash at. But that didn't mean she wasn't above taking a trip down memory lane.

Though Agotta didn't seem to understand the finer details of abusing one's cuteness, she accepted Nozomi's offer. Komi wasn't impressed by what she actually ordered, but she was certain anything compared to her own order would just seem underwhelming, so she gave the runt a pass. Spicy Scallops and Shrimp Miso Ramen plus Tantan Udon with three different types of Onigiri essentially led to her plate looking like two and a half full meals instead of just one.

She barely even needed to skim the menu before putting her order together and letting the cook do his thing. She'd have to wait longer for it, but that just meant she'd be hungrier by the time her banquet arrived.

She'd had those foods before, and was already remembering the flavors when a question from Nui herself snapped her back to reality. It was a simple question though Agotta seemed stunned by it, aquestion on Komi's parents and just what they knew of her whereabouts.

Letting Agotta finish being surprised, Komi leaned back in her seat and waved off the question, "Aw, sometimes I forget just how green you two are." she lowered her hand "My folks haven't known where I've been in weeks, hell even before that I barely chatted with them about where I'd go. Not about to be all able to crush fire hydrants with my bare hands and still be worried over things like checking up on the family or showing up for some dumbass history lesson."

She lowered her hand further until it rubbed against the tip of Fenrir, which was leaned against her seat, "This baby and some deadly assholes to use it on are all this gal needs."

 

[Nellancholy]

Nozomi pursed her lips, hearing Komi's casual dismissal of her circumstances. She could imagine Komi's parents being quite hurt by her departure...but then again, the kind of parent that would make a child like this...

Komi was obviously taking advantage of her generosity right now, but the fact that she was coming along at all meant she really needed that food.

She decided not to jump to conclusions. But she couldn't help wondering as to whether this was the path a magical girl's life would always lead them. Already she felt like the gap between her and her own mother was widening...

Regardless, she tried to keep Komi talking. "You have it under control, huh. But you can't be breathing in that abandoned building dust all the time. You stay with anyone? Apparently, you have lots of fans." She looked up, before realising she didn't have her bearings. "I'm staying...two blocks north from Tafton."

 

[Karcen]

Azamuku "Aza" Aikyo
Location: noddle shop
mentions: GrieveWriter Nellancholy Dolches
​

" Can't blame a girl for trying." Aza said with a shrug.

At the noddle stand Aza did not plan to order much, she could eat and she did, but she liked snacks over full on meals. Aza sometimes wondered if it was because of her connection to the incubators and their habit of getting fed by other girls. The city was in truth new to Aza but she knew most of where she needed to go finding your way around was easy when you had something better than a GPS connected to you brain. Still that knowledge was shallow she knew the street names and the building numbers, but she did not truly know them a a local did. She was not a local after all, and likely would never again be a local anywhere she went. No other magical girl would ever see that as they were to focused on their city, their wish, their goals. Aza in a way could not help but be jealous of the girls knowing so little, and in a way more free than Aza herself.

At the stand Aza would just order some beef ramen, she had never planned to take advantage of Nozomi as she had not expected to be invited. Nozomi did not trust her and yet she had made a wish, she had signed a contract she didn't trust without reading it. While the incubators might word things to gain a better outcome, they didn't lie and if pressed properly they would have to give up their secrets. Aza did not know why Nozomi had not done that, she would have lived longer. Well it was not her place to judge who made a good or bad deal, in the end they had all made the deal.

Aza would eat her noodles as the other spoke of parents and family. It was common for a rift to form, how magical girls dealt with the rift was up to them. Other girls like Komi and Aza herself had long ago made their own rift. Aza in truth started to feel a little guilty about how her parents didn't know what city she was in. The rift between them was a bridge that Aza herself had burned to be free of them and their desires even before she met Kyubey. It was a little sad to see another who had that wide of a gulf in their life. Komi either was strong or she pretended to be. if it was the latter then one day some witch would use it against her or another magical girl. Aza saw Nozomi inviting Komi to stay with her as a normal attempt to separate Aza from the others, a foolish idea. Still Aza would not stop them, if komi wished to stay with Nozomi that was fine, if she wanted to stay at the towers that was fine, even Aza's apartment was fine it was a place for the girls to meet and stay should need be. She did have a few comments about the situation though.

" A rift forming between parent and child is sadly common " Aza said meaning it it was both sad and common that their work caused this. " Magical girls should find a place to relax, to find comfort and solace. for some that is at home, for others with friends, and others in solitude. " Aza herself fell into the last group, she had burned the bridges she had from before she became what she was and she never stayed long. It was just her and Kyubey and it always would be " If ever any of you need it my home is open any time" She offered. It was not quite a control tactic Aza did mean it in good faith. While Aza suspected Nozomi would see it as Aza trying to counter her offer Aza was just being open should the weight of the world prove to much and no family member would listen then she would. As an incubator Aza should want the girls to fall into being witches as soon as was sustainably possible, but Aza would rather no one had to die and the girls live long lives.

 

[GrieveWriter]

Komi Murasa
Interaction/Mention: Karcen (Aza) Nellancholy (Nozomi) Dolches (Agotta )
Location: Noodle Shop

Komi's meal came in pieces, spaced out between the orders of the other girls. The first to arrive was her scallops, and she found the rumored spiciness of the dish to be below her expectations. She'd had tons of different spices, having grown accustomed to picking up food from wherever happened to be the closest to her when she got hungry. These scallops didn't even make her tear up, and wound up quickly devoured as she listened to Nozomi get all bent out of shape about her living conditions of all things.

It made Komi raise an eyebrow as she licked some zesty scallop sauce from the side of her lip and dried it off with a napkin. She hadn't noticed before given how much she was eyeing the menu, but somewhere between Tafton Towers and now, she'd become the primary topic of discussion. Somehow she even got Aza wrapped up in the whole talking about living conditions and stuff, which Komi couldn't bring herself to care about in particular.

But then she found the first of her Onigiri arriving, and her grin returned with renewed vigor.

"Man, you guys must be crazy if you think all that staying in one place crap works for a gal like me." she said in between bites "I make it my mission to be doing as much as physically possible every day, hour and minute I can, the Towers are just where I take my breaks. If I haven't gotten into ten different street races, brawls and life-risking stunts before nightfall, I consider it a slow day."

Licking her fingertips as her Miso Ramen arrived, Komi tried to continue speaking while she ate, though the rich flavor of her meal made such things quite difficult.

"This whole magic business just gave me more reason never to slow- ooh hold up." she had to take a moment to savor the the rich blend of herbs contained within her ramen. It made her close her eyes and lean back for a second. She knew that she'd had this particular dish before, but for the life of her she was certain it didn't taste this good last time she had it. It was a different guy working behind the counter whipping up their meals.

"Hot damn son," she said to the cook as he delivered another one of her Onigiri "you make enough meals like this, I might have to hop over this counter and kiss you."

With that said, she dug back in for a moment before remembering that she was in the middle of saying something. wiping her face with another napkin, she turned to her companions again and stretched her neck a bit.

"Now that I can spend most of my time looking for stuff to kick the hell out of and get more powerful by doing it, I ain't got no reason to do anything else." she said before casting her look away "But shit, if you both offering beds to crash at in-between my lil' sprees, I guess I'm game."

She dug into her latest Onigiri before finishing off the Miso Ramen with no small amount of sensual moans leaking from her with every swallow, "God.... bet you cash money ain't either o ya'll get fine meals good as this, though."

 

[Dolches]

Agotta looked at herself before she realized Komi meant she was new, and not actually the color green. She decided not to press further about Komi's parents. She personally felt that she'd be incredibly sad if she was separated from her family, so Komi must feel similarly, right? Nozomi had offered Komi to stay at her place. "So you two ARE friends?" She asked. She couldn't really tell anymore. They were together when she first saw them, then seemed to not get along during the witch fight and conversation at Tafton towers. The best way to get questions answered is to ask them. Aza began to talk about how the relationships between Magical Girls and their parents. She didn't want things to end up like that. At some point during the conversation her food arrived. The pork was well-done, as she liked it. Considering she was a kid, it seemed normal that she'd think meat that looked like it wasn't fully cooked was icky, even if the alternative was tough. She chewed through the meat and slurped up the noodles. "This is really delicious!" She exclaimed, giving a smile and thumbs up. Komi seemed to agree, to a much more extreme degree however. The cook shrugged and laughed her comment off.

Agotta wondered how a life of running around and attacking things would fare for her... Bad. She couldn't imagine just fighting people for fun. Fighting witches and their familiars? That was alright because they attacked people! Was Komi doing the same thing? Was she getting into brawls with bad people? Good people? Was she a bad person? She fought against a witch, but that didn't mean she was a good person. Why's she thinking so hard about this? Komi treated her nicely, so she must be alright, right? All this thinking was too hard, and Agotta decided to focus on her meal instead. It was just as good as before. Somehow she couldn't think of an in depth reason for why she liked it. It just tasted good. Maybe she should think the same way about Komi? She was kind to her so she must be good. Even though she thought the best way to get something answered was to ask, she couldn't bring herself to ask about this. It just felt like something she shouldn't say. The fact that she'd just accept whatever answer Komi gave her probably meant that she was good, right? Agotta shook her head vigorously and went back to eating again. She heard Komi's comment about the other two not cooking as well. "My mom cooks really well!" She said. Maybe she was biased, but she felt that her mom's cooking was better.

 

[Nellancholy]

It was just as well that Komi had refused. It would be a bit hard to hide her in her room for the 3 hours or however long that girl would sleep before jumping out the window to go do something crazy. Either way, Nozomi got the feeling that at least knowing where to find each other was a good idea when facing whatever was to come.

Certain that the others were fairly close to finishing, she opened her wallet, tracing her fingers through the compartments to count out notes and coins, covering Agotta, Komi, and with a slight annoyance, Aza as well. Didn't want to make a habit of this.

"Well..." she tilted her head towards Komi. "I'm not going to call it a responsibility, because you clearly don't see it that way. But things are different for you and all of us now that we...made a deal. So...watch yourself. And if it rains on that unfinished building you're in, you know where to find me."

She turned to Agotta. "Sure you can find your way home?" Agotta had been living in this town for long enough, it was fine. Satisfied with this evening, she pulled out her cane, making to leave.

 

[Karcen]

Azamuku "Aza" Aikyo
Location: noddle shop
mentions: GrieveWriter Nellancholy Dolches
​

Aza had little to say on the matter of where the other's stayed and nothing more to say on their home lives. Aza knew she was not one to give out advice on such matters, her own family life was fucked. She had gone from trying her best to rebel to so busy with her work, seeing the world from such a different point of view, it all seemed so small. She had lost sight of friends and family seeing the big picture, but that was the only picture she needed to see. While other magical girls might have a limited life even if they didn't turn or die in battle, they would age and die in time, Aza knew her body was nothing, she could make one as young or as old as she wanted and should it grow weak or get injured she could summon a new one. Aza knew she would not truly grow old, she would not fall to illness or infirmity so unless she fell in battle she would outlive everyone. It was a scary thing to realize at first, that her parents, her friends, everyone she knew would be dust while she remained eternally young. Perhaps her show of being inhuman just covered this issue she was not human thus did not feel like a human. It was a shell to protect her soul, and Aza needed a hard shell for what had to be done.

Most of the conversation passed Aza by as she ate not rushing herself and not truly listening to the others. The team needed to bond, and she was not truly a member. Aza knew she would one day leave this city, these girls and go where ever she was needed. With this event still a mystery Kyubey was more closely watching girls and being more active in terms of intervention. They did not want a repeat of whatever happened here, and what they knew was the girls had found out about the cycle. They had to make sure any girl that figured it out kept that info to herself to avoid a repeat until what exactly had happened could be fixed. If they could not be talked down then Kyubey brought Aza in she knew he used her like an enforcer as she had access to the technology of the incubators and the instincts of a human to fight. Looking to Nozomi Aza still wondered just how to deal with her, the easiest method likely was not to, without someone to ask Nozomi would no doubt hit a dead end for awhile.

Aza tuned back in as Nozomi talked about responsibility and the deal. They had all made the same deal, they had each signed away their life without truly understanding the meaning of it. Would a human court accept the deal as valid, no they would not, but Aza already knew what would happen if governments discovered magical girls. They could wish for so many things, new technologies, the eliminations of rivals. Humanity would turn children into a commodity something to be used. That was a worse outcome than the current system, at least here no one forced them, they each made the choice. The idea that a nearly blind girl was worried about someone else finding their way home was kind of funny. Agotta had her pokemon they would know the way home and could fly her there, and the terminals would secretly keep watch over the girls, as they did the others.

While it seemed the other were all getting ready to go Aza instead ordered more to eat. She didn't need to say anything with this she told them she was staying they could go. Aza did need to in some way remind them she was not with them, she was an outsider to their group. Just a teacher till they were ready, just till the mystery was solved. Aza also needed to stay to focus on a little chit chat over what had been found thus far with the investigation. Aza had been pushing the thoughts of Kyubey away to focus on the girls and the day, but now she needed to confirm and theorize with him and she could not be around the others to do that. " You girls go ahead I need to meet someone so I'll be staying a bit longer" Aza said waving her heard in a shooing motion.

 

[Nellancholy]

One day later...

Nozomi sighed,leaning back on a park bench. Today was one of the more relaxing days she'd had in a while. Being able to spend time with some friends like this...it's a feeling she had forgotten.

They had gone shopping earlier, and it had also been a while since she got some new clothes. While she could no longer really make out patterns, at least she could tell colors and still feel the difference between materials.

She'd contented herself with a new tube of lip gloss (something she could feel) and an airy blouse that kind of...reminded herself of the outfits she wore during the time she was in an idol group. That brought back some memories.

"Ah, Shiranui-chan!" Suzune, her energetic classmate, leaned in on her, her bag squeezed between them. "This top...it looks kind of like the one Tenshi-chan wore in Combat Angel Rem, wasn't it?"

Kaede, Suzune's friend, scoffed. "Suzu was a big fan of that show when we were kids. Got really annoying about wanting me to watch it..."

"Come on..." Suzune pouted at Kaede. "Shiranui-chan! Say the line just once!"

"..." Nozomi didn't really want to re-enact scenes from her past, but it wouldn't hurt to, just once. She took a breath and recalled her vocal practices. "Ah...'Evildoer halt! Combat Angel Rem has arrived to expurgate your filthy heart!'...is that right?" She was careful not to be too loud about it.

"Eh...your voice is deeper than it used to be." Suzune chuckled.

"Or maybe she doesn't have a filter here." Kaede shook her head.

"She's right, you know." Nozomi shrugged.

No sooner than she closed her mouth again, Nozomi felt a strange tension form in her chest. A certain sense of...foreboding.

Her hand slipped into her pocket. Her soul gem wasn't reacting. This wasn't a witch...but what then could give her such dread?

 

[Dolches]

Wow... Komi ordered a lot of food. That must be really expensive. Agotta looked over at Nozomi, wondering if she really had the money to pay for all that. Her annoying expression was probably about Komi. She nodded in response to her question. "Yep! I may be a kid but I'm super smart!" She said. She hopped off her chair and bowed to Nozomi. "Thank you very much Miss Nozomi, the food was really good. I'll make sure to pay you back at some point!" She said. After straightening out, she turned to the chef and did the same. "Thank you very much for the food, it was delicious!" She said. Unfortunately, the chef couldn't see her over the counter when she was bowing, and thought she was talking to someone else. She made sure she had everything, and signaled her Pokémon to follow her. "Have a good night everyone! See you later!" She smiled, waved, and then began walking off. She opted to walk instead of fly to help Corviknight conserve energy. She was also curious as to how the spots of city between here and home looked at night. The lights in the darkness shined brilliantly, and the view of trees, dimly illuminated, had a completely different feeling compared to normal. She didn't understand all this though, and thought that everything looked pretty. She got to her house just in time to see her father leaving. "Hey dad!" She exclaimed, running up to tackle him with a hug. He looked a little surprised, but then smiled. "Where ya' goin'?" She asked.

"Oh, nowhere important. Just gonna get some eggs for breakfast tomorrow." He said. Agotta tilted her head a little. Did he really need a suit and tie to go get eggs? Maybe they would give him a discount for being well dressed! "How was your extra time with friends?" He asked her.

"It was great! We went go eat at a food stall and they had really good tonkotsu!" Her father laughed.

"Good to hear! I'm glad you enjoyed it, but please don't make a habit out of this. Your mom was worried sick." He said, frowning a bit.

"Sorry..." Agotta apologized, lowering her head.

"Hey, it's not me you have to apologize to. I knew that you'd be fine. Have a good night, Agotta." He waved and began walking off, straightening his tie. Agotta turned to the door. She looked around for a second. Yeah, the Pokémon were chilling around. Marowak and Cubone had dug a small decline into the ground and curled up in it, and Corviknight was roosting on the tree in the front yard. She turned back to the front door, and gulped.

"I'm home!" She announced, barging into her house through the front door. She began to take her shoes off, when she saw her mom washing dishes. "Hey mom!"

"Oh, hello Agotta." Her mom said. "How was your playdate?"

"It was great! We ate at a food stall! I saw dad and he said he was getting eggs for breakfast tomorrow! I don't know why he was wearing a suit and tie though." She said to her mom, who had a confused look on her face.

"Well, that's something to look forward to, huh? I'm glad you're safe, sweetie. I thought you might get lost."

"Oh, yeah, um..." Agotta bowed. "Sorry for making you worry!" She said, her mom chuckling in response.

"It's a Friday, it's alright." She reassured her. "Just get to sleep soon, alright? And don't complain if you don't wake up early enough for breakfast!"

"OK!" Agotta responded, running to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, changed into pajamas, and then headed to bed. No sooner than she hit the mattress did she fall asleep. With all that she had done today, she barely had the energy to put her pajamas on before falling into a deep and dream filled slumber.



Bellstar turned to face her. Her cartoony aesthetic clashed with the empty realism that clouded her dream. The bandana and ten gallon hat that seemed fused with her head did nothing to hide her gaze. A witch that spent all her time longing to be the star in a Western movie, yet doomed to be a villain. She spent her time stealing the most precious cargo that modern trains carried: people. Mayhap one of the people she abducted would humor her wish, and act out the script with her. Perhaps this outlaw and her posse would fall to a lone and cunning stranger, who used his revolver as naturally as he breathed. Perhaps even Clint Eastwood himself would put her to rest. It was a potshot dream that was as improbable as it was cool. As a witch, her end lay with magical girls. At the very least, she could find comfort in such coming from a friend. What? Bellstar grabbed one of her guns, and began to spin it. Eventually, said spinning motion spread from the revolver, to the dream itself. A oval motion that mostly went up and down, somewhat left and right. Even through the swirl of color, Agotta could still feel Bellstar's stare, something that only someone who locked eyes with a witch would ever know.



Agotta woke up in a cold sweat for the first time in her life. What in the world was that dream? Was this another attack made by the witch? What time was it? She looked outside her window to see that the sun was out, and looked to her clock to almost fall out of bed when her alarm scared her. She had woken up at her usual time. She stretched, climbed out of bed, and headed to the kitchen. Just as she thought, breakfast was ready. "Oh, you're up early, Agotta. Did you get enough sleep?" Her mom asked. Agotta merely nodded. Yes, she had gotten enough sleep, but her dream shook her so much that all of her morning energy was devoted to figuring out what was going on. She sat at the table, and looked forward with a thousand yard stare.

"Not gonna go watch the TV?" Her dad asked, to which Agotta shook her head. "Case of the morning sleepiness, eh? Want some coffee?" Before Agotta could reply, her mom chimed in.

"Dear, if you give Agotta coffee, you're the one who's going to have to deal with her when she starts jumping up the walls." She warned, eliciting a chuckle from her dad.

"Haha, alright, alright." Her dad said. "Didn't get enough sleep?"

"I had a really weird dream." Agotta said, thinking carefully how to word it. "I dreamed that a big monster I had fought before had reappeared in front of me, and told me all about itself. Then it repeated one thing it did and filled my mind with it." Her parents both looked confused.

"Ah, some villain getting beat in a cartoon has you down?" Her dad asked, to which she weakly shrugged. "Well, if that's the case, you might want to rethink why it was fought in the first place. Was it bad? Did it hurt people? If it deserved it, then it's best that it was defeated. Then think about that specific thing. What's important about it?" Agotta thought for a bit. Bellstar spun her revolver. She hadn't done that while fighting everyone, so why do it in her dream? Agotta thought hard. A revolver spin... It hit her. She forgot to go to Anri's house yesterday! This revelation made her jump up.

"I remember! Thanks dad!" She exclaimed as she got up, and was about to run out the door before her mom called out to her.

"Agotta! You're still in your pajamas and you haven't eaten breakfast yet! Get back here!" Her mom yelled. Agotta realized these things, and then walked back to her room to change into outside clothes. After that, she ate breakfast, told her parents she loves them, and left.

 

[Karcen]

Azamuku "Aza" Aikyo
Location: Yokote, Akita
mentions:
​

A day after the meeting at the noodle shop Aza had left the city for a little bit so she had a job somewhere else. Well there was no place like home, even if it was the source of the trouble. Kyubey had found trouble brewing when one of the magical girls had found out about witches and while normally they would just leave the girl alone she was going to tell others. If she had planned to keep it a secret then they would have left her alone and in truth they still wanted to not have to deal with her with extreme measures. With the situation in the other city letting the information leak that they normally didn't bother to control was a risk they could not take. Too much was on the line they were behind on energy collection and had to make up for lost time. They could not risk too many girls turning or worse planning another event. Though Aza was wondering with that witch just what they had done and how many had really left.

This was not really a time to think as Aza appeared in her magical form near the girl " Shinri still causing trouble I see" Aza said her voice was simply telepathy in this form. Still her familiarity with the girl was clear even without the tones of speech. Shinri Yoshimura, a former friend of Aza's before everything had happened, back when Aza had been a delinquent. Aza knew when Shinri made her wish and what it was for, her powers, and her weapon. A wish to escape her parents, and given the power to teleport.

" I had wondered if that rat would send you a lie to cover a lie" Shinri said a little in a joke between them as Aza's full name was deceitful while Shinri's was true, they were a lie and a truth.

Aza knew this attitude and she knew this would be hard. Still she didn't want her friend to have to be taken out, but Shinri was angry she had thought she had been lied to. All girls thought that they always thought there had been a lie when often they just never asked the right questions. Kyubey didn't lie, but he did omit facts unless asked specifically about them. " You think you know the truth, but you see the small picture. there is more to this, everything is for a good that has to happen, there isn't another way" Aza responded that was the truth there was no other way.

Shinri turned to face Aza and frowned not exactly happy to see what her friend had become " What cause could justify all this you help make girls into witches, you have us fight our friends and family why?" Shinri shouted wanting an answer that would explain everything and make her doubts stop.

This was a situation Aza had been in a few times and she didn't like her chances of actually getting her friend to understand, they never could see beyond themselves. " It is to save everything the universe is dying this is the only way to save it" Aza explained not going into the details, those were things that even the greatest of human minds would have a hard time grasping. " The energy from humans is the only way to stop it"

" So what, we are just some batteries cows to feed the universe?" Shinri asked in anger, returning. The system was unjust in her view; she could not see why it had to be this way.

Aza didn't know what Shinri wanted to hear, she wasn't right and yet she was. Humans were needed to keep the universe running, but it was not the same as them being disposable or cattle. In truth the incubators were far kinder to humans than to cattle. A cow had a short life that ended as soon as they had made their replacements with little in the way of change. humans got whatever they wanted and through that humanity had prospered. A farmer tended his cattle and made sure they lived how he dictated they should, the incubators only cared about you hunting the witches and likely turning into one, but other than that you were free. It was a hard thing to see something humans with their self importance would never understand. " No humanity is treated far better afforded more freedom than any livestock and a far smaller number are killed. humans have twisted and turned cattle into a far cry from their roots, we have done nothing but give you what you asked for. Also unlike humans we don't do this just because the meat is nice. When there are alternatives we do this because it is the only answer" Aza explained hoping that Shinri would understand. " Besides I know you enjoyed meat did you ever think about how they would feel if they could understand they exist just for humans to kill them and unlike you they get nothing for it?"

Shinri clenched her fists looking down as that was kind of a decent point, people did have entire species that existed just so they could be eaten, and that was why they continued to exist. Still she could not accept it. in a moment she looked back up " You act like you aren't one of us like you are one of the kyubey" She said as if that was some insult or great truth that would hurt Aza.

" I made the same deal as you, but I wanted to be Kyubey, to have his power, his knowledge, I was an idiot" Aza said, having considered herself foolish for having made the deal the way she did. " So I am not really human anymore I guess, this isn't even my original body and you" Aza started as Shinri vanished, appearing right beside her with a glowing baseball bat moving at full speed towards Aza's head. Aza raised her arm swiftly blocking the blow " Are only human after all" she said, almost sounding disappointed.

Aza's ear hands moved to grab Shinri and wrapped around her arm lifting her to throw her only for the girl to teleport and appear a short distance away. Aza didn't give her a chance to move again and appeared in front of her and went to punch Shinri in the gut, though the moment before she could Shinri vanished and appeared behind Aza landing a kick to her back that sent Aza sprawling. " You could never beat me in the old days Aza and you still can't" Shinri said with a smirk.

Shinri was shocked as despite Aza being on the ground in front of her another appeared in front of her already in motion and leading an uppercut that sent Shinri staggering back as the other Aza got up. " You really don't understand" Aza said as she got up " You must have asked yourself why Kyubey can't just use his race. That is because his race... we are one many bodies one mind and only one of them with emotions, me" Aza explained " I really don't want to have to do this, I don't want to hurt you if you just promise to not say anything we can forget this all" Aza pleaded for everything that she had become she still didn't want to hurt her friend like this, she didn't want to end her.

"More of you for me to hit then" Shinri said vanishing though as she tried a surprise attack she found the second Aza dodged it moving aside as if she knew what was coming only for the first to come from her side and launch herself into a spinning kick right to her side. Shinri was forced to back off and cough though the pain was minimal thanks to her being a magical girl. " how?" Shinri managed to cough out as the Aza's regrouped standing together.

" Who do you think gives you your powers? Who do you think made all the unseen mechanics of it? did you think magic was something natural, no we made it all so why shouldn't I be able to have the powers I want. Aza explained. Kyubey normally didn't fight as it was made to observe and collect not to deal in combat and there was a downside to this all. Aza could replicate powers as the incubators made them all and gave them out, but given her status they had to use what they collected. She burned the very energy they desperately needed to collect. " Just give up please the longer this goes on the more that goes to waste" Aza begged her friend. " The very energy we collect the lives sacrificed I have to burn through that to keep everything from falling apart because of you" Aza continued, finally getting angry.

Aza, despite borrowing the future sight ability, did not see the orb of pink energy that impacted with her second body's head destroying it " That's enough of an answer for you?" Shinri asked though the answer was clear this would not end until one of them fell. as she got another energy orb ready.

Aza didn't let her launch this one as chains appeared, the hooks on the end sinking deep into her arms and pulling them back. Shinri hissed in pain as the chains coming from nowhere tried to pull her apart. Then she vanished, showing up on another rooftop. “ Isn’t it a waste to keep fighting, even if you beat me you will become a witch and so will all the others there is no way out?” Aza asked, her voice easily heard in Shinri’s head.

“ At least we would be the last” Shinri said as she focused on bringing forth more of the orbs which Aza only now noticed looked like baseballs. Then launching them at Aza. She watched as the figure of her former friend was engulfed in the blasts.

“ Beating me doesn't stop the incubators, and even if it did then you would end the human race and all the other races in the universe” Aza said as the smoke cleared revealing Aza was not there, or well she was but it was another body “ We tried so many times humans are the only ones that work, we didn’t even sent up the witches it just happened” She continued still trying to talk sense into Shinri

“ The more you say the more you piss me off” was the only thing Shinri could say back as she looked around trying to find where Aza was. Her answer came when an orb very much like the ones she had launched impacted her leg. Shinri screamed in pain looking and finding Aza now with her own magic bat in hand. “ A lot of talk about wasting energy you could have killed me” She pointed out

I don't want to kill you. I don’t want anyone to have to die, even if in the end you all will. I want you to exist as long as you can. ” Aza said even her mental voice sounded near crying. She really did not want to do this; she would rather do anything but this one task. “ If we can just find one girl, the right girl then maybe things can change but they have to remain as they are right now” She continued. What stopped her was the feeling of a fist to her gut as Shinri had used the chance to move in.

“ If you know things aren’t right, fix them” Shinri said, not seeing the whole picture, still thinking like a human. To her the system was wrong, it didn’t matter if that was how it was, it was wrong. She didn’t even seem to get that if they could the incubators would have set up another system, this was just what they had found.

Aza’s reply was a punch to the face of Shinri followed by another and then another. She had tried and tried to explain things to Shinri and yet the other girl would not listen. Even as Shinri tried to teleport out to get some distance, Aza was right next to her and behind her. The one behind grabbed Shrin’s arms and the one in front went to kick Shinri only to have her vanish and cause Aza to hit herself. Looking to another roof Shinri was there and one Aza vanished while the other started running to jump from roof to roof.

Shinri saw one vanish and expected her to show up nearby, though she didn’t expect the chains to return as they hooked into her feet to try to root her for a moment. She would have simply teleported, but there was a sudden jolt from them as Aza called on yet another wish further sucking away the energy they incubators needed. The other Aza closed in and as she did she summoned a bat only to have it meet Shinri’s as she called it back. “ That's all you got?” She asked.

“ No” Aza said as a third showed up and drove a blade through Shinri’s gut. Any normal human would likely have been dead a while back, but Shinri was a magical girl and she could tak a lot more abuse. This however was pushing her limits. As before she could register the full impact of Aza’s ears from in front and behind both impacted Shinri at full force.

That was too much even for a magical girl and while not fatal she could not fight falling weakly to the ground as the chains and swords vanished. She was left with the sight of Aza standing over her, red splatters on her latest body “ You really aren’t human are you?” Shinri spat blood coming from her mouth with every word as she changed back to human, her soul gem becoming a physical thing.

“ I wish that was true ” Aza said as she tried to grab the darkened gem, having to pry Shinri’s hand open. “ If I wasn’t then this would be so much easier.” Aza said, looking at the gem not long now and it would turn.

“ Just going to watch it?” Shinri asked as if that was some kind of win “ Let me become a witch and make up for the energy lost or whatever?” she taunted her once friend.

“ If I wasn’t human I would just let you turn ” Aza said as instead of letting the gem turn black she cleansed it though this did nothing to heal Shinri “ I wish you could see things my. See how needed this all was. That would know that between us you are the lucky one, you will have an end, but I am going to be here till the end” Aza explained as she started to squeeze on the now pure gem. Shinri started to gasp and cough again as if someone was pushing down on her chest. “ You won’t become a witch, but you can’t live. I am sorry, so very sorry Shinri” Aza said as her grip tightened and the gem shattered. Shinri’s body went limp, the light in her eyes faded, she was dead. Aza could do nothing but touch her own darkened gem and cleanse it of the darkness even if that did nothing to make herself feel better.

 

[Nellancholy]

Nozomi pitched forward, her blurred vision turning dark. The shocked exclamations of her new friends were drowned out by a sound like rushing water. What came upon her was something that if not quite a vision, was a...knowledge of something happening right that moment.

---

Somewhere else in Matsuyama, Nozomi's mother was talking to...a foreign woman, maybe an acquaintance from work?

Mom looked quite well, even if not quite lively. Work wasn't so tough that it was harming her.

"...bring her along? I wouldn't mind meeting her." The foreign woman's voice faded in, as though a volume dial had been turned up.

"Oh, no Trisha." Mom said. "Nozomi's been quite a handful lately. I think I'll give her some space."

"Right..." The foreign woman...Trisha (?) nodded, doing her best to look sympathetic. "They do start doing things on their own more at that age...start talking back..."

"It's not that." Mom shook her head. "She's been annoying and clingy ever since we moved here. I think she's still stuck in the time when she was a kid and being treated like a celebrity. I've half a mind to send her to my sister's place. Let her handle Nozomi."

Trisha frowned, seemingly taken aback. "It IS almost time for her to head to university and get used to living on her own, but...does she have to leave you behind? If anything, don't you think she should spend more time with you?"

"I've still got...a few decades to go, don't think otherwise." Mom's eyes narrowed, her knowing gaze meeting Trisha's. "Maybe I'll find someone new to spend them with...someone more like me."

---

Nozomi opened her eyes, a few tears adding to the fog in her vision. Quickly wiping them off on the back of her hand, she sat up, taking in a sharp breath as she grasped Suzune and Kaede's arms tightly.

"Haaa...I'm alright. Guys, I'm alright."

"You sure?" Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Are you the type to get heatstroke?"

"Must...must be something I drank." Acting still came easily enough to her, at least. "I'll be fine, but we should probably head home." Pushing off the bench, Nozomi started clicking towards the train station.

"Awww, at least let me walk you there!" Suzune gasped, hurrying after her.

Nozomi didn't need to touch her soul gem to know something had changed. A mote of darkness swelled inside it, equal to a considerable exertion of her power. She'd have to play it safe until she scored her next grief seed.

Might that have anything to do with the vision she saw...?

 

[Dolches]

Agotta thought about what to do today. Of course she had to go check Anri and see if she's sick or something, but what about after that? She had to buy another book so she didn't really have much money on her. What could she do with a bunch of coins? She could go back to the train station again, and see if they found her book by now. The park and arcade were options. Of course, she could just go home and watch TV... No, her parents wanted her to limit the amount of time she spends doing that, so she had to do things while she was outside. First and foremost, however, she had to go to Anri's house. She lived quite close, which was probably one of the driving factors to them becoming friends. She approached Anri's house and knocked on the door. The first time there was no answer, so she knocked again. The second time, however, her father answered the door. He looked... Comfortable, to say the least, in a tank top and pajama pants.

"Whaddya- Oh, Agotta..." His speech started out angry, but he soon calmed down upon seeing it was just a friend of his daughter. "You're here to see... Anri... Huh..." He said.

"Yes, Mr. Motobe. I haven't seen her for a while so I got worried." Agotta said. "How is she? Is she sick or something?"

"Agotta, I..." Motobe said, tearing up a little. "I don't know how to tell you this but... Anri... She's not here..." Agotta's spirits sunk low, even worse than she felt after talking to the police officer yesterday.

"Wha- Wh-where is she?" Agotta choked out.

"I... don't know. I don't think that anybody knows..." Motobe said. "She just... vanished... one night..." Agotta's knees nearly buckled upon receiving this news. That police officer was right. Anri was missing.

"B- b- wha-..." Agotta stammered out, trying to ask multiple questions all at once.

"The police said there's been a lot of young girls disappearing recently... You should be really careful outside, Agotta..." Motobe said. Agotta collapsed to the ground, crying. The disappearance of magical girls and Anri as well... They had to be connected. Anri had to be a magical girl as well. But... Aza said she wasn't... With the horrible truth that Anri was missing right in front of her, she couldn't even consider what Aza said. Why would she lie? Was she incorrect? If she was telling the truth, then some sort of maze of technicalities must has brought Anri to be considered "not among the missing girls" by Aza and the Kyubey. Anri might not have been a magical girl... What was it?! Agotta was too confused and sad right now to put these pieces together anymore. "I know the feeling all too well..." Motobe said. "My wife is... Not in the best of states. She won't come out of her room. I bring her food and water of course, but..." Agotta tugged at Motobe's pants legs, interrupting him.

"She- Anri-... What was... her favorite movie?" Agotta said. "I remember she... She'd always tell me about how- how you introduced her to... Westerns..." Motobe looked down, his face filled with confusion and shock.

"Uh... It was... The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly..." Motobe stated.

"Can I... Can I watch it? Please..." Agotta asked, leading to a short while of complete silence.

"... Sure." Motobe said after around ten seconds. "Come in." When Agotta sat down, Motobe put the movie on TV, and gave Agotta a glass of water. When the movie began, he sat down in a recliner.

Although the movie was good, Agotta couldn't really feel anything. Every single thing that happened just reminded her of Anri. Anri used to show her Western movies whenever they'd have a sleepover here, but she hadn't seen this one. The last time before Anri had vanished, they watched the predecessor to this movie, "For a Few Dollars More" at their previous sleepover. The lead actor, Clint Eastwood, reminded her a lot of how Anri would act when they were playing together. This felt unreal to Agotta. She couldn't believe- No, she didn't want to believe that Anri was... gone... She broke out into tears again. Subconsciously, she knew her friend was dead, but she just couldn't accept it. After a few minutes, Agotta stopped crying and looked back up at the TV just in time to see the main character spin his revolver. All of a sudden, dots began to connect in Agotta's mind. Anri knew how to do that. "Mr. Motobe..." She said shakily. She looked over to see the man in question blankly staring at the TV with a sad and tired expression. Agotta hadn't even considered how he might be feeling. He had likely watched this movie countless times with Anri, and was faced with the reality that he likely would never get to do such a thing again. Change always upsets people in one way or another, and one as big as this... Agotta waited for the movie to end before trying to ask her question again. "Um... Mr. Motobe..." She asked again. With the movie finally over, he snapped out of it and responded.

"Hey." He replied, looking over at Agotta.

"Did Anri have... A toy gun?" She asked. She never brought one to school, despite how much they'd play around these Western scenarios.

"No, she didn't. She asked for one at some point, but it was late then, so I told her we could get one the day after. Then when I was going to bring her, she said she had one." He told her. Agotta came to a realization. Anri was indeed a magical girl, and likely wished that either she "was a cowboy" or "had a gun". She didn't have a toy to practice learning a revolver spin, so she likely did it with her magical girl weapon, which she knew for a fact would be one. Anri was a magical girl all this time? She was one before her... Before that thing she heard of where all the magical girls in Matsuyama vanished... She was likely caught up in whatever had happened... Agotta thought for a moment. If she was a magical girl with a Western theme... What was that witch from yesterday? It was the Wicked Western Witch and looked like bandit... The exact opposite of how she pictured Anri. Could this mean it was Anri's foil, like Aza had said? No, but the good guy always beats the bandit, so wouldn't it be the other way around? Witches were born from curses and negative emotions, and Bellstar was like an evil version of Anri's theme, so... Did something happen to Anri that was so bad that she made an entire witch on her own?! It was around the train station... Was that where Anri went missing?! She had to know.

"Mr. Motobe... Thank you... The movie was... good." She said, getting up from the couch and bowing to him.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it... I just wish... You could've seen it with Anri..." He said, his gaze downcast.

"I... I will." She stated, to Motobe's shock. "Have a nice day." She said before leaving. Her next stop was still the train station, but she had forgotten all about the book she lost before. She was now going over there to look for clues about Anri's disappearance. Even if the police looked here, they might not find anything. They weren't magical girls, after all, so this was up to her now. She hadn't even noticed that her soul gem had darkened earlier.

 

[GrieveWriter]

Komi Murasa
Location: Kodonaka Heights

Kodonaka Heights, the quote unquote 'rich' neighborhood lining the northern outskirts of the city. Unlike the densely packed suburbia in the city proper, Kodonaka Heights boasted lavish homes with large yards and larger pools, a view to die for, grassy hills which rolled all the way into the distance. To be able to afford such livery alone was proof of status, a place for business owners, wealthy retirees, and the occasional white-collar criminal putting their hard-earned money to use.

When people spoke of Kodonaka Heights, it was usually of the fancy cars seen traveling its twisting roads, or the large pools that nearly every backyard boasted. Some bragged about their own place up their, or complained about how unfair it was that their crummy boss got to enjoy such a livelihood.

But for Komi, the best thing about Kodonaka Heights were the rolling hills which provided only the sickest natural ramps for little daredevils like her.

She flew off the peak of another hill, leaning backwards on her bike to make it spin through the air before landing on one of the twisting roads. She had to jerk the handlebars to the side to keep herself from smashing into a wall, but the cheers she received from the onlookers were evidence that her almost slip-up went unnoticed.

She'd given word the day prior to some of her old classmates, and like usual the rumor mill had worked its magic. Dozens of people from all over the city joined together in an unorganized mob, all in order to witness her latest series of death-defying stunts. Most were old friends or classmates, students from neighboring schools that new of her reputation, a few seemed like locals that had just heard the commotion and wandered out to see; the usual assembly she managed to draw.

The size of the crowd usually depended on how far in advance she gave warning of her stunts, left people with more chances to fit it into their schedule.

She kept this one small for one reason and one reason alone, she hadn't exactly been planning it far out in advance to begin with. She was never too good with planning, had gotten far too used to just acting on impulse most of the time. Back in the day she only gave forewarning when it would take her time to travel to whatever locale she would be tearing up, now it only happened when their weren't any witches to fight.

Well, it was one of the things that happened when she couldn't engage in some good old witch-hunting.

Kodonaka Heights wasn't exactly hard to get to, but it was certainly a long way from her usual Stomping Grounds. A trip from Tafton Towers to there was easily a longer train ride than the one to school, and the traffic between the two locales was easily maddening, at least for folks who obeyed traffic laws regularly.

But Komi was winding through the snaking paths of the Heights going five times the speed limit, where even one wrong turn would lead her crashing through some CEO's gilded gates and right into his million dollar swimming pool. The onlookers above were either cheering her on or just waiting for her to screw up and cost someone some big bank. But as she neared a gap between the large houses, she sped down it to get back to what she really wanted: those great green peaks and their great big leaps. Road was replaced with grass and dirt, as she sped a trail back up the side of a hill.

The yells of the onlookers reached a crescendo as she crested the peak, only to find that behind it was a chasm of rock leading to a river below. Cheers turned to cries of panic, but Komi had faced worst before.

As she sailed over the chasm, she made sure to loosen her legs and let them fly backwards. With nothing but her hands keeping her locked to her bike, she swung her legs under herself a few times, just for the onlookers, before clamping her legs back onto that bike just as it hit the dirt on the other side of the chasm. Though the people cheered, her attention was more focused on the speed the slope of this new hill offered, allowing her to continue her stunts with even more gusto.


But among the crowd, one girl found it harder and harder to spot Komi. She was moving too fast, and the crowd often had to find new viewpoints in order to keep track of her progress. It was to be expected with an unorganized assembly such as this, mixed with Komi's penchant for just speeding towards whatever looked like the most dangerous peak she could see, there was little to be done except try and keep up.

But unlike most of the folks in attendance, this particular girl was on the shorter side, so keeping track of things was even harder. She ran to try and get a good seat whenever they lost track of Komi, but over and over again the taller folks would block her from the view. It was infuriating, one of the few times she got to see her friend and a bunch of randos kept getting in the way. As Komi dissappeared over another hill, she cursed and moved. Running along with the rest of the crowd, the girl pushed her legs to get to a new vantage point.

She could see Komi, but yet again found the crowd forming around her too hard to see past. She was at the end of her rope, and was about to show the tall broad in front of her a piece of her mind when a heavy hand grabbed her shoulder. She looked back to see a familiar face, a large guy from her school with his school jacket hanging off his shoulders. Though he was keeping track of Komi as she sped towards yet another series of conveniently angled rocks, he spoke down to the girl he held.

"Not gonna go stealing attention from K now, are you Moko?" he asked

"Yuri?" Moko blinked a few times before glaring at him "Wait, how long you been here?"

"Showed before she did," he nodded at Komi "seeing as I helped spread the word, figured being early would-"

Moko punched his arm repeatedly, "You been here the whole time and ain't offered me a seat once?!? Ya know how hard this is for me! Kneel!"

Yuri glanced down at her for a second before shrugging and kneeling down, letting Moko climb on his back. When she tugged at his dyed blonde hair, he stood up, finally allowing her to properly see as Komi spun through the air again.

"Yes! This is more like it!" Moko leaned over Yuri's head so she could yell out "Tear it up K! Make these mounds ya bitches!"

"She probably can't hear you at that speed." Yuri noted

"Shut up, I'm still mad at you!" Moko tugged at his hair again "Can't believe she talked to a brick wall like you and not me! I could'a been out there spreading word too, stead I gotta hear it from Yasuka? Its bullshit!"

"Its because you hold her up with your fangirling, M." he sighed "K likes to go fast, never gonna get her to stop for long if you take forever to say things."

"As if I wanna hear advice from the resident block of wood!" Moko stated before pointing "She's heading that way, move it!"

Yuri didn't complain, jogging to a new position in time to see another of Komi's flips. This cycle continued for the next twenty minutes, as Komi finished cresting every peak, gap and crevasse that Kodonaka Heights was known for. Yuri moved in what directions Moko told him, as her complaints eventually succumb to her cheers for Komi's antics. After dozens of flips tricks and otherwise mad stunts, Komi's performance finally came to an end. It was signaled like most of her performances, with her turning away from the peaks and driving to the nearest vending machine.

While many dispersed as her tricks came to and end, there were those who followed, crowding her as she looked over the selection of drinks available. She heard questions and congratulatory remarks pelting her from every angle, but Komi could only focus on the can of Fizzy Mint tropical slowly being pushed forward by the machine. She watched it make the slow, arduous trek to the receptacle, her mouth getting dryer by the second.

"How were you able to keep it steady after that landing?!?"

"Had to have been some kind of wires there somewhere."

"From where? Ain't even any trees up here dumbass."

"That flip was just epic! Where'd you learn to drive like-"

The Fizzy Mint can was finally offered, and Komi took the can and popped its tab with gusto. Leaning back on her bike, she began downing the can. The questions slowed down as she drank, with her not speaking until the final drop had been drained and her sigh of relief seeped from her lips.

"Now," she crushed the can before leaning back to look at the crowd around her "I'mma tell you what I tell folks every time I do this: Overthinking it was where you first screwed up."

While there were whoops from some, others were confused, and one even sported a look of irritation.

"When I see a ramp, I hit it going as fast as possible." She gestured in front of her "When something simple like that becomes all sciencey and confusing, you've already failed."

"That doesn't explain how you-"

"She doesn't need to explain jack, dude!"

Komi looked back at that, finding none other than her classmate Moko yelling from atop poor Yuri again.

"We came to see some bitchin stunts, not bitchin folks!" she yelled out before gleaming as she locked eyes with Komi, "Right K?!?"

"One does sound more fun than the other." Komi conceded before checking the time "Speaking of, got me a train to ramp over."

"Wait!" Moko called out "Which one? Yuri and I could come watch and-!"

"Just guess!" Komi laughed before revving her engine as the crowd parted just enough for her to speed out "Ain't got no time for drawin' maps!"

 

[Dolches]

Agotta headed home for a quick second to retrieve her Pokémon. Although she wanted to head to the train station as soon as possible, she was going there to see if something had happened to Anri in the first place. If she were right, the same thing could happen to her as well, and there'd be no point in going if she became unable to find out what happened to Anri. Walking up to the train station, she thought about what she was here for. How exactly would she go about searching for it? What could possibly have happened here? What was she looking for in the first place? All she had to go off of was the location of Bellstar's labyrinth. To start with... Maybe it'd be a good idea to start looking from the sky. She moved to a more discreet location and flew up on Corviknight to get a bird's eye view. She took a low quality picture with the little flip-phone her parents gave her for calling purposes, in case she needed to refer to it later. After mentally marking some important seeming spots, she flew down and got back on foot. The train platform itself was the first place she wanted to investigate. She walked around it, looking closely at everything she could see, hoping to find something that seemed out of the ordinary. She couldn't find anything just looking around there, and thought for a second. As a magical girl, her enemies usually hid themselves from the normal world. Had something happened... Somewhere she wasn't supposed to be? Agotta latched onto this thought process. It was entirely probable that Anri had tracked a witch or something into a place the public wasn't allowed to enter, and then got lost. She could still be lost in that witch's labyrinth or something like that. But how would Agotta even get there? She wasn't allowed to get into places she wasn't... Well... Allowed to be in. What would she even do after entering them? If she did it, she'd likely only have one shot at doing so before they kick her out and start watching out for her... Where should that one shot be place? Like in one of Anri's westerns, she had one bullet, and had to make it count... In a western, they aim for places like the head or the heart to kill people because it stops them entirely... One all encompassing option... Agotta looked up to stare blankly in thought, but before she could put her hand on her chin, she noticed a security camera. That's it! The train station has security cameras! She remembered seeing on TV that security cameras recorded footage of what they see so that they could catch criminals. She should aim to get access to wherever they had the TV that showed what all the cameras saw! Wait, if she snuck around she'd probably be caught on the cameras herself. If she could do something about that using magic, it was likely that Anri could and did do the same thing... If she did, would there even be a point? She wouldn't see Anri on the camera footage if that was the case.

Hmm... Could she ask Kyubey if that was possible? He knew a lot so he would probably know the answer to that. She might be able to ask Aza to... No, she probably shouldn't. Aza said that Anri wasn't among the missing magical girls, but it was highly likely she was. She couldn't explain it, but she felt as if she shouldn't include Aza in her search. With how sure she was that Anri was a Magical Girl and missing at the same time as a bunch of others, and for Aza to just plainly deny that... She'd probably try to stop Agotta... Think... Who has a penchant for reckless disregard for the law and her own safety? Oh yeah, Miss Komi. Maybe it was a bit rude to profile her as, well, exactly the type of person she was, but it was for her best friend, she had to. Speaking of friends, Nozomi might be able to help, too. She was a Ninja magical girl, so she probably knew a lot about sneaking around. Sneaking and crime were the two things Agotta needed right now. She had to find the two of them and ask them to help her. She had only met them yesterday, so it was unlikely she'd get much help, but it was better than wasting her biggest chance by just winging it and failing. She needed their help, and for that she'd need to find them. Maybe Asami could help too, but she'd probably be busy like yesterday. Hmm... Where could she find them...

Komi might be at Taffy Towers or whatever that place was called, but what about Nozomi? She said something about where she lived while at the Ramen shop... It was... uh... Two blocks... uh... North? Of the Ramen shop? She remembered Nozomi pointed in some direction, so that's probably it. She walked to the shop, then determined which direction she was supposed to go in. Heading two blocks North of the shop, she found an apartment building, and headed to the front counter. "Hi!" She said to the attendant. "Do you know where Nozomi... Uh... I don't remember her last name." She never knew it in the first place, but that wasn't too important. "Where Nozomi lives?" The attendant pulled a book out and looked through it. It didn't seem like she is in a hurry, but Agotta calmly waited nonetheless. After the attendant showed her, Agotta thanked her, and then headed through the apartment to where she was told.

Showing up at what she believed to be Nozomi's front door, she knocked on it, and waited for someone to answer.


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[Nellancholy]

Nozomi eased back onto her couch, earbuds in as the recording of her teacher's lectures played back and she ran her fingers across the pages of her textbook.

Mom wasn't back yet. And it was just as well. Nozomi didn't dislike having some time to herself, but the distance growing between them... The contamination in her soul gem was small but unmoving, weighing her down like a rock tied to her back.

When this was all over, she had to make it up to Mom somehow. Over? How would it be over? Would magical girls have to fight endlessly? She'd never seen an adult magical "girl"...

The thought arose in her mind that all the witches had to come from somewhere. If they could find that place and stop it...

It didn't occur to her that if it were possible,it'd already have been done.

It took a while for a lull to come up in the audio and allow her to notice her door being knocked. Mom had a key, so it probably wasn't her, but...

Getting to her feet, Nozomi undid the lock, cautiously opening it a crack. The presence before her seemed...increasingly familiar from the past days.

"Agotta, is that you? What are you doing out here?"

 

[Dolches]

Agotta heard Nozomi's familiar voice through the door. Thank god, she had the right house and didn't have to go door to door. "Hey Miss Nozomi! Yes, it's me. Now, I know this might sound a little crazy, maybe it sounds like I'm playing some big game of pretend, but..." That was the end of her coherent speech. "Remember how I was talking about my friend Anri? Well last night I had this really weird dream about Bellstar. It was strange but it made me think of how it was a witch with a western theme and my friend Anri really liked westerns. I went to Anri's house this morning and her dad told me she was actually missing and that he hasn't seen her in a while. I watched her favorite movie with him and it made me realize something. In Western movies they have this revolver spin thing that the cowboys do, and Anri could do it too even though she didn't ever own any toy gun. How did she learn how to do a revolver spin without something to practice with? She had to have something to practice with, and that was her magical girl weapon. I think that a Kyubey approached her one night and offered her a wish, and she wished for something like being a cowboy. So if she's a cowboy magical girl, she has to have some kind of connection to a bandit witch, right? Aza told us last night that witches are born from curses, right? Something happened to Anri that was so bad that she held such a curse in her heart that a witch was born! Bellstar had to have been a very new witch because I take that train every day to go to school and never encountered it before, so if grief seeds are like their eggs it must've been born recently. I want to go to the train station and break in to wherever they have the security camera footage and find out if I'm right. But I don't know if cameras can even record magical girls or if we're just invisible somehow. I also realized I don't know the first thing about stealth or breaking the law, so I want to ask you to help me with the stealth part. Also, where's Komi? I want to ask her to help with the... uh.. other part. Please?" Agotta finally shut up after adding a polite part to her request. "I know it's way too much to ask from someone I just met yesterday, but... I don't know of anyone else I could ask."


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[Nellancholy]

Nozomi sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she listened to Agotta's torrent of speech. On the one hand, she really wasn't in the mood for even more tiring activity. On the other hand, Agotta thought her missing friend had something to do with the witch that had appeared. Finally, someone else was asking questions.

Witches generated what was obviously some kind of alternate space that they pulled their human victims into. Could cameras even capture them? Still, IF Agotta's friend was somehow related to the incidents, knowing where she vanished was as good a lead as any.

Sighing, she put her jacket on. She didn't like the talk about breaking and entering either...

"Fine, you win. I'm coming..."

---

Walking through the streets at night, firmly in the lead, Nozomi made her way with Agotta to the station. It was one of the stations on the line she passed every day. To think the witch could snatch them up so seamlessly...

But other than the night trains passing at longer intervals, no such presence was around at the moment.

"Alright Agotta. If we get caught, we'll say you wandered off and I came looking for you. Got it?"

 

[Dolches]

Agotta was slightly panicking. She had never gone places she wasn't supposed to be before. Maybe she should've brought Komi too? No, there'd be no reason to bring both her and Nozomi, she reasoned this while at Nozomi's house. While Komi would be able to boldly break through this boundary that Agotta had from her good upbringing, Komi would boldly break other things too. Namely, Komi would break more rules than they had to, the law, any bystander's arms, maybe a window, etc. Agotta took a deep breath, and then transformed into her magical girl costume. With her Pokémon by her side, she had an idea. She'd send Marowak down hallways first, then have it signal if it saw anybody. Corviknight was a bit too big to be of much use inside the building, so she told it to stand watch and caw if it saw someone entering the building. "Let's go, Miss Nozomi." She said sternly to the older girl as she approached the first door. She turned the door knob, only the find it locked. She looked back at her friend. "I, um, don't know how to pick a lock..." She admitted after finding her first roadblock. Rather than waiting to think this through, she turned to the hallway, sent Marowak down it, and followed after it signaled that there wasn't anyone there. Her careful approach would keep them safe from physically getting found, but she didn't have any way to combat the security cameras. She just hoped that small amount of time they spent in the cameras wouldn't lead them to being found out later.



After what felt like an hour for Agotta, they had eventually found themselves in front of the security guard's office. This was where the TV with all the security cameras was likely located at. She had only now realized that someone was probably sitting in there. Although, judging by the fact they made it this far without being found whoever it was didn't like their job too much. Very softly, she put her ear to the door to try and hear through it. It sounded like her dad was on the other side of the door snoring. Well, she reasoned that it probably wasn't her dad, but some other adult man. Well, actually, was it? He did leave at night a lot, but never in some sort of security guard uniform. She tried opening the door, and much to her surprise, it wasn't locked. She gently opened the door outward into the room. Sure enough, the guard was competing with a Snorlax in a sleeping competition at his desk. She looked around the room, standing by the door. Where did they put the stuff? Maybe it would be best to let Nozomi take them? She REALLY didn't want to mess it all up after they've come this far, but trying to persuade Nozomi into committing the big crime seemed wrong. She looked around the room again. There were a lot of those file cabinets, a calendar with a woman in a swimsuit, and a shelf with a bunch of stuff she didn't recognize... One thing she did notice was that the security guard was sitting in front of a computer screen rather than a TV. That was unexpected, and she didn't have any idea on what to do now. She expected that the security footage would be on one of those weird brick things she saw in old reruns of shows like Kamen Rider... She thought hard about what she could possibly do now. Think, Agotta... What did she have on her? She dug through her pockets, and had to stop herself from screaming "aha!" or something similar when she realized that she not only had her dingy flip phone, but its two-piece charger too! She remembered that the end that goes into the charger could be plugged into school computers, so the same might be true with the one here! She turned to Miss Nozomi, offered her phone and cord up to her. "Do you how to do computer stuff?" She whispered, her other hand between her mouth and the guard.


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[Nellancholy]

Things were going great. The Pokemon did the work and Nozomi was just along for the ride. Somehow, they'd remained quiet enough while right next to the sleeping man that he was in no danger of stirring.

But now Agotta apparently needed her help. Nozomi blinked a few times, as though those glowing blurs would get any clearer if she did. Nope, no luck.

Was she really about to do this...? She picked up her soul gem, holding it in her hand and closing her eyes. At least she found out that the riotous explosion of magic that engulfed a magical girl's body at the moment of transformation was imperceptible to other humans, or at least not enough to awaken one in slumber.

The bright lights of the screens hit her eyes as her tunic and mask appeared on her, a brief pinch of pain filling her head.

"Agh...Agotta, you still there?" A glance to the side answered the question. "Alright, let's see, it'll probably be faster if I use mine..."

She plugged her phone into the cable, and then to the computer. She hadn't really used a desktop since her accident, but the bulky device before her was probably as old as Agotta anyway, and it hadn't been set to lock when it went to sleep.

It didn't take too long to get through the nested folders and set them to paste into her phone.

The progress bar ticked up in a little over a minute, but...

"Snrrrr...huh...?" The guard finally woke up, shaking his head and blinking as though the two people in costumes before him were a part of his dream.

"Kid, run!" Nozomi snatched her phone and yanked it away with one hand, and a smoke bomb appeared in the other.

She hurled it to the floor, a loud bang and a blinding cloud of smoke engulfing the room as they fled, leaving only the incriminating cable behind.

Swinging on her grappling hook, Nozomi carried them to a low rooftop a few blocks away before letting Agotta down.

Dismissing her transformation, Nozomi slumped down, panting as she passed her phone to Agotta with the folder containing the videos already open.

"I'm...not doing that again. I hope I managed to get what you wanted, Agotta."

 

[Dolches]

Agotta anxiously watched Nozomi approach the computer. She plugged her phone in, and they both stood in silence for a good minute. While just standing there, Agotta looked around the room again. She didn't have anything in mind, really, she just needed something to do before she went crazy from the tension. There was some sort of gun shaped object on one of the shelves, and judging by the holster on the guard's belt, it belonged to him. He wouldn't shoot them, right? No, it wasn't a real gun, but something else. Speaking of the guard, what else did he have on him? If he woke up and attacked them or something. He had one of those weird stick things that probably hurt a lot to get hit with... She kept scanning the guard for a little bit, not having anything else to do. The last thing her eyes landed on was something in his ears. Hey, she saw those at school! Some girl let Agotta try them, they're headphones, and they play sound. Was he listening to music while sleeping? No, she didn't think that this man was THAT irresponsible. But, if he did have them in his ears, they'd play sound from something, right? As if on cue, he woke up, and looked at the two of them as if in a daze. She couldn't really put a finger on what emotion was on his face at that moment, something like shock or confusion, and she didn't have the time to as Nozomi yelled for her to run and threw a smoke bomb down. Agotta began to run, intending to use her head start the best she could. However, as soon as she starting running back the way they came, she heard Corviknight caw loudly. She knew she was far away, but it was a bit excessively loud. Stranger still, Agotta had a vague sense of where her Pokémon where, and Corviknight was flying away rather fast. She started to feel uneasy, but it was masked by the panic of not wanting to get caught. "Other way!" She shouted to Nozomi, going deeper into the train station. They had to have another way out, surely. She was right, thankfully, and she got out the other door she waited for Nozomi, who promptly grabbed her and began to swing away on a grappling hook. Agotta was much more scared than when she flew on Corviknight. At least then she had some warning that she'd be flying around in the sky, and some control too. All she could do right now was latch onto Miss Nozomi and pray that she knew what she was doing. Nozomi knew what she was doing, and landed them safely on a roof some distance away. Before she sat down to rest, she handed her phone over, with all the files she got on it. "Thank you, Miss Nozomi!" She said, going to give the older girl a hug before realizing how awkwardly positioned she was. Agotta sat down too, and began figuring out how to use a smartphone. So you just slide like this, right? Just press the screen too? She got it rather quickly, and began thinking. There were a large amount of files, so where should she start? Somewhere around when Anri first went missing, right? It was around the start of the month, wasn't it? Yeah, the last time she saw Anri was a sleepover at her house on the 30th of April or something. So May 1st was her starting point, then.

She pressed on one of the icons she believed was labeled "May 1st". It was really a big jumble of words and symbols, something like "5-1-13950a", but May was the fifth month, and it was the first day that she was after, so it looked appropriate. She stared at the small screen. The footage was a bit slow, but she could see the time and whatnot on the top right. There was a bar at the bottom she could drag around to move through the video. This was pretty convenient. Agotta clumsily dragged the bar a little bit further over and over again, looking to see if she could find her friend. After dragging it along, for a while, she moved it once more, and was greeted with a black screen. What? It wasn't Nozomi's phone because she could still see the bar, but the video itself. It had been a collage of all the security cameras together before this, so what was going on? She rewound it a bit and watched it until it cut out. 3:08 AM... 3:09 AM... And black... She turned to Nozomi. "Um... Miss-" Agotta trailed off when she heard a police siren. She looked over the rooftop to look for the car, and saw the unmistakable flashing lights in the dark heading towards the train station. Agotta watched for a while, like a puppy seeing a butterfly, until she remembered what she was going to say. "Miss Nozomi? At 3 AM on May 1st the video goes black... Do you know if anything happened then?" Just in case, she showed it to Nozomi, and then continued skipping through. Black... Black... Black... Black... 4:05 AM. Now that the video was back, she could return to looking for Anri. She looked for around twenty minutes, and couldn't find anything. She was getting really bored and impatient, and figured Nozomi must be as well. She moved onto the video for the next day. Absentmindedly skipping through the video, she looked at the time displayed on Nozomi's phone. It was getting very late. If she left now, she could get back home just in time for bed. Agotta dragged the bar again, and noticed that the footage went black yet again. What in the world was up with these cameras? The train station really needed to invest in a better system. "Black screen again..." She sighed, moving the bar back, and watching just before it again. She needed to make sure. She needed to be positive that Anri wasn't running around cameras 1 and 2 wearing a rough looking poncho, a stetson, jeans, and a leather vest, dressed almost exactly like her favorite character from her favorite movie, wielding two guns and firing incredibly wildly at something right before the video went black.

Agotta nearly dropped Nozomi's phone in shock. Her entire body was shaking. "I found her! I found her!" Agotta whisper-yelled, hopping to her feet and showing the footage to Nozomi. "She's a magical girl just like I thought! She has revolvers and she's dressed like a cowboy just like I thought! And she... She..." Agotta only now realized what this meant. Sure, one half of her theory was right, but what about the next half? Anri was indeed a western themed magical girl, yes, but if that's correct, then it stands to reason that something horrible did happen to her, and it caused her to go missing and curse something so much that she alone created a witch. Agotta's glee was quickly replaced with terror and despair. She rewound it again to Anri shooting her revolvers all over the place. The bullets all ricochet in one direction- the way she was running from just seconds before. She was being chased by something. Agottas knees felt like they were about to buckle. She whipped around as she heard something, looking back over the rooftop to see even more flashing lights headed for the train station. What in the world was going on? One of them seemed different from the others. Among the police cruisers was an ambulance. Why would they need- Information locked itself together in her head like pieces of a puzzle. Corviknight panicking and fleeing, the emergency services barreling towards the train station, cameras cutting off at night, her theory about Anri's fate, and she now realized that she couldn't sense Marowak and Cubone. Corviknight was resting somewhere close, but that was the only thing she could sense. The direction they came from was empty, as if nothing was there.

"Miss Nozomi..." Agotta said, reaching out to return her phone. "I... I know you said you wouldn't do that again, but could you come back to the train station? Something awful is happening..." She whistled loudly for Corviknight, who flew by, landing on the rooftop next to her. Such a large and imposing creature had been spooked by something back there... Was the security guard alright? She got on the giant bird creature, and motioned for Nozomi to join her. With or without Nozomi, however, she flew back to the train station. Upon getting a short distance away, she landed in an alleyway, and turned off her transformation. The completely normal seeming elementary schooler headed to the train station. Cops were abuzz, chatter and walkie talkie fuzz filled her ears, and people in doctors uniforms were going down the main entrance with a big bag. One of the cops said something to them with a disturbed frown, and the paramedics looked at him in fear before continuing onward. Agotta didn't know what in the world was happening. What she did know was that she felt some sort of vile sensation. She took her soul gem out of her pocket again, and noticed it was glowing, much akin to how it was in Bellstar's labyrinth. This time, it felt foreign. It was as if it was confused too.


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[Nellancholy]

The building they were on, and which Agotta had so swiftly fled from, was a vacated shoplot.

It took some feeling around, but Nozomi managed to find her way into a stairwell that led her back to the street.

By now, Agotta was probably back there at the station. As much as she wanted to avoid getting dragged deeper into this business than she already was, Nozomi had seen too much to back down.

She'd heard the running and the gunshots from the video. Wouldn't someone have reported that? She'd heard the coming sirens too. The obvious conclusion would be that it was a sign of witch activity, but it was unheard of for multiple witches to haunt the same place. And they did defeat Bellstar...they all saw and held its grief seed.

There was the possibility of something...worse?

Against her better judgement, she walked back to the station. Finding Agotta, she rested her hand on her shoulder silently as the gawking crowds jostled, waiting for some sign of what was happening or what to do next, and trying not to look like they had just run out of there 15 minutes ago.

 

[Dolches]

Agotta's eyes snapped behind her as something touched her shoulder. When she saw it was Nozomi, she felt some relief. She sighed. She wanted to know if something had happened to the security guard, but asking directly would make her suspicious. She went to approach the nearest cop. "Excuse me, sir. What happened here?" She asked.

"Aren't you a bit young to be here, let alone up this late? Do you know your parents' number?" The officer immediately asked.

"Um... Yes. I was out with my... Friend." She gestured to Nozomi. She thought about telling a little white lie to boost the chance of getting some information, but decided against it.

"Oh, well... Perhaps it might be better that you stick around for a bit longer. The streets might not be safe right now."

"Why?"

"Uh... I don't know, but currently our leading idea is that some wild animal is on the loose. The security guard in the back is probably the only person who knows what happened, but..." The officer trailed off, shivering a bit. "We can't exactly ask him."

"Wh-why's that?" Agotta asked.

"Sorry, I'm not the best with kids... Gimme a second." The man pulled out his walkie talkie. "There's a young kid and a teenager, both female, up here in the front. If anyone is able to, please come deal with them." His radio fuzzed until a reply came.

"Are they relatives of the victim?" A voice asked through the radio.

"Uh... Did you two know Mr. Hayanama?" The officer asked. Agotta shook her head. "No, they're not relatives, just bystanders." He said through the radio.

"We don't have much able men to spare, so if they're just bystanders you can handle it." The radio voice said.

"What? But I-" The officer sighed. "Yes, sir." He put the radio back on his belt. "You two should call your parents and ask them to come pick you up. As I said before, we believe there's a wild animal on the loose. While it's likely you won't encounter it, it's best to be careful. If you need to, you can use my phone."

"Um... There's no need, but thanks for the offer." Agotta said, showing her flip phone. She wasn't leaving until she knew what happened. She took her soul gem out of her pocket. The strange glow had gotten stronger. She looked around saw that the people in doctor uniforms were coming back from the front, and the bag they had looked heavier. They all looked incredibly nauseous, even from under the face masks and shields they were wearing. The bag gave off an incredibly ominous feeling, being close to it was enough for Agotta to start feeling sick. When it passed by, the disturbing glow her soul gem had hit its peak, and went away with it. What was in the bag? They probably wouldn't tell her, so she'd have to get the answer herself if she wanted it. Her body told her not to go after her answer, but her mind needed to know. She began to follow after the doctors, but not without the police officer she was just talking to noticing. His face changed to one of confusion, then panic, and he broke out into a sprint. Agotta got next to the side with the zipper and reached for it.

"Kid! Stop!" He yelled, but it was too late. Agotta had already grabbed the zipper and moved it down. For three seconds, the only things moving were the surrounding paramedics and officers heads as they looked at the officer, and then at the kid that had just curiously zipped open the body bag the medics were carrying. Then, Agotta stumbled backwards, falling on her butt. She could barely breathe. The world seemed to spin and warp around her. The police officer seemed to be mumbling something as the rest of her hit the ground. She couldn't fight the urge to throw up and the urge to pass out at the same time, so she hoped that Nozomi would be able to get home safely while she took a little nap. Although, hope seemed like the embers of a blown out candle wick now. Agotta passed out, and her soul gem rolled out of her hands and away.

What had happened was she unknowingly opened up a body bag. As smart as she may be, she definitely wasn't knowledgeable. The shock from seeing even a small bit of the mutilated and mangled corpse of the security guard hit her like a truck, and she passed out. "The young girl opened the body bag, requesting assistance." Was what the police officer "mumbled". "She's lost consciousness." He hurriedly said after she fell over, and then moved to her side. He checked to make sure she was still breathing, and her pulse. After making sure she was good, another paramedic came to confirm the same thing. The officer took Agotta's flip phone out of her pocket and went to the contacts. "Alright, good, she has her parents numbers written down." He said, turning to Nozomi. "I'm going to call your friend's parents. Do you think you could make it home on your own, or would you like someone to escort you?" He asked her.



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[Nellancholy]

Maybe Nozomi was a bit too pre-occupied, or maybe she simply wasn't on guard. She could tell the body was passing, but if her soul gem reacted, she couldn't tell.

"Agotta, wait!" She reached out to restrain her, but grasped only air. Despite presumably being on guard for such incidents, the paramedics and the police officer were a bit too slow to stop Agotta from opening the bag.

She couldn't see what was inside, and a fresh corpse didn't smell much. But she had a good idea anyway, and she could definitely feel Agotta fall.

"Fuck..." She cursed under her breath, rushing forward to catch Agotta as the police officer and several gawkers swarmed around them.

"Officer, I am so, so sorry. Yes, please, call her family. I'll be fine on my own." Carefully, she handed Agotta off to the concerned officer and left around the corner, doing her best to brush any "assistance" off.

Wild animal? Like from a zoo? Or a lizard crawling up from the drains to maul people? That's ridiculous. All she knew was there was a witch there a few days ago, Agotta's friend was a magical girl who was probably dead there, and a mortal human being had just died there despite Nozomi helping to kill the witch.

She pressed against a nearby wall, doing her best to pay attention to Agotta and make sure her parents got her, though to no avail.

She couldn't wait for the next time a witch showed up. She was sure a certain nosy someone would be there, and she had to make sure she spilled everything she knew.

 

[GrieveWriter]

Komi Murasa
Location: West End Park ==> City Streets
Interaction/Mention: Open

Anyone who thought she wouldn't be able to jump that train could suck it, for about half an hour after her quote unquote 'performance' Komi had absconded with her only two remaining viewers to a park along the west end. It wasn't close to the tracks, and had required a creative route for her pals, but eventually the night cast a glow on the three of them as Komi dismounted from her boke and gave a stretch.

"That was awesome..." were the words coming from her short super fan "It almost looked like you were speeding along it for a second."

"Now that's something to try next time." Komi told Moko before letting her arms drop to her sides and looking her way "You good? You was panting all up and down this place up until a second ago."

Moko waved her hands defensively, "Nuh-Uh! I was just tired of having to slow down for Yuri to keep up!"

"Really now?" Komi leaned her head back to see Yuri approaching with cans in both hands "Thought you really needed a refresher after the jog, but if you don't-"

"Not gonna stand there and tease a pal, are ya?" Moko pouted, to which Yuri shrugged before passing a can to her and offering the other to Komi.

"Coming in clutch once again, Y-Man." Komi shrugged before popping the tab and downing half of it in a single gulp "But ya know I can just buy this stuff for myself, right?"

"But you won't." Yuri stated as he leaned against the nearby park table "Despite how wild your routine tends to get you've got a surprisingly consistent streak of self-neglect. You'd only stop for a drink once you can't keep going."

"What? Am I supposed to refill a gas can whenever I'm halfway down?" Komi shook her head "That's time n' money I ain't about to waste."

"Yeah Yuri!" Moko jumped in after several sips from her own can "K Isn't even in school and you're still pulling this mother hen crap with her." she stuck her tongue out at him before glancing Komi's direction.

"Why'd you have him spread word about that meet earlier? I could've done it in-"

"Because he's big as hell, Moko, look at him." Komi didn't even let her finish before grabbing Yuri's shoulder and giving him a shake "You can see this dude from like a mile away, no filter. Who better to get people to listen to something?"

"Oh..." Moko looked down.

"Great job on that by the way," she continued "there were way more folks there than I thought there'd be. Been a while since I had an audience, so figured most of em would get caught up in whatever new fad came and replaced me."

"Its only been a few weeks." Yuri noted "If anything, I'd say your sudden absence has drawn more attention from our classmates."

"Yeah... when are you coming back?" Moko asked

Komi looked up and raised an eyebrow at that, for she hadn't been expecting a question like that from someone who seemed so aware of her style. Moko was one of the pals she hung around with back when she still went to school, along with Yuri. While Yuri always seemed to half-heartedly try reminding her not to go off and get herself killed, Moko seemed able to keep up with her whims. When Komi skipped class, Moko skipped class; when threw down with someone; Moko threw down despite being fun-sized in every definition of the word; and when Komi bailed on school all together in order to risk her life in some epic stunt, there were few people as consistently present as Moko was.

So why did she seem all bent out of shape about Komi not showing up to school?

Yuri would talk about how necessary it was, but he was always like that. Komi expected more from the same girl who dropped lessons on a dime, but she wasn't the type to mull over it. She'd rather cut down the entire thought right out of the get.

"Never." she waved a hand "Figured it was time to stop joking around with that class stuff and get to what I'm good at."

"Probably be good at more things if ya actually worked in school." Yuri mentioned.

"Pfft, boring things." Komi nodded "Just not in my blood Y-Man."

"But, maybe you could stop by during lunch!" Moko offered "The gang still goes on about you all the time, and I just know that checking in on them once or twice would-"

"I probably could, but just think about all the street races I could get into in that time." Komi looked to the sky reverently while Yuri sighed.

"Besides, not sure staff would like you showing up only to hang out." he mentioned "That seems like the kind of thing they'd pick up on."

And that's when it happened, a sensation that Komi didn't like for numerous reasons. She snickered, but had bent her head back to continue enjoying her drink. Yuri didn't push her to respond, and Moko was still busy with her drink as well. And given the quiet, sparsely populated park they were in, there wasn't much in the term f background noise or stimulation. And so Komi suffered what she considered the bane of all: a moment of pure peace.

The nearby roads weren't busy, only the occasional car passing by. The only people in the park were what looked like two couples, one younger pair sitting down at another bench and and the others taking a walk together. The younger pair where arguing about something, a change in the boy's work shifts if his lover's rising yells were anything to go by. The older couple were watching the trees, pointing out at things while looking through a birdwatcher's guide. Perhaps they were identifying what kind of trees a certain bird liked? Looking for nests?

Speaking of birds, the only animals that Komi could see was the solitary duck swimming out on the small lake. It was washing itself, looking around between dips before fluttering its wings and dunking its head. Had it lost the other ducks? Komi didn't care much for animal behavior, but she was certain that Ducks tended to travel with others. Had it lost its way? Or was something else afoot?

One of the distant trash cans was shaking as something rooted around in it. A possum? A rodent? Who could tell from such a distance.

Komi gripped her can slightly tighter, feeling the slight sheen of moisture start to soak into her glove. From the way the liquid inside shifted every time she moved it, she could estimate that she still had between a third and a fifth of the liquid left to go, just enough to fill two standard shot glasses. How much did Moko have left? She took tiny sips but there were far more of them. Judging by the time she spent sipping Komi could guess that she probably had more left in the can despite the higher rate of sips. A half of a can, maybe? If she waited for her to pull the can away from her face she could probably tell by the sound of the liquid shifting.

But Komi reminded herself how little any of it mattered before she could go that far. Throwing her head back, she chugged the rest of her can before crushing it and mounting her motorcycle once again.

"Welp, figure that's about it!" she stated before tossing the crushed can up and down several times "See ya! Got me a subway tunnel to try spiraling!"

"What?" Moko shook her head, surprised by Komi's sudden words "Wait, where is that? Maybe we could-!"

"Never stay slow!" Komi cheered as she sped off, making sure to toss her can into a trash can as she passed. It rustled whatever animal was scavenging inside, but Komi didn't stop to check in on it.

Why would she care? It wasn't as if she had time to think on it.

And as she prowled the streets, looking for one of the few subway tracks that led underground, she kept herself focused only on the sick spins and wall riding she'd be doing in only a small moment.