---

Tsubomi blinked. This girl, Michi apparently, was a member of Zassou's club? So she probably was magic then after all. She filed that bit of information away in the back of her mind. For now, Haruna's mention of class reminded her that yes, she was in a school that she was by all accounts supposed to be attending.

And so with a wave and no words, Tsubomi parted from the duo and towards her(?) next class.

---

Zassou felt the feline's touch right as it made contact, another sign that whatever was going on with her and Tsubomi was even stranger than it first seemed. Not that she wasn't already thinking that after having been forced into Acid Drop mode. The lack of delay between her senses and her thoughts was nice, though.

She leaned down to pick the creature up and set it on a nearby desk. Once it was sitting comfortably, she placed her hands on either side of it and leaned down a little to be face to television with it.

"Did you do this?"

Zassou couldn't help but think that the advisor to the Club wouldn't have been able to succeed so quickly. Which, in her mind, meant it had to be a Mascot's doing.

"Whose wish did you grant, telekitten?" A pause. "Or is this a magical girl's idea?"

The only wishes she could think of that might have this result would all lead to a Light Girl's creation, so if that was the case, how would the Club react? They already had Haruna, but would a newly made one be that lucky?

She didn't really expect the Mascot to answer, but given the day so far, she wasn't going to put it past it.

Kiyo didn't take being grabbed by the collar very well, to say the least. She glared at Hotaru with wide, furious eyes, and might well have given her a right hook if she didn't have some passing resemblance to Shuuko in both appearance and general energy. "Shuuko? When the hell did you find time for a makeover?" She tried to quickly bury her irritable reaction, but some bile still slipped through while she fixed her collar. "You sure pulled it off, though. If you'd said you were a cousin or something, I'd have believed that just as easily."

Taking in Shuuko's new look, she only half paid attention to Suki's struggles with their "shared" errand, but the fallen textbook didn't escape her notice. Suki held it close to her chest, and the letter was probably folded somewhere inside, but Kiyo didn't feel a particular need to open it. If Suki didn't want to share, it wasn't really her business. She simply picked it up to make sure no one else ended up finding it. "It's a bit late for makeup tips, but sure," she observed, half-joking.

---

All of life was a matter of timing. Being in the right place at the right time equated to good fortune, but where either of those to inverted and disaster would crash upon a misbegotten soul. Having a mature, stunning college girl pick her up as though she were a lanky kitten and carry her into an empty classroom, then further still till they were crammed all-but chest to chest in a supply closet would have been a dream come true had it occurred a month earlier.

Had this happened the day after their beach vacation she would have thrown herself at Regina's mercy, desperate to feel even the barest inkling of assurance in a world she felt only wished to see her whittled down to nothing.

She was powerful in all the ways Rei was without needing to needle her with it whenever her displeasure was earned. The age gap only made her seem a more certain pillar of stability when Roche herself found the ground beneath her feet shifting like quick sand. Even the animosity of her attack could have been selfishly forgiven with the very answers now lavished upon her in return for a favor she would have done by virtue (IE, helping someone Roche liked) alone.

If not for Sylvia.

I'm a real piece of shit. Her expression curdled with self loathing, finding any feeling of regret she felt unbidden only made her despise the weakness of her heart. Hating herself for even feeling her cheeks heat under Regina's tame compliments towards her smell and weight.

Not even the relief in hearing her paranoia was validated and there was a team dedicated to surveiling their every message couldn't less the bitter loathing that bit into her with all the keenness of Topaz's arrows. Swallowing around a parched mouth she tried to back away, only for her back to rattle the bins behind her.

"As...As convoluted as that plan sounds in hindsight, I can't say it was wrong. If you came out and told us to leave her alone, we wouldn't have." And in Roche's ignorance she had no inkling of Suki's own harassment of Misoka preceding that dreadful flower shop fire. "Look, you've established you're powerful. Everyone else believes that. If you can set aside your ultimatum against the club, We- I can make sure no one goes after Misoka. Several would happily her friend, myself included."

Why was she, the Rule Keeper of the club, so weak to nothing more intense then a wandering eye and being carried? Her heart was racing under Regina's wondering eye and it sickened her to feel a budding appreciation for it, even as she grasped with the fervor of a sailor adrift upon a floating plank to her new, tentative relationship with a threefold girl.

"We can end this mess without a fight, and help Misoka get some normalcy again. Everyone wins."

This had to be some sort of a sick joke. If Ember had not seen it with her own eyes, then she was not sure she would have believed that the Rulekeeper - the Rulekeeper! - would have let herself be hoisted up, then carried into a janitor’s closet. All the while her not-yet-girlfriend-yet-certainly-more-than-friend walked by them with a smile that bordered on unsettling. But that mattered very little when there was a situation unfolding right before her eyes. So Ember steeled herself, straightening her spine as she walked.

Then she knocked on the janitorial closet’s door.

”Hananami Ryoba-san?” she asked, shifting her voice to not quite sound like herself or Shuuko, while also injecting a healthy dose of confusion into it. ”Ummm… I don’t know what you’re doing in there, but umm… the track team sounded like they needed your help. They said something about missing equipment, I think? I’m sorry, I didn’t really pay attention.”

Ember hoped she sounded convincing. She tried to mimic a confused student who had no idea about the situation, but she was not sure if she could keep the anger out of her voice.

”And who is in there with you anyways? Should I call a teacher? I haven’t seen her around here.” Adding in the subtle threat would hopefully ward off whoever dragged Ryoba in there. Then she could proceed to have-

No. That sort of thinking was exactly what lead Ember to this position in the first place. She needed to hear what the Earthshaker had to say for herself just in case she was innocent in all this, but it was so difficult. She felt her hands clench, nails almost driving themselves into her palm, carving open the skin there. Even if she tried to relax them, the tension wound them up again.

What could she even do, though, if Roche really was dating this… woman? She seemed tall. Woman was probably right then. It was not like she was official with Sylvia. They have not really moved beyond friendship save for that kiss they shared. So did she even have any right to interfere with this situation?

No matter. The die had already been cast.

---

Eyebrows hiked up all the way to the top of Hotaru’s head as she witnessed Suki’s shenanigans, following her halfway into the room, then she flashed a sheepish, ‘what-can-you-do’ sort of grin towards Kiyo. She followed it up by dramatically raising her hand towards her forehead - eyebrows still raised - then flicking it and mimicking taking an absurd amount of damage. Unfortunately, that was about as far as smiling or being silly would take her.

”Yeah, I’m sorry. I was a bit of an asshole there,” she apologised, slightly bowing her head. ”Anyway, about that… I’m looking for advice. Real stuff. Not any nonsense. Because a very important friend said that I hate her and…”

She smacked her fist into her palm.

”I have no idea why. I don’t think I did anything to hurt her. But she says I did.”

---

What meaning could there be in a life where…

Sylvia did not dare to finish the question. Because then she would have to answer it herself. Sure, she promised Haruna that she would be all right in the end, but was she really? Nothing felt all right. Rather, it felt as though she were moving through a void, her movements not quite hers. She was not even sure she perceived colours anymore. It mattered little anyways. Her grades mattered little anyways. Everyone could tolerate her being late for once.

She did not even know which class she moved towards. She just knew where she had to go and she had to pretend to be there. To try and cling to the nothing she had. Because she saw the looks Roche gave to that tall, red-haired woman. They made her heart ache. Because surely, the red-haired woman was not Sylvia. She was better than her. She knew what to do. She would not be stuttering. Not like the daughter of a-

But that was a lie. Haruna told her so. That gods could lie as well. And it was true. They lied to her about everything. And so the life of Sylvia had been built on top of lies. There was no foundation to be found, nothing solid that could be built on.

It hurt so much.

What could be the remedy for such pain? Smacking someone around sounded something like her grandmother would do. Or her grandfather. Both of them liars. Liars!

Meanwhile, talking with anyone sounded like it would open another abyss. Lead to something she was not meant to discover. So she saw Haruna and Tsubomi. She even saw the other girl with them. But before she could bring herself even to wave, she gave up on it. All they would see was a blonde-haired student passing by, who may have looked similar to Shuuko.

It hurt so much.

Would it ever stop?

"I think it would." Michi insisted. "Kiyo didn’t want me placing my servants around the club room. But if you’re inviting me, it should be okay so long as I don’t have any of them on me." That would about do it before the two departed. "Take care."

Tsubomi and Haruna ended up going in the same direction, as they both had the same class. Was that right?

Michi followed after them too, which rendered parting ways kind of moot. The trope of school children that was following them was only getting bigger. It wasn’t unlike the Pied Piper of Hamelin, only with students.

As Sylvia wallowed in her despair, Michi eyed the blond girl. She grabbed her hand as they walked by, causing her to spin around.

"You seem a little lost." She pointed ahead with her eyes. "They’re going to trample you if you aren’t careful. Try to pay attention."

---

Suki sighed. She didn’t have that many interactions with Shuuko, but the girl spent an awful lot of time dancing around details. If something bad happened, it was always an "incident." If someone was involved, they were always given some vague descriptor. After hearing the question, the gears in Suki’s head started to turn, and she remembered something. Her brow twitched before she looked ahead.

"Right, well, you’ve been spending a lot of time with Roche. Maybe too much?" She shrugged. "I mean you two were openly snuggling in the club room. You also just choked the two of us because we didn’t notice you in your new getup. If you’re that rough with your friend, I could see them thinking you hate them." Poor girl probably just wanted to be closer to Shuuko, but she was so oblivious to how others felt.

Just ahead of them, Suki was able to spot Tsubomi and Haruna coming towards them. As well as a giant mob of students, but she didn’t pay it much mind. It wasn’t like they were being unruly or anything, but it was weird. The hallways had been so empty a moment ago.

"Hey Sunshine!" Suki smiled. "And it’s Pin-"

Haruna could have written that letter. She did seem like the conscientious sort, and it was a given that she knew how to write calligraphy really well. Probably, she seemed like the type. She might have been a little deceitful, but like Kiyo had said, she wasn’t a maleficent person. She had managed to hide her identity as a light girl. It wasn’t that big of a stretch to assume that she could hide passionate emotions behind those baggy eyes. The only thing Suki had to do was decide how she felt about this.

"Uh…" Suki had stopped in her tracks. "So uh, meet you guys later for lunch." She blushed slightly and continued to walk back to class.

Michi was still holding Sylvia’s hand when she approached everyone. "Quick question, before you guys go to class." Her eyes scanned everyone. "Out of everyone here, who do you suppose likes Suki the most?"

---

"Good." Regina seemed satisfied with Roche’s plan. "I guess-" The two were interrupted by Ember’s sudden intrusion. With a sigh, Regina pinched the bridge of her nose. "Was I not fast enough? Eh, let’s catch up later." She reached into Roche’s pocket and pulled out her phone. With a phone in either hand, she quickly added a phone number. "There we go. Just call ‘Regina Grace’ if you need to get a hold of me." When she handed Roche her phone back, she quickly pecked the girl on the cheek before standing upright again. "Thanks again." She smirked before turning to the door. With a lunge, the western style door flew open, and Ember was thrown backwards.

"The hell are you doing, eavesdropping on us?" She placed her hands on her hips. "I’ll have you know I graduated from this very school just a few years ago. There isn’t a single student here that’s my senior, and you have the nerve to follow a fellow teacher and a student into a classroom that isn’t yours!?" She glanced up at a clock on the wall. "Classes should be starting any moment now. You’ll have plenty of time to worry about club equipment later when club activities are active. Tell those fools they’ll have plenty of time to run around in circles once they get some studying done!"

With Ember’s cover thoroughly eviscerated, Regina stomped her way past the girl and left. Though there was a curious lipstick stain on Roche’s cheek.

---

"Sure sure! Here’s one."

In no time at all, he unpacked his laptop and set it on her desk. He folded it open, and it looked like he already had the video prepared.



"I’ll give you some time to watch that." He reached into his satchel again, this time to pull out all the work sheets and some spare paper for writing. "The first few are pretty easy, and they get a little harder as you go along. When you’re done watching the video, do you mind if I help you with the first few? They’re easy, but I’d feel a little bad if I didn’t do a few questions with you. That’s what tutors are supposed to do, right?"

---

The cat’s TV case turned to a most unusual image of an eyeless Cheshire cat.

"Only a single sentence of build up? The Grand Magistrate must be in a yank." The static flickered and was lightly covered in static. "What an unusual existence. I am a cat in a TV now. I still do not exist from your perspective, gentle watcher. Yet the TV does not exist from their perspective either. Is it possible for something to not exist more than once? I had thought existence itself was a binary. You’re either a Zero or a Sum-One…"

The cat purred, or was it a growl. "Little weed, you know mascots aren’t very sociable creatures. You’ll have a better chance talking to the color yellow, or the words ‘I love you.’ And before you try, I think that would be a waste of your time. I brought them up to demonstrate the futility of your actions. On the topic of wishes though, is there one you’d like granted?"

“O-Oh, uh, r-right,” Norika agreed after Finn expressed his desire to assist her with the first few questions. “A-And thank you,” she added. “I-I really appreciate it.” Even if she still suspected her tutor of having ulterior motives, if he was making the effort to pretend to be friendly, Norika figured it wouldn’t hurt to do the same.

Starting the video, Norika noticed two things very quickly. The first was the clear enthusiasm of the “teacher”, an aspect that never seemed to fail to take at least some of the edge off of even the most boring or complex topics. The second was how the visuals made her think of starship navigation from a video game she and her brother had played. Both of these aspects helped her to look at the normally imposingly impenetrable formulas and matrices from, well, a new perspective. And that was essentially what linear transformations were, right? Changes in perspective. Despite looking different, the core aspects (straight lines and point of origin) remained the same, and Norika couldn’t help but see parallels between that fact and her own transformation into her Magical Girl form. Despite all the outward changes, she was still herself at heart. This was, admittedly, something she’d known on an intuitive level all along, but with this new reaffirmation came an incredibly pertinent question- Was this a source of weakness, or perhaps, a source of strength? In any event, there was no time to ponder such things at the current moment. Soon enough, the video ended, and with its conclusion came the commencement of practical application.

“I-I, um, I think I understand it a b-bit better, now,” Norika told Finn with a small smile. “T-The visuals really helped a lot.”

---

In a currently unoccupied classroom, Miss Maribel Whitley (or Whitley-san, since this is a Japanese school) was doing various mundane teacher things (and maybe even some not-so-mundane teacher things), while waiting for her next class (or for something of narrative importance) to arrive. However, regardless of whether she was looking out a window at the colorful autumn foliage, reviewing a lesson plan, writing on the black (or more likely white) board, or even studying an ancient eldritch grimoire or observing something unnamable through a nightmare portal, the Detention Club’s faculty advisor would find her solitude interrupted by the sound of a cheerful voice…



“Hey! Hey!” the voice greeted. “Do ya know where Stacy is?!”

Whether the Magical Woman looked up or turned around, she would find herself face-to-face with a trio of young women. The first two looked normal enough, even if they were wearing casual clothes and not the standard school uniform, but the third…

“The crazy cool locator dealie Doc Zinestine gave me said she was in this town, like, super recently,” the first girl continued, holding up a strange looking device from which sprouted several oddly shaped antennas, glowing spheres atop coiled protrusions, and what looked like a tuning fork that crackled with tiny arcs of lightning. “And since this is the only school around here, I figured this was totally where’d she be! Oh! And my name’s also Stacy!” she added after a moment, giving the teacher a cheerful smile. “Nice to meet ya!”

“I’m Sammy Spectacles!” the second, glasses-wearing, girl announced, carefully adjusting said glasses. Then, leaning in close and placing a hand against the side of her face to confound lip readers, she “whispered”, “That’s my super secret secret identity name, just like that Mark Ment guy has in those comic books! Pretty cool, right?!”

“And I’m Staceella!” the final, teal-skinned girl with the star-tipped antenna growing out the top of her head declared. “We couldn’t find a good disguise for me, so they said I should just tell everyone I’m ‘cosplaying’,” Staceella explained, her suction cup-tipped fingers forming air quotes. “Whatever that means!” she added with a happy-go-lucky giggle.

“So, yeah!” Stacy spoke up again. “Have ya, like, seen her around here lately?!”

---

---

The "parting" was a bit awkward; in hindsight, she had no idea what classes Michi and Tsubomi would be going to, with no realistically possible way she could have known without asking beforehand, so assuming they needed to go in different directions was probably foolish. When Michi stopped to grab a blonde student she didn't quite recognize, it provided a welcome distraction. . . but before she stopped to concern herself with the downtrodden-looking girl, there was another thing to address.

Namely the enormous gaggle of students following them.

She turned around, and awkwardly began. "Did you guys, um. . . need. . . something? I have no idea why you've been following us around."

---

She didn't see it. She didn't see the blonde girl walking by behind her now-turned back. But she felt it. As she took her third step away from Haruna and Michi, Tsubomi felt the crushing weight of the passing girl's pain. It stuck her like a baseball bat to the side of the head, causing her to physically recoil and stumble to the side, barely catching herself a step later. It was a good thing Haruna was to her left, the empath not having realized that the two of them shared their next class.

Had being so long without control really made her this sensitive to the way she felt her magic? She'd have to figure that out later, because for now she was having trouble even thinking straight.

When, after a few seconds of standing still, Tsubomi turned back around, she didn't even see the larger crowd that had gathered. She could only glare at the blonde girl as if Sylvia had chosen to feel the way she did just to hurt her personally. As her not-so-subtle stare was finally broken, she made a mental note of the girl's appearance. There was no way to know why she was feeling that way, but it was dangerous in more ways than just to Tsubomi's magic. But she'd deal with that later. Preferably after a class without that girl in it.

But before she could walk off again, Suki stopped to talk. It didn't really matter what she was saying to Tsubomi, because the other girl was, to her dismay, still there. With both Michi's question and the growing number of apostles she seemed to be accumulating going unnoticed, she tried once again to stumble her way to her classroom.

---

Zassou didn't know what the cat meant. What did the Vatican have to do with Mascots? Were cats catholic? If they were, what kind? After a few seconds of thought, in which she did more processing than she usually did in an hour, she concluded that catholic cats made sense, at least for the magic ones. After all, there was nothing but Rome under the sun.

A would-be shock to the girl, if she could feel the results of one, was that she could follow the Mascot's speech while also being able to think her own thoughts.

"Mm... I don't think so. You exist to me. We're talking, you can't talk with something that isn't real. Unless you're also not real, maybe." Zassou paused once more, another few thoughts managing to dig their way through the caved in tunnels of her synapses.

"Plus, negative times negative is a plus. Double not existing is existing, I think." Was this cat the Mascot or another feline entirely?

"This one is sociable. It rubs on my legs and purrs a lot. And you're here, you're socializing. Are you the telekitten's inner thoughts?" She almost said something about how talking to the color yellow was a good thing, something she respected artists for doing, but the Cheshire opened its teeth once more to ask a bigger question.

-'Do you want a wish granted.'-

Even with her new mental faculties and RAM, she needed a little time to think on that.

-Maybe we aren't meant to have our wishes granted.-

And yet she already had. Tsubomi'd had hers granted, that's why she got her magic. Suki, Kiyo, the others in the Club... Even Nocturne and the boss lady had their granted. Did things turn out well for them? Maybe, maybe not. But it wasn't like they were gone yet, so even if it was bad, they still had time for things to become good.

But what about Zassou? She didn't get a wish granted by a cat, but whatever was going on now was good. Tsubomi was free, she herself could think... Did she want or need anything else?

A song, one she herself had only heard once, but which echoed throughout her very being from Tsubomi's love for it, played in her mind. Even if it was for the sake of everyone's wishing, she wouldn't wish for a world without wishes. That's what it said, wasn't it? Even with clearer mind she couldn't remember for sure. So... not yet.

"... Mm. No, thank you. Things are okay for now." The girl's eyes were covered with vibrant color as she bowed in appreciation for the offer.

After a couple seconds in that position, she stood back to her full, slumped height. "But I'd like to know about you. What's your name?"

---

The nightmare had come to pass, heralded with a thumping at the door and the snide tones of someone maintaining the thinnest veneer of ignorance to the two crammed inside the closet. While proximity with the Club’s greatest enemy had already had her heart racing, it felt visceral enough that she was growing concerned the shelving units would start to vibrate their contents clear off their ledges.

Her eyes were narrowed under the threat of the door, barely drawing from the near certainty of discovery to note Regina adding her contact to her phone. A full name too, though was there really any harm in baring more light upon herself when she was ready to bury the hatchet over the Misoka matter? While her paranoia was entirely validated and she would be leaving her laptop in a tinfoil lined bag when not in use going forward, it also wasn’t healthy to have anyone come across her conspiracy board, the eight ball, etc.

Fortunately Regina was just as predisposed to not wanting such an intrusion, and unlike Roche her first thought wasn’t transforming and waltzing out invisible to the strangers eyes. Though given her luck it would have started a ghost story. No, Regina was as brazen without magical attire as she was in the guise of Ashbringer, and quite literally bowled their interloper over and berated her with a blistering fusilade of verbal barbs. It was an inspired offensive, and she found herself nearly as stunned as the stranger on the ground, but her wits had not entirely abandoned her.

Just enough she didn’t register the mark left on her pink-dusted cheeks as she stepped over Ember in passing. ”If you’re going to lie about a club, don’t do it while classes are still in session. Try that again with me and we’ll be having words….whoever you are.”

The Track Captain darted out of the room, eager to escape towards the normality of classes and muster herself after being so sorely tried and found wanting, a moral failure to go alongside all the others heaped upon the Rule Keeper in recent months. But for all that she was agonizing over how poorly she was handling matters, an incessant voice kept reminding her how long it had been since anyone had taken an interest in her. Had wanted to work with her instead of asking for her help.

And done so without the unsubtle threats of a mortician looming over their every disagreement.

"Well, alright, you do get fired up sometimes," Kiyo added to Suki's comments. "But you know how it is. Something that isn't necessarily wrong or right can look bad from the wrong perspective. If you can look at things from their angle and honestly say you did nothing wrong, then don't let it eat you. Especially if they don't help you understand their own feelings." Kiyo didn't particularly feel like pressing for gory details in the hallway, so she decided to give boilerplate advice for the time being. "Just don't put off making a decision if you think you might want to apologize. It only gets harder over time."

She was just about to follow after Suki when Michi appeared, causing her to stop and mull over her question for a moment. There arose in her heart a well-cultivated desire to get away from this kind of conversation—an 'out' to be anywhere or do anything else—but still, she thought about it. If Tsubomi truly doesn't feel any emotion, then I guess... that makes me her 'de facto' best friend? And the prime suspect. How annoying. Today was going so well, too. Would someone just show up and take credit for the letter already? Something in between discomfort and disinterest showed on her face. "Out of everyone here, as in the Club? Between Tsubomi and I, I guess it's kind of a wash?" Roche might have still had unrequited feelings, but as Suki said, she was close with Shuuko now, and with her being under so much stress lately... I know you've got it bad, but I really hope you didn't do anything stupid.

”Look, just because I hang out with her a lot of the time,” Hotaru crossed her arms as she spoke, ”doesn’t mean I’m talking about Roche. Other people exist in the world.” Why did Ember not say- Ah, they were separate now. And come to think of it, the redhead would have probably forced her into some sort of ridiculous lie that only someone with a demonstrably oversized brain could keep track of. So she was all the better for it.

”And yeah, I know, Suki. Like I said, I was an ass there. I don’t think I did anything wrong with this friend, though. And Kiyo! Even if I look at it from her perspective, I was looking out for her, trying to protect her.” The warrior spoke as though apologising would absolve her of every bit of responsibility regarding her actions in the first place. It probably did not help that a frown appeared on her face after she heard the analysis of the Detention Club’s brilliant schemer.

”So I really don’t under-” Where had the gaggle of students come from? Why were they following the damned light girl along with Tsubomi and some creepy-looking goth girl who looked pale enough to fall over from anemia.

Who just so happened to bring along Sylvia.

Hotaru barely stopped herself from clicking her tongue as soon as she saw the protector. Mostly because calling her by that moniker seemed to be a blatant lie. She could not protect anything; a stiff breeze would be enough to rip her into shreds, never mind an incoming attack or something along those lines. Had the warrior really had such an extreme effect on her? If so, then she really was in the wrong. Even Hotaru could admit it. If only she could see how…!

As for Sylvia, she just followed Michi. Being dragged around was better than being trampled, or so a greater part of her insisted. The smaller part, however, whispered that she should just let the students walk over her, drive her into the ground without any semblance of care. Then the pain would disappear forever. Not to mention there would be no longer any liars. Nor students that glared at her, making her feel as though they were driving stakes through her heart.

And of course, out of all the things she had to meet - it was Hotaru. The one who hated her the most. The one who did not listen to a single word she said. It was not that she lied unlike many others, but it was that she drove forward, ever relentlessly.

Sylvia’s heart panged. Her gaze focused on the floor. She wrenched her hand out of Michi’s grasp, then stepped away to flee from the scene, inner demons all but screaming at her and sending her careening into Tsubomi.

She tried to stop herself, of course, but her movements felt sluggish. It was as though she were moving in molasses, so the only thing she succeeded doing was entangling herself in the other magical girl. This close, Tsubomi probably felt the impact of Sylvia’s emotions manyfold, but perhaps her sensitivity could also allow her to feel magic residing in Sylvia’s soul.

---

That could have gone much better.

Ember did all she could to withstand the abuse silently, both from the red-haired woman and Roche. She knew they were correct, but it did not make the barbs in their voices sink less deep, especially from the Detention Club’s Rulekeeper. She also knew it was her own fault that she lay on the floor with wide eyes, because she wanted to pretend to be another person. Wanted to become someone else so the blame would not land on Shuuko or Ember.

Thoughts were never to be a salve for her meagre wounds. But were her words or thoughts ever a salve to Sylvia? She did not know. But could she know? Would Sylvia even want to share her feelings with Ember?

The schemer’s teeth ground against each other. She nearly felt them rupture as she stood up and headed after Roche, using her determined pace to hopefully catch up to the fleeing girl.

While Kiyo took the time to gather her thoughts (brood), Michi looked over her shoulder at the gang of students behind them. They almost seemed lost by the question Haruna posed, some of them even looking at each other for an answer.

"The classes are staggered and weird today." One of them finally said.

"Yea!" Another one added. "I have no idea what’s going on. But apparently our classes are starting late. So we took a walk."

"I arrived late, so I’m glad I get to keep my attendance up." Another one giggled.

It did look like some of Haruna’s classmates were here. Though they had been hard to spot with so many students. "We’d better enter the classroom now though, it looks like we’re out of time."

"Well, take this one with you." Michi allowed the blond student to pull away. With that taken care of, she returned her attention to Kiyo for her to give her assessment. The girl raised an eyebrow. "...Right, of course. Never mind then. We’ll talk again during lunch, I’d like to discuss something with the club." She then walked past Kiyo further down the hall, and the students behind her started to funnel into the classrooms in her wake.

Suki was still in view. Kiyo would have to catch up if she didn’t want to miss the slide show.

…

Hahahahahahha!

Meanwhile,Tsubomi had been run down a second time. Though there was a squad of students to help the two of them to their feet.

"Might wanna get your breaks checked out." One of them joked. Then everyone took a seat.

Shortly afterwards, everyone else would funnel in after her. They didn’t have to remain seated long before a woman entered the room. She clearly wasn’t the typical teacher, as she was a foreigner. One with vibrant red hair. She grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote her name on the board at the front of the class.

"Hello, my name is Regina Grace. Today we’re going to practice English." She smiled.

---

"Glad to hear it!" Finn slapped his hands together. "Well, let’s not delay now! Let’s see what you can do with the first question…"

---

"What are you even talking about? Why would it be additive or multiplicative if it was binary?" The feline chuckled, and it seemed to shake the room. "What am I, little weed? I’m you. For a time, Tsubomi was merely an interface between you and your ’friends.’ The mascot is an interface between the two of us as well. If you know so little about me, you cannot understand yourself very well." It turned its head until it was upside down. "But if you must know-"

The screen blipped out, and then filled with yellow. The word "PET" was displayed on the screen in big bold letters. It flashed on screen three times, then changed to a crude animation of a hand stroking a cat’s back, then to an emoticon.

^-^

The cat would say nothing else, and the screen would never show the cheshire cat again.

---

A few hours later…

---

Finn had helped Norika with a few problems, then stuck around to watch her solve the next two on her own. After that, he felt confident enough in her abilities that he excused himself from the room. He took his hazmat suit and vanished for a time. Once she was done, it was a bit before he returned. When he did, he took a moment to go over her work.

"Very good, and also what I expected!" He tapped her work with his pen. "You’re going to be a natural at linear algebra. Everything just builds off of itself. If you can get this, you can get calculus, and then you can understand machine learning algorithms and all of the most advanced tech in the world. I think your parents are going to be impressed by your results." He looked over her work one last time, bit his lower lip, and placed it back on her desk. "I Imagine your parents must want to put you in a college as soon as possible. Do you know what you want to study?"

---

It felt a little cold to not even have Haruna wave goodbye after their brief greeting, but it didn’t really matter. In fact, it was a good thing. If she had been the person who wrote that letter, it would have been more than a little weird. Not that being weird was a problem. Well, it was, actually. It was bad when Suki was weird, but when other people were weird it was probably okay. Yes, she decided that sounded good. But whoever wrote that would have at least acknowledged her with their eyes, right?

Suki decided it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was lunch time now.

For once, Suki did not rush to the club’s table and instead stood by the cafeteria counter. She was not expecting her admirer to go there, which was precisely why she positioned herself that way. She looked out away from the counter and watched everyone funnel in. There were many students coming into the cafeteria, but none of them had a blue ribbon. Sometimes she’d catch someone wearing a blue ribbon out in the crowd, only for them to seat themselves, open their bento box or lunch pail, and eat with chopsticks. There was one foreign student that ate with a plastic fork, but it wasn’t silver. She wasn’t the one.

It had to be someone she knew, she reminded herself. She didn’t really talk to anyone outside the club, so who was it going to be?

---

---

Haruna did her usual sloughing along to the usual table, where she expected to find Suki having reached it already. With the girl not present, she paused to glance over the area and look for the wayward dark girl. It didn't take long to locate her, given her position wasn't exactly hidden, at which point Haruna shed her book-filled bag and ambled over toward her. She wasn't getting a good read, but it seemed like. . . she wanted to find someone? Or meet someone, something like that. "Is there something wrong, Suki?" she asked, though she honestly didn't expect the greasy-haired girl to share. "There's not trouble, is there?"

When Finn returned to check over her work, Norika couldn’t keep herself from blushing slightly at the boy’s praise of her abilities. Few people had ever given her such glowing compliments, and, aside from Finn, they had either been a friend, or close family member. To have someone who was essentially a stranger say such things was a new and pleasantly surprising experience. Even so, she didn’t allow those warm feelings to linger for long before rapidly raising her guard back up. This was obviously nothing more than a tactic to breach her defenses, and as genuine as it might have seemed, she refused to allow herself to fall for it.

Especially the part about her parents being impressed. That was categorically impossible.

“T-Thank you,” Norika told her tutor. “I-I’m glad I was able to keep from messing up too badly…” she added, the sentiment being the honest truth. Then Finn mentioned her parents wanting her to attend college, and the frail girl couldn’t help but be taken aback. Giving voice to a shocked gasp, she stammered, “C-College?! M-My parents w-would never s-send me to any school! T-They’d be horrified by the embarrassment and shame I’d bring to the family name,” she explained, her voice filled with bitterness. “T-They’re already looking for another relative to t-take my b-brother’s place as heir to the family’s legacy. T-They’d rather pretend I didn’t even exist…”

---

When Sylvia bowled into Tsubomi, she wondered through the pressure of the girl's feelings if coming to the school was a good idea. And since when was her magic so sensitive!? Especially when she wasn't trying to use it. Was this due to being locked away in her mind for so long, or was it because Zassou was transformed now?

She didn't have a lot of time to think about it before some of the gaggle of schoolgirls around them helped her stand back up. She was dragged along by the wave of bodies into what was luckily the room for her next class.

When she finally got seated, an unfamiliar face entered the room, framed by red. Was this woman always the teacher of this class? Tsubomi didn't remember her... But at least the class should be easy.

...

Time had slipped away into lunchtime, and Tsubomi had only grown more annoyed leading up to it. Whoever this girl was, she clearly needed some sort of intervention. And while Tsubomi probably wasn't the best person to do it, she didn't know anyone who would be better suited for it. She didn't really know anyone, really. Except the girl who had threatened her at the arcade, but she would have to wait for now.

And so Tsubomi found herself standing behind Sylvia, struggling to think through what she should say to her. After a few seconds, she decided to quit on that approach.

Screw it, I'll just wing it.

Her hands full with her lunch, she lifted her right leg and gently kicked Sylvia in the back to get her attention.

"Hey. The hell happened to you? Did your pet run away or something?"

---

It seemed that the Mascot's projection had different eyes than Zassou. Or was that because it didn't have any? She wasn't sure. She was only sure that she didn't know binary. Nor did she know what it meant by saying it was her. Was there a third in Tsubomi's head? She hoped not.

But then it was gone, and the Mascot was back in control. Seeing it happen to something else put things in a strange perspective for her. Was that what it was like at the arcade? Well, it didn't matter too much. She reached out to pet the feline thrice, then paused. What had it meant by Tsubomi being the interface? Surely it was Zassou who had that role, right?

After a few moments she pulled herself up onto the desk to resume the hopefully enjoyable action and closed her eyes in thought.

How strange, to 'think'. It meant that she 'was,' didn't it? That she had agency, a consciousness. 'Free will,' as it were. But what was 'will,' anyway? What was a 'self'? Where did it come from, why was it there? And could she really say she even had that if she was some sort of non-human? Did the grass that grew from a grave have its own will, as well?

Suddenly, as if hit in the head by a grand-slam baseball, she thought she understood Tsubomi a little better. Or maybe that wasn't right. Did she ever understand anyone? Anything? And could she, if she didn't have a 'self'? Haruna had thought that she might be Tsubomi's magic. How ironic, if so, that her magic questioned her existence as if their roles were reversed. But that made Zassou the antagonist, didn't it? Though she supposed that was fitting, given the Club she was allowed to be a part of...

If only she could read the script, everything would be fine. She'd know what mask to wear, what lines to repeat. The choreography would need to be improvised, but the audience wouldn't mind, and neither would she.

She continued her repeating motions on the Mascot's back alongside her rumination. Soon it was dusk, and she'd be late to class, but she didn't move any further than she already was. She decided it was better to not change. There was plenty of reason to make things different, and little to avoid doing so, but even still it was what Zassou decided.

The sun peeked through the window at last, shedding light on the cat and the weed, giving freely what it had to give. Zassou felt her neck slump as her face turned to it, just as her namesake would. As it did, her black hair covered her eyes to block it out. That was about right, she decided. Her own self blocking what she needed. Was that a trait only she bore, or was it Tsubomi's that she was simply borrowing?

Which identity in, or rather formerly in, that rainbow covered head was the owner of Zassou's being?

Oh. That must be what the Mascot's inner self meant. Identity, but what did that word mean? What was the meaning, the meaning of self, the meaning of life? What was the definition of it, while she was at it? She still didn't know anything, even after a day of thought. And that was at the pace of a normal person!

Her hand twitched. As if it had heard her thoughts, the cat under her hand had bit down on her. It drew blood, but she didn't feel any pain. As she idly watched her insides pour out between its teeth, she wondered when the Mascot had turned pink. Was it from her blood? Perhaps from someone else's...

Her eyes lazily drifted to her free hand. Was the cat going to become sedated, or was that unique to Tsubomi's body?

She watched her hand close, only to reopen a moment later. Surely she could stop the feline, but why? If it drank all her blood, she'd be allowed to leave a part of her behind in its existence. A rust-colored bloodstain on the Club; it wasn't quite the way she'd imagined, but that was fine.

Ah, the television was purring on the desk across from her. She'd always hated when teachers brought it in to teach for them, since the static kept her awake at her desk. But this sound was nice. At least, more so than the alternative.

The ringing of the school's bell brought an orange film over Zassou's eyes. She could still feel a hand on the Mascot's back, but when had she laid down? It took her a moment to sit up again, her hair falling away from her sight as she did.

Her head turned to look around the room. It seemed that she had fallen asleep at some point. Well, that was fine. She always did her best thinking away from the waking world anyway. Granted, not a lot of it, nor was it particularly impressive lately, but it was thinking nonetheless.

She glanced at the clock and wondered if it was worth it to go to lunch. She wasn't particularly hungry, but the Mascot had curled up to take a nap as well, so she decided to let sleeping cats lie and make her way to the lunchroom.

---

She was being a hypocrite and she knew it, too.

Marganite showed up outside the club room and Earthshaker had been ready to push the limits of Rei’s tolerance with the burning need to enact retribution. A desire that was no less present in her heart, even if it remained a low simmer among the many other pots bubbling madly in the recesses of her brain matter.

The GEM had made a direct threat against them, and followed it up with an assassination attempt that could have killed her had Shatterscape not intervened.

So, logically speaking, Roche should have been frothing at the mouth finding Regina was now subbing in as a teacher. After all, she had overtly told them she’d be sending them packing out of town and the pressure of her ultimatum had left Roche a nervous wreck for months. She’d have never even considered the mess at the Beach without the many sleepless nights and the ache of their stagnant growth driving her to desperation.

She stewed over this as she ate by rote, mechanically plucking her rice from a prepared box while her eyes remained glued to forms for the season’s track meets and their travel arrangements. Lunch wasn’t much of a break when you took on added responsibility, thankless though they were. Regina did at least have a good reason for all this cloak and dagger nonsense.

Never mind that the impetus for both their enemies was the menace of the Detention Club. No, she knew damn well why she was…softer on Ashbringer. Fuck a duck, I don’t even know what I have with Sylvia and now I’ve got this and everything else. Can’t things be simple again.

Who was she kidding? If the universe didn’t dump this on her then she’d have taken it up herself. So the Rule Keeper slouched at her table, a bleary eye panning around, passing over Suki and Haruna with only a faint concern for the latter’s well being. I wonder if Sylvia is here today…

Kiyo was off the hook—for now—but it was clear that Michi still wanted to talk to her. An inconclusive result. Perhaps our clashing desires caused a diminishing effect, or... Perhaps she was simply paranoid. It was that unrelenting distrust masquerading as her own curiosity that caused her fall to darkness in the first place. A world where everything went the Club's way, even for half a day, was too good for her to believe. One or two wins in a day—even big ones, certainly—but they and the little incidents kept piling up relentlessly. She looked at the textbook in her hand, considering if she should open up the letter or not. If I open it, and it's my handwriting... But it was impossible. It was written in calligraphy, that much was established. It couldn't even possibly be a forgery. The fact that she believed a prank was the most likely possibility didn't make her any happier than Suki probably was—as if she herself considered it impossible that someone could actually fall for her—but the cold reality was that this was most likely Willow's doing.

Kiyo spent the entirety of her next class thinking about that rather than focusing on English. Certainly Suki's case was readily explainable. Kiyo's research bearing fruit today of all days could be a coincidence, but why had her search results changed so radically overnight? Add on to that the miraculous healing, the appearance of beloved substitute teachers and other strangeness—something was amiss. Or was it? Was it her heart that was amiss? She wanted them to be happy, didn't she? My parents would say that when enough unlikely coincidences converge, God is at work—but that can't be true. He would never reward us seekers of darkness with His favor. This would surely be someone else's handiwork—but who would even be capable of something like this? A pocket dimension, or mass delusion that reacts to our desires in real time... That would be a God-like power.

She simply must be paranoid, she thought as she walked to the cafeteria—yet she couldn't let it go. Her hypothesis could not be left untested. I need something concrete. Something I want, strongly, just for me. That was certainly not a lot of criteria. She only needed to reconcile the two. She could think of plenty of things that would be nice to have, but not strictly necessary, and plenty of things that would be great, but were, ultimately, in service of the Club—things like her healed ankle, the project coming to fruition, becoming strong enough to be self-sufficient... There has to be something I really want, right? Something selfish, anything. That's the basics of being a kurai majokko—to exercise your will, justice and peace be damned. Kiyo sat at the table, stirring her scrambled eggs with a fork as though she were still whisking them herself at home. Yet no matter how much she obsessed for an answer, nothing came to her.

All of a sudden, she seemed to notice how quiet the Club was in general once Haruna spoke up. It was then that she remembered that Haruna could apparently "hear" desires, and wondered what she might be hearing now: did it sound like this uncomfortable silence, or closer to something like white noise? "There might be trouble later," Kiyo mused—sounding almost hopeful, somehow, that something would go wrong, and she would get to kick someone's ass for it. Yes, she felt a kind of violent urge rising, as if she could punish someone tangibly responsible for this false peace that caused her to ask herself uncomfortable questions she had nothing to show for—questions like, why does something always have to be going wrong for her to feel like her life is real? Or why, if there is a problem, or a conspiracy, does she alone have to be the one to solve the case?

Michi was among those coming to the cafeteria, not late nor early. She did not have a lunch box with her, at least, not one that was visible. She did have a really cute black handbag with a studded clasp that looked like a goat. Otherwise, she looked exactly like she had earlier. Michi was easy to pick out because she didn’t wear a school uniform. Likely because she wasn’t a student.

She walked past the cafeteria counter, but did not stop for a meal. Other than flood the air around her with a desire to destroy, one far stronger than any time Haruna had met her previously, she did little else. In fact, she did not seem to spot Haruna as she passed by. Her boots made a distinct click with every step, and it could be heard even in the cafeteria.

She continued to not look at anyone. Rather than avoidance, it felt more like apathy. It wasn’t until she got to Kiyo’s table that she stopped moving. Michi stood there like a statue, not making any sudden movements. Then, as if her mind caught up to her, she turned her head to what would have been Suki’s seat. She plopped down in it and set her bag on the table, setting up a wall between herself and Kiyo.

"How irritating." Michi looked out at the cafeteria crowd. "It takes so long for anything to happen. And then once it happens, it’s over so fast." She could have been talking to anyone. At least, she wasn’t looking at Kiyo if she had meant to address her. Though there was no doubt that this next line was for Kiyo.

"Do you suppose we’ll ever be able to trust anyone?"



While scanning the room, Suki was able to pick up Haruna. Was this it? Had her previous assumption been wrong? She eyed the book bag with great interest, but nothing came of it. She did have to wonder how much Haruna knew even if she wasn’t directly involved. Did she know Suki was thinking about her right now? Her heart beat faster.

"Ah? Ahahahahaha!" Suki waved her hand. "Trouble? No no, this is, um, the opposite of trouble. Someone wants to meet meeeeee!" She was bouncing on her heels. "I guess I’m just, a little, um, nervous? No, excited!" She bit her lower lip and peered around the room, then looked back at Haruna. "I’m so glad I washed my hair today!" She continued to giggle through her sharpened teeth.

On Suki’s next scan of the cafeteria, she noticed Tsubomi talking to a random girl. It had to be the bad Tsubomi, because she seemed too agitated to be the good Tsubomi. And no, Suki would not be calling good Tsubomi Zassou. If anyone was a weed, it was that bitch.

…

Why did Bad Tsubomi have control over the body?

As if to answer that question, Suki was drawn to Acid Drop’s sudden appearance. She shook her head and looked again.

"H-huh?!"

Meanwhile, while Roche’s eyes scanned the room, she eventually locked eyes with someone standing just a few inches in front of her.

"Boo!"



"Hmm, you don’t seem that scared." Willow settled down at the other side of the table. "Man, today has been horrible! I’ve been able to sleep through all my classes and nobody noticed I was missing! Then I gave no less than five wedgies and suffered no repercussions for any of them! It’s so horrible being this unnoticed by everyone!" She waved her hand in front of Roche’s face. "You notice me though, don’t you, senpai?" After settling into her seat, she looked in Haruna and Suki’s direction. "I noticed you were looking at your old flame. At least you’d better be! You want me to see if I can split them up? If you want a wing man, I think I can peel Haruna away long enough for you to talk to Suki. She looks like she’d say yes to just about anything today."

---

After hearing the girl’s rebuttal, Finn sighed, put on a wistful smile, and shook his head. "I’ve spoken with your father. I’ve seen how the servants talk about you. I’ve seen how your mother talks to them." He looked out the window. "But I think… They are just frustrated." He rested a hand on his hip. "But look. They still pay for your medication, have tutors spend time with you, I don’t think they want you to languish. They clearly care about you, even if they aren’t gentle about it." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I’ve had some incredible people in my life. People who were better than me in every way. Everyone put their hopes and dreams on their shoulders. I honestly felt a little envious of them, but I couldn’t bring myself to dislike them. And then…" Finn trailed off. After rubbing the back of his head, he sighed. "I’m sorry, I don’t really know what you’re going through. What I’m trying to say is that you have a future. Even if it’s not becoming some heir, which I think is still in the cards, you could easily become a programmer or a scientist if you keep applying yourself." With a nod, he took a step closer to the door. "You did really good today."

As she sat on her bed, Norika listened to Finn’s little speech with growing annoyance. Multiple times, she’d wanted to stop him and explain just how wrong he was, to tell him that her parents cared for her simply for appearances sake, like a plant they didn’t want guests to see wilting, and that she had never once envied her brother, the kindest most supportive person she’d ever met, but she was unable to get the words out. When the boy detective finally finished, she was about to tell him those things, as well as assure him that she was far too sickly to hold any kind of steady job, but then he made his final remark, and she just froze. It was just a simple compliment, but it struck her with all the force of a sledgehammer. It might have very well been a total lie, but still, the words were impossible for such a frequently berated girl like her to ignore. Thus, instead of the lengthy rebuttal she’d been mentally preparing, all Norika could say was a soft, “T-Thank you.” Swallowing her bitterness and suspicion she forced herself to add, “A-And thank you for having so much faith in me.”

I only wish I could have the same kind of faith in myself…

---

---

"Oh? That's good to hear," Haruna said. She couldn't help but sound a little surprised, but there was a genuine well-wish in her voice as well. The awkward laugh had her worried for a moment that Suki was up to no good, but it seemed like it was nothing to be concerned about. Yet, anyway. She had the somewhat depressing thought that this could be a prank. Please let it not be that. It'd be too cruel.

Further musings on that thought were interrupted by the appearance of. . . Tsubomi?

Wow, the club advisor worked fast. She'd expected more of an ordeal, some kind of brainstorming session on how to weave together various powers, probably some difficult process of extracting the emotionless one from the original without damaging one or the other, but nope! She was just standing right there. "Do you maybe wanna say hi? I can keep a lookout for whoever's trying to meet you." Especially if it wasn't a magical girl, locating such a person would be trivial with her powers. . . assuming, once again, that this wasn't some kind of heartrending prank.