Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Yuji could tell that something was wrong. The school had been abuzz with activity for the past couple of days. Their classes had been sparse and often canceled. They hadn’t been assigned even basic missions for a while. Sorcerers and Windows entered and exited the school in a volume Yuji had never seen before. He hadn’t seen any of his teachers much, let alone Gojo-sensei since the 16th of September. It had been a little over a week since then and Yuji was sick of this feeling of dread. 

“Something on your mind, Itadori?” Fushiguro asked from his seat in the classroom. The first years were alone in the classroom once again, this time waiting for someone to show up.

“I was just thinking about all the traffic in and out of the school. Is something wrong?” Yuji replied.

“Huh? Are you stupid or something?” Kugisaki said, giving him a baffled look. Fushiguro didn’t say anything but he gave Yuji a similar look. 

“Guys, am I missing something? We haven’t had a proper class in a week and I have no idea why!” Yuji spoke, looking back and forth between his two friends.

“You’re serious? You mean you haven’t noticed the massive wave of cursed energy over everything!?” Kugisaki exclaimed.

“Calm down Kugisaki, Itadori is just not used to sensing curses, if he was asleep when it happened it would make sense that he missed it.” Fushiguro said.

Yuji sat in his chair in complete confusion. Kugisaki looked at him, sighed and began to explain.

“At midnight on the 16th, a massive wave of uncontrolled cursed energy swept over the entirety of Japan. After appearing it just settled over everything, it’s agitating all the cursed spirits and making things problematic for sorcerers everywhere. The traffic in and out of the school and all our classes getting canceled is probably because of that.” 

Yuji had no idea! But wait…

“Do we not know who or what caused that wave?” Yuji asked.

“That’s part of the problem,” Fushiguro explained, “The emanation is so massive that it fills out the entirety of Tengen-sama’s barrier; we can’t pinpoint its location because we can’t find the actual edges of it. It even almost stressed the barriers to breaking.”

“Is that bad?”

“It would be a catastrophe” Fushiguro continued, “Almost all cursed energy is localized in Japan thanks to Tengen-sama’s barriers, if they broke the rest of the world would have to deal with vastly more powerful curses without the proper infrastructure to deal with them.”

“Hmmmmm…” Yuji hummed to himself as he tapped his foot in thought, “Does that mean all the people coming in and out of the school are there because they’re looking for the source?”

“Right on the money, Yuji-kun!” A voice from the front of the classroom exclaimed. All three first years turned to the front of the classroom to see their white haired teacher suddenly standing there.

“You’re mostly right, the higher ups have spent the last week floundering over what to do about the emanation. What was settled on was search parties throughout all of Japan to find and deal with the source of the emanation. It’s the highest priority mission assigned to essentially all Jujutsu sorcerers. They’re all being assigned an area to search, and you three are included!” Gojo-sensei said, pacing back and forth at the front of the classroom. Kugisaki went to open her mouth but Gojo-sensei interrupted her.

“Before you ask, I’ve decided that you kids will all be assigned to the same area. Considering your penchant for getting involved in Special grade nonsense it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“So, where are we getting assigned?” Fushiguro asked, looking a little miffed at the phrase ‘Special grade nonsense.’

“You three are going to…” He paused in the middle of his sentence to build emphasis.

“Mitakihara!”

Yuji practically jumped in his seat. For real, Mitakihara!? Gojo-sensei gave Yuji his best blindfolded attempt at a wink.

“Mitakihara… that fancy city west of Kamihama?” Kugisaki asked.

“Correctamundo, though you guys will also be searching Kazamino, Takarazaki and parts of Kamihama cause your group is so big.” Gojo-sensei replied.

“Isn’t that place closer to Kyoto than to us, why are we being sent there?” Fushiguro questioned.

“Don’t worry about it too hard Megumi-chan! You three better start packing soon, cause tomorrow you’ll be setting off!”

Yuji and his friends walked back to their dorms after their teacher’s announcement. Fushiguro and Kugisaki walked in front of him as Yuji trailed behind slightly, lost in thought.

“I mean, seriously, Mitakihara? Why are we being sent there? Wouldn’t it make more sense to send us somewhere closer?” Kugisaki questioned.

“That’s what I’m thinking, there has to be some deeper meaning to it.” Fushiguro grumbled.

“Guys, didn’t Gojo-sensei tell us not to worry about it too much? Besides, I doubt he actually expects us to find the source of the emanation, we should think of it like a vacation.” Yuji said from his place in the back.

“And what makes you say that, Itadori?” Kugisaki asked.

“I mean, what other reason could he have to send us to Mitakihara?” Yuji explained, looking a little confused when neither of his friends understood what he meant. Both of them just stared inquisitively at Yuji.

“Oh wait… did I never tell you guys?” Yuji started, placing his hands in his uniform’s pockets.

“I have family that lives in Mitakihara.” 

Both Fushiguro and Kugisaki froze in place as Yuji walked past them. They both stood in silence for a moment before shouting in unison.

“HUH!?”

Yuji turned around to look at them as Kugisaki pointed at him, he really hadn’t expected them to be so surprised.

“What do you mean ‘I have family that lives in Mitakihara,’ I thought you would be better about this kind of thing than Fushiguro is!?”

“Oi” 

“Don’t you ‘Oi’ me! You didn’t tell us you had a sister until like two weeks ago, and we’ve known each other for months!” Kugisaki exclaimed, shifting around and pointing at Fushiguro.

“Didn’t I tell you guys that my meatball recipe was my uncle’s?” Yuji asked, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Not as far as I remember.” Fushiguro said before turning to look at their brown haired classmate, “Besides, it’s rude to point at people Kugisaki.”

“Well excuuuuse me if I’m a little surprised at this bombshell Fushiguro!”

“Is it really that big of a deal?” Yuji said.

“Yes/Absolutely.” Both of them said at the same time.

Yuji sighed, “Can we just drop it for now guys? I’ll introduce you to them when we get to Mitakihara okay?”

Kugisaki and Fushiguro both seemed quelled by that statement and they split up when they finally reached the dorms. Once Yuji got to his room, he sat on his bed and pulled out his phone. It would be wrong of him to not tell his aunt and uncle he was coming right?

The next day, all three of the first years bundled themselves into Ijichi-san’s car for the multi hour drive to Mitakihara. Fushiguro sat in the middle while Yuji and Kugisaki were seated on either side of him. They sat in relative silence for most of the ride, not really saying anything.

“Say Itadori… What's your family like?” Kugisaki asked about halfway through the ride.

“Well… First is my auntie Junko. She’s my dad’s sister and a very successful business woman. She’s super cool, I think you’ll like her Kugisaki. Next is her husband Tomohisa. He’s a stay-at-home dad and an excellent cook, he taught me everything I know about cooking. Then there’s my younger cousin Madoka, she’s the nicest girl you’ll ever meet. Finally there’s my baby cousin Tatsuya. He’s a cute kid!” Yuji said, hands moving alongside his explanation.

“Are they Itadori as well?” Fushiguro inquired.

“Nope, they’re the Kanames.”

Idle chit-chat like that continued for a few moments before the car lapsed back into comfortable silence. Yuji couldn’t help but think of the last time he spoke with his aunt and uncle. It had been back in June, when he had first swallowed Sukuna’s finger. They were technically his legal guardians at the time after his grandfather had died so Gojo-sensei needed their permission to enroll him in Jujutsu Tech. They had been surprised that Yuji wanted to enroll in (what they thought was) a private religious school of all things, but they hadn’t opposed his decision at all. They just told Yuji to visit when he could and sent him on his way. He was grateful for that.

It was a few hours later when the Mitakihara skyline finally came into view. The city was just as breathtaking as it had been the last time Yuji had been there maybe 2 years ago. Kugisaki let out an awed sound from her side of the car, looking out the window at the mesmerizing city. Mitakihara was surprisingly developed for such a small city, but Yuji supposed it made sense with Kamihama so closeby. Considering the redevelopment had only started maybe 15 years ago the rate at which they built the city back up was borderline miraculous. Overshadowed by the modern architecture of the main city, the factory district remained old and mostly abandoned.

It wasn’t much longer when Ijichi-san dropped them off at their hotel in downtown Mitakihara. Their hotel room wasn’t really anything special, but it had three beds so nobody had to share. Yuji and the others spent some time getting settled in their room before they headed off to the Kaname residence for dinner.

His aunt and uncle’s place was only a relatively short trip from their hotel, they lived in the suburbs outside the city center. The three first years walked through the affluent neighborhood until they came to a house on a rather large property. The house was modern, boxy and covered in large glass windows. Yuji rang the doorbell and they only had to wait a few moments before a tall, brown haired man with glasses opened the door for them. He was wearing an apron over casual clothes.

“Ah, Yuji-kun, you’re here.” He said, ushering them all into the house.

“Fushiguro, Kugisaki, this is my uncle Tomohisa.” Yuji introduced them as they entered the house. It was just as fancy on the inside as it was on the outside, the sleek geometric theme evident throughout the entrance. Also chairs? For some reason? Yuji had never really understood that aspect of his aunt and uncle’s interior design philosophy.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Fushiguro said.

“Same here” Kugisaki added in afterwards.

“Thanks, any friends of Yuji’s are welcome here.” Tomohisa-san said as they walked through the large house’s halls. They came to a combined kitchen / dining room with an open floor plan. A large glass window with a door in it led into a modern looking garden and several staircases connected the room to other parts of the house. Sitting at the table waiting for dinner was a purple haired woman. She wore a suit and a small black bow barrette in her hair.

“And this,” Yuji said, “Is my auntie Junko,” pointing to the woman with his hand.

Fushiguro and Kugisaki exchanged the same pleasantries with his aunt. In a high chair next to Junko-san was a small brown haired toddler.

“Yu-gee!” Tatsuya cried, shaking his hands and slightly rattling his chair.

“Hey Takkun! It’s been a while hasn’t it.” Yuji replied.

Junko-san eyed Yuji’s two friends as Yuji went to interact with Tatsuya. 

“It’s good to see Yuji-kun making friends!” Junko-san said, “And you two are?”

“I’m Fushiguro Megumi,” Fushiguro answered, decidedly ignoring Junko-san’s half-muttered ‘Isn’t that a girl’s name?’

“The name’s Kugisaki Nobara!” Kugisaki replied, snickering to herself over Yuji’s aunt’s earlier comment.

“Nice to meet you both, I didn’t get it over the phone but what brings all of you to Mitakihara?” Junko-san asked, resting her chin on her hand.

“A project for class. We're doing some research and the school thought it would help ‘foster independence’ if we had to stay away from the school. We were given a hotel room and a stipend for the duration of our stay” Fushiguro recited their rehearsed lie on the nature of their trip. Yuji couldn’t exactly explain to his aunt and uncle that he was here searching for the source of a cursed energy emanation could he?

“Gojo-sensei knew that Itadori has family around here so he probably put in a word for us to be sent here specifically because of it.” Fushiguro finally added.

Junko-san nodded and swirled the drink in her glass, probably some kind of alcohol. 

“Madoka! Dinner’s ready!” Tomohisa-san yelled up the stairs and then entered the dining room with his completed meal.

“So… Got any stories to tell” Junko-san asked the three of them. At Kugisaki’s devious smirk Yuji felt something akin to dread enter his heart.

Madoka was in her room doing her homework when she heard her Papa calling for her. She speed-walked down the stairs and saw 3 faces she wasn’t expecting.

The first was a girl with chin-length brown hair, parted to one side. She wore a pure black school uniform with a set of buttons down the chest, a knee length black skirt, black stockings and brown shoes. The next was a boy with spiky black hair. He was wearing a similar uniform to the girl, but with one button near the collar holding the uniform together instead of multiple buttons. He also wore pure black pants and brown shoes. They both seemed to be maybe a year or two older than her.

The last was…

“Yuji!” She yelled in surprise, closing the distance and going in for a hug.

Yuji chuckled to himself and reciprocated, “Yo, Madoka.”

Her cousin, Itadori Yuji. It had been a year since she had last seen him and he looked almost the same. He wore a very similar outfit to the black haired boy, except that he wore a bright red hoodie underneath his uniform’s overcoat. He had very short spiky pink hair and brown eyes. The only real difference she saw were these two curved marks on his cheekbones. She couldn’t tell if they were scars or tattoos, where did he get them from? Madoka would think about it later.

They separated and Madoka got a seat at the table as Yuji introduced her to his two friends.

“This is Fushiguro Megumi” He said, pointing to the black haired boy who nodded, “and this is Kugisaki Nobara,” he finished, gesturing at the brown haired girl who waved at her.

“Kugisaki-chan, as you were saying?” Her Mama asked.

“So, we were hanging out in front of the school, when suddenly these two students from the sister school in Kyoto showed up to press us or something, I can’t really remember too well.”

“They were checking us out because of the goodwill event.” Fushiguro added.

“This big one who was built like a gorilla pulls up on Fushiguro and asks,” Kugisaki paused for emphasis.

“What kind of woman is your type!?”

Her Mama burst into laughter, after a few moments to catch her breath she asked, “You’re serious? What did he say?”

Fushiguro blushed and grumbled, “I just said she had to have good character.” 

“But that’s boring Fushiguro-kun.” her Mama replied after taking a swig from her drink.

“That’s what he said!” Kugisaki cut in before Fushiguro could respond.

“So Todo asked you the same question, Fushiguro…” Yuji said.

The conversation lapsed into comfortable chatter as Madoka enjoyed her Papa’s incredible cooking. It was great to have the whole family together again after a long absence. Madoka turned to ask Yuji a question…

And stared directly into the extra eye that had opened on Yuji’s cheekbone. A blood red eye that boiled with an unfathomable malice so thick she found it hard to breathe. A few moments stretched into hours in her mind as she couldn’t bring herself to look away. Looking into it brought images into her mind, images of 4 arms, 4 eyes, 2 mouths, boundless evil and endless boredom. Madoka blinked and suddenly Yuji’s cheekbone no longer had an eye embedded in it, the world turned back to normal and Madoka remembered how to breathe.

“Madoka, is something wrong?” her Papa asked, looking at her with concern.

“Ahahaha, I think I might be more tired than I thought I was…” Madoka replied, scratching her head.

“If you’re not feeling well, you don’t have to stay for our sake.” Yuji said.

“Yeah, I think I’ll just go to bed.” Madoka answered, getting up and leaving her half-eaten dinner on the table.

“Just ask if you think you need medicine,” Her Papa called from below as she walked up to her room.

As Madoka returned to her room, she thought to herself. That eye on Yuji’s cheek… It had just been her imagination…

Right?

Madoka laid down in her bed, surrounded by her stuffed animals. Those visions that the eye caused in her head still plagued her mind. To tell the truth, Madoka hadn’t been feeling all that well for the last week. There was this slimy, disgusting presence that seemed to cling to her wherever she went. It was like a gross smell she couldn’t shake no matter what she did. Then there was the other feeling she couldn’t shake.

Anticipation.

Something was coming. Something important. Something so vastly important that it could change Madoka’s entire life. Madoka knew this, she wasn’t sure how she knew this she just did. It ran deeper than her bones, down to her very soul. As Madoka fell asleep, she couldn’t help but wonder what the future would bring.

Chapter Text

Madoka was running through a massive hallway of white and black. It felt like she’d be running in that hallway for longer than she’d been alive. She finally reached a door and exited the hallway out onto the roof of a tall building. In front of her Mitakihara was in ruins, the city’s buildings were both destroyed and floating off the ground. A hurricane of unimaginable proportions swirled in the sky and surreal multicolored flames burned all throughout the city. At its epicenter something massive levitated in the air. A great and terrible thing made of giant gears and a doll in a dress suspended beneath the gears. A mandala of pure power emanated from the creature, casting the being in shadow.

There was no way this could end, except in tragedy.

Madoka saw someone standing on a building that was floating in the air. She had long, silky black hair and piercing purple eyes. She wore a strange costume that reminded Madoka of a school uniform. She wore a stark white shirt with grey shoulders over a black dress shirt. There was a dark purple bow at the base of her throat and near the middle of her back. Her skirt was the same shade of grey as her shoulders with a ruffled white hem. She wore tights that terminated into high heels with a repeating purple diamond pattern on the sides. A small, round silver buckler rested on her left arm, it had a strange repeating circular pattern on it. She looked horrifically wounded, with wounds weeping blood marring her body and painting her white costume red.

“It was too big of a job for her to handle alone.” A voice echoed not through her ears, but through her mind directly. It was cutesy and non-threatening.

“That’s just horrible! This shouldn’t be happening to anyone!” Madoka replied. She turned to look at the source of the voice and found a small white creature. It was shaped like a cat with a large fluffy tail and beady red-pink eyes. Emerging from beneath the creature’s cat ears was a pair of rabbit ear like protrusions that ended in soft pink spikes. A set of golden rings floated around the rabbit ears.

“Madoka,” It said into her mind, “Would you like to change destiny?” 

“Eh..?”

“You have the power within you to overturn everything that’s come to be in this world.” it answered.

“Can I really?” Madoka asked. The black haired girl let out a silent scream in the distance.

“Of course! That’s why you should make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!” 

Madoka went to answer, because of course she should. If she didn’t then that girl would get hurt more, or even worse… die. She couldn’t let that happen, not after everything they’d been throu-

“Really?” A disappointed, familiar voice sighed out from behind her. As the voice spoke, the world froze in time around Madoka, the color draining from everything.

Madoka turned around to come face to face with an almost exact copy for herself. She wore a ball gown so black that Madoka had trouble making it out and had a gaping black hole where her face should be.

“I wonder why you even bother? You always make the exact same mistakes.” The doppelganger asked herself.

“What are you talking about? What’s going on!?” Madoka questioned the copy. The double startled in place, and seemingly looked at her more carefully.

“Oh? You can hear me this time? In that case…” She began, voice trailing off as she seemed to put some thought into what she was going to say. Suddenly, the clone was in front of her, a hand wrapped around her neck and lifting her off the ground.

“One day, you’ll understand. You’ll understand that all of this is your fault , Kaname Madoka.”

The grip around her neck grew tighter and tighter until eventually, with a muted crunch, everything went still.

Madoka slipped into wakefulness from her… Dream? Nightmare? She honestly wasn’t sure what that was and a lot of the details had already become fuzzy in her mind. All she could remember clearly was that girl who stuck to her mind like glue and the strange doppelganger of herself. Madoka tossed and turned in bed for a while before getting up and starting her morning routine.

She walked down the stairs into the dining room, her father was picking tomatoes in the garden.

“Good morning Papa,” Madoka called out.

“Good morning Madoka,” He replied.

“Is Mama up yet?,” She asked.

“Tatsuya went to wake her up. Mind giving him a hand?”

“No problem!” Madoka said as she walked off towards her mother’s room. She opened her mother’s room’s door with a loud bang. Tatsuya bumped his fists against the blob that was their sleeping mother under the blankets. Madoka marched over, pulled the curtains open, strode back and pulled the covers off her Mama’s bed. The woman let out a little screech and contorted as her sleep-ridden eyes were exposed to the morning sun. Her Mama sat up and looked around confused as Madoka giggled to herself a little. Another normal day…

Madoka and her mother brushed their teeth in the bathroom. Water flowed down the drain as her Mama asked her a question.

“So what’s the latest gossip?”

“Hitomi-chan got another love letter, that’s the second one this month.” Madoka replied.

Her mother scoffed and said, “Guys who don’t have the guts to confess in person are worthless.”

Both of them spat out their toothpaste as another question flew from her Mama’s mouth.

“So, how’s Kazuko?”

“It looks like her new relationship’s still going strong. She always talks about her boyfriend in homeroom. This week marks their three-month anniversary, and that’s a new record.” 

Her mama brushed and blow dried her hair as she responded, “We’ll see how it works out. This is a tricky time for them.”

“Is it?” Madoka asked as she washed her face. She searched around blindly for the face towel before it got pushed into her hands.

“If he’s not ‘the one,’ then they’ll start having problems soon. If they can get through that they’ll be fine for their first year.”  Her Mama answered as she applied her makeup, each piece neatly numbered in the case. Her Mama closed the case and admired herself in the mirror, looking as confident and beautiful as ever. Madoka really wanted to be like her mother when she grew up.

Madoka held up two different pairs of hair ribbons, one yellow and one bright red and asked her mother, “Which ribbons should I wear?” Her mother responded by pointing at the red ones.

“You think? Aren’t they too flashy?”

“They’re supposed to be flashy.” Her Mama said as Madoka tied the ribbons into her hair. The older woman appraised her for a moment before smiling.

“Perfect! Now your secret admirers will be stuck to you like glue.”

“You know I don’t have any.” Madoka replied.

“You need to act like you do. That’s the secret to being pretty.” Her Mama answered back, turning around and walking out of the bathroom.

 After a short breakfast and a high-five from her mother, Madoka ran off to school. Her two friends were waiting for her about halfway to school. Miki Sayaka, a girl with short blue hair and Shizuki Hitomi, a girl with long wavy green hair.

“Madoka! You’re late!” Sayaka-chan said, waving at her.

“Good morning, Madoka-san.” Hitomi-chan said politely.

“Huh? Did you change your ribbons?” Sayaka-chan asked.

“Yeah? They aren’t too flashy right?”

“They look good on you.” Hitomi-chan answered.

A mischievous smirk spread across Sayaka-chan’s face, “Oh? Changing your looks so you can get love letters like Hitomi does?”

Madoka sputtered, “I-it’s not like that!”

Madoka and her friends went back and forth like that for a while as they walked to school. The school’s massive entrance walkway gave way to the school itself, a large modern building covered in large glass windows. Just another normal day…

“Everyone, your teacher has something very important to tell you today… Take this to heart.” Saotome-sensei said gravely.

She slammed her hands against her desk and yelled, “Listen up, all you girls out there! Don’t you ever date a man who complains about the way his eggs are fried! And you boys! Make sure you never grow up to be a petty adult like that!”

‘Well, that certainly explained how Saotome-sensei’s relationship was going’ Madoka thought to herself awkwardly. 

“So she hooked up with another loser huh?” Sayaka whispered from her seat behind Madoka.

“Seems so…” Madoka replied.

“In other news, we have a new student transferring in today.” their teacher said, gesturing over towards the doorway, “You can come in now, Akemi-san!”

“Yes, ma’am.” A cool, soft voice echoed from outside the classroom. As the transfer student walked in, Madoka almost pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. The girl had long, silky black hair and piercing purple eyes. Now that Madoka was looking at her more closely, she was wearing a black headband. She strode to the front of the class and introduced herself.

“My name is Akemi Homura, it’s nice to meet you.” She said as she wrote her name on the board. Afterwards, she turned around and flicked a hand through her hair, sending the long black tresses flowing through the air.

“Whoa, she’s gorgeous.” Sayaka-chan said behind her, but Madoka could barely even comprehend what she was saying.

It was her, the girl from her dream. She looked exactly the same.

“Now class. Please be sure to make friends with her, okay?” Saotome-sensei asked.

Madoka’s eyes met Akemi-san’s, her gaze was intense, laden with some emotion that Madoka couldn’t parse. It made her blush and break eye contact, it was just too much for her.

“Is it just me or was she sending some major lazer beams this way?” Sayaka said, breaking Madoka out of her trance.

“You think?”

Their classmates all crowded around Homura’s desks to ask her questions. Akemi-san looked slightly overwhelmed, and Madoka almost went over there to cover for her before the black haired girl stood up from her seat.

“I’m sorry, I must be more nervous than I thought I was, I’m not feeling well. I’m going to the nurse’s office.” She said, rubbing her brow.

“Oh, are you alright, do you want me to take you?” One of their classmates asked.

“It’s fine, I’ll ask the class health rep.”

Madoka jumped slightly, that was her.

Akemi-san approached her and asked Madoka to take her to the nurse’s office. Sayaka-chan looked slightly worried as Madoka and Akemi-san left the classroom.

It was a short distance into the two girl’s walk to the nurse’s office that Madoka realized something. How did Akemi-san know she was the health rep? She shouldn’t have known that, it was her first day in this class. 

Akemi-san walked slightly in front of her, so all Madoka could see was the other girl’s back. She took all the correct turns, it was like she already knew the way to the nurse’s office and was guiding Madoka, instead of the other way around.

“Um… Akemi-san-” Madoka began, nervously wringing her hands.

“Just call me Homura.” Came Akemi-san, no, Homura-chan’s severe response. It was a strange thing to insist on from a stranger, unless Homura-chan just wasn’t the type for formalities. Unless… they weren’t actually strangers?

“Well um… Homura-chan, have we met somewhere before?” Madoka asked. A flash of something tore through Homura-chan’s face. It was an awful combination of surprise, outrage and a pain more intense than anything Madoka had ever seen before. The other girl wrenched her face back into neutrality and stood in silence. 

“Ahahaha, there’s no way we could’ve, right?” Madoka laughed awkwardly. The rest of the walk to the nurse’s office passed in that same awkward silence. It was only when the two girls reached their destination that Homura-chan finally said something.

“Kaname Madoka!” Homura-chan said sharply.

“Yeah?”

“Your friends and family, do you value them?” The other girl asked.

“Eh?” What a strange question…

“Well? Do you?” Homura-chan repeated. Madoka took a few moments to formulate a response before she answered.

“Of course I do! They’re precious to me, I love all of them very much!” Madoka said resolutely.

“Is that so, in that case heed my words of warning. In the future, no matter what happens you must never consider ‘changing yourself.’ If you do, all that you hold dear will be lost.” Homura gave her warning gravely, turned around and entered the nurse’s office, leaving Madoka stunned.

“And that’s what she said to me.” Madoka relayed her experience to her friends after school at the mall. They sat in the food court with a couple of drinks from a nearby store. Sayaka-chan laughed uproariously at the conversation she’d had with Homura-chan.

“Come on! Are you kidding me!? Who just says something like that” She gasped out between peels of laughter.

“Are you sure you two have never met before?” Hitomi-chan asked, taking a sip from her drink.

“Well…” Madoka fidgeted, this was going to be super awkward, “I think I kinda… Met her in a dream last night?”

Both Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan stared at her in surprise, not quite understanding what she’d said. The silence carried for a moment until Sayaka-chan broke it by laughing even louder than she had before.

“You’re serious!?” Sayaka-chan said, “There’s no way!”

“Please don’t make fun of me, I’m not joking.” Madoka murmured, blushing.

“Did you guys meet in a past life or something?” Sayaka-chan replied, having calmed down some from her outburst.

“It’s possible you have met her before and just forgot Madoka-san.” Hitomi-chan said thoughtfully, “Dreams are made of memories after all.”

If it was that Madoka was going to curl up into a ball and explode. If she had forgotten someone like that and then asked them to their face if they’d met before… That would be so unfathomably embarrassing she’d never recover from it. Madoka really really hoped it wasn’t that. Homura-chan was also a very… striking person, it’d be difficult for Madoka to forget her even if she wanted to.

“What was your dream like? If we talk about it we might be able to figure out what it means.” Her green haired friend spoke.

Madoka couldn’t exactly say anything about the little white thing asking her to be a Magical Girl right? If she told them everything this conversation would quickly become even more embarrassing. Before Madoka could begin to answer, Hitomi-chan looked at her phone and gasped.

“Oh no! If I don’t leave soon I’ll be late!” she said as she gathered her things and finished off her drink. Hitomi-chan had a lot of extracurricular lessons her parents put her through like tea ceremony classes or piano classes that took up almost all of her free time. Madoka thought it was all a little bit too much, but it’s not like she ever said anything about it, unlike Sayaka-chan.

The two girls sent Hitomi-chan off and continued enjoying their drinks. After a while, Sayaka-chan stood up.

“Lets go to the CD store, I need to get something new for Kyosuke.” 

“Sure!” Madoka replied, standing up with her.

Madoka was listening to one of the demos for a song she was liking when she heard it. A cutesy, non-threatening voice that echoed not through her ears but directly into her mind.

Madoka… save me. The voice asked with pained gasps.

Madoka took off the headphones and looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. When she didn’t see anyone, she left the store. Madoka eventually found herself in a closed down portion of the mall, an area that was under construction. Within it, she found a small white creature, bleeding from various wounds on its body.

It was the same white creature from her dream.

Madoka ran up to it, to try and help it when-

“Stay away from that creature!” a familiar, cold voice shouted from outside her vision.

Madoka turned around to see Homura-chan, wearing that strange costume from her dream. Madoka kneeled down to shield the creature.

“Homura-chan, did you do this!? You can’t do things like this!” Madoka yelled back.

“This has nothing to do with you. I have no desire to harm you, so just get out of my way” the black haired girl replied.

A few more moments passed with Madoka looking up at Homura-chan’s cold face. Madoka was afraid, not of Homura-chan, but afraid for the little white creature. Suddenly, white smoke covered both Madoka and Homura-chan as someone grabbed Madoka by the arm. They began to run as Madoka realized that it was Sayaka-chan, who had used a nearby fire extinguisher to give them a chance to escape. Madoka looked back, cradling the white creature, and met eyes with Homura-chan, who looked away angrily.

The two girls got a decent distance away before they stopped to catch their breath.

“What the hell was with her!? Is she some kind of cosplaying maniac!?” Sayaka-chan shouted. She finally noticed the fluffy white creature in Madoka’s arms. “Is that a stuffed animal or something?”

“I found him just a little bit ago…” Madoka trailed off as she looked at her surroundings. She was pretty sure they ran back to where they came from, so why were they even more lost?

Suddenly, the world itself unraveled around them, the unfinished mall around them giving way to a surreal dreamscape. An otherworldly rose garden that didn’t look quite real spread out before them, jagged iron fences jutted from the various surfaces of the garden. From the shadows of the garden, puffballs with butterfly wings for legs and handlebar mustaches emerged. The bizarre creatures quickly surrounded both girls and began chanting in a language Madoka didn’t understand. Large, pitch black vacuous eyes opened on the puffballs faces, from which scissors attached to vines erupted, snipping at the air. Madoka and Sayaka-chan huddled around each other as creatures converged around them, the chanting increasing in volume.

The sound of metal impacting metal tore through the dreamscape. one of the puffballs exploded and something small and metal rattled as it hit the ground. The creatures stopped, seemingly stunned by one of their number being slain. Madoka heard footsteps approaching their location, with that same metal on metal sound following more exploding puffballs. Someone slid to a halt right in front of them, putting themself in between the two girls and the strange monsters. Someone in a black uniform with short brown hair…

“Kugisaki-san!?” Madoka exclaimed.

“Don’t worry you two, everything’s gonna be just fine.” She said, brandishing a small hammer and a set of metal nails.

Nobara had been having a pretty great day all things considered. They had decided to split up to cover more ground in their ‘search.’ It was more like sightseeing and exploring the city if Nobara was being honest. They were technically on duty at all times in the city so she had to wear her uniform, but Nobara was planning on taking advantage of the soft vacation that Gojo-sensei had so generously donated to them. And if Nobara had insisted that she ‘search’ the mall first, well neither of her companions complained.

It was part way through a shopping spree when Nobara saw one Kaname Madoka wandering into an unfinished part of the mall, followed a few moments later by a girl with short blue hair. Nobara had a bad feeling about that, but she didn’t know where Itadori and Fushiguro were. She ran off after the two, darting through the incomplete sections. She caught sight of Kaname-chan and the other girl just as they were sucked into what Nobara was pretty sure was a Domain.

Shit.

Nobara ran up to where they disappeared from. She searched the small area until she found a distortion in space. At the very least the Domain seemed incomplete, no need to worry about a sure-hit effect. She pushed through and found herself in an eldritch rose garden. it oozed a strange cursed energy that made Nobara sick to her stomach. It felt wrong in a way every other domain she’d been in didn’t. She sprinted, looking for the two girls who’d been ensnared. They eventually came into view, surrounded by truly bizarre looking cursed spirits, unlike anything Nobara had seen before. She channeled her Cursed Technique, launching a nail into one of the puffballs. It popped, dissipating into nothingness. Nobara ran forward and placed herself between the girls and the cursed spirits.

“Kugisaki-san!?” She heard Kaname-chan yell from behind her.

“Don’t worry you two, everything’s gonna be just fine.” Nobara reassured.

Nobara began sniping the cursed spirits with her nails. It was slow going, her Technique ill-suited to dealing with large groups of cursed spirits. The spirits were strange in the first place, they felt less like cursed spirits and more like…

Nobara felt a brutal grin carve itself onto her face.

More like Fushiguro’s Shikigami! Nobara grabbed a set of scissor tipped vines and pulled one of the puffballs into melee range. She drove a nail into its body, activating her Technique with barely restrained glee.

“Straw Doll Technique: Resonance!”

Metal spikes erupted from every puffball’s body in unison as her Technique took effect. They all exploded and died, the Domain around them shuddered and collapsed. All three girls were returned to the real world in mere moments. It was just then that Nobara noticed the weird stuffed animal looking thing in the pink haired girl’s arms. Kaname-chan slid to the ground, stifling a sob, the other girl looked back and forth, finally fixating on Nobara herself.

“What the hell just happened!? What’s going on!?” She questioned loudly.

Nobara was about to answer when her senses picked up on something else. She spun on her heels and pointed her nails at a girl who had only just arrived. Her blond hair was done up in a pair of ringlets, resting beneath a black hat with a white fluffy adornment. Next to the hat lay a five petaled flower ornament with a shiny yellow gem in the middle. She wore a strange costume, a poofy white shirt with a bright yellow bow at her collar. Below that laid a brown corset and a wide yellow skirt. She wore striped thigh high socks over brown and yellow boots.

The two stared at each other for a moment. If Nobara didn’t know better, she’d say this new interloper looked like…

“Some kind of Magical Girl?” Nobara thought out loud. Out from the shadows, another girl in a strange costume appeared, this one with long, well kept black hair. All of them stood in silence for some time, before the blond girl finally asked.

“What are you?”

“A Jujutsu Sorcerer.” Nobara replied, “And you?”

“Just like you said, I’m a Magical Girl.” She replied, “My name is Tomoe Mami.”

“And you over there?” Nobara sniped at the black haired girl.

“Akemi Homura.” She said coldly, face neutral. Tomoe put her hands up in a placating gesture, in a flash of yellow light her costume dissolved and all that remained was the same school uniform that Kaname-chan was wearing.

“How about we all go back to my apartment to chat? We seem to have a lot of questions for each other.” She said.

Nobara agreed. As all of them began the trek to the so-called ‘Magical Girl’s’ apartment, she felt like it was going to be a very, very long day.

Chapter Text

Nobara could feel the silence start to become awkward. She had insisted that Tomoe’s explanation wait until Itadori and Fushiguro had arrived and it was taking them a little longer than she’d expected. Tomoe’s refreshments had been very good at passing the time, (her little cakes were excellent!) but everyone’s patience was clearly running dry. Thankfully, it was around then that the doorbell rang and her classmates finally showed themselves.

Itadori burst into the room slightly out of breath, eyes searching the space. He finally settled on Kaname-chan, unharmed, and sagged in relief. Fushiguro entered behind him, with a strange look on his face. The two boys found a seat, the table clearly designed for far less people than were currently crowded around it. Kaname-chan, Miki (who’d introduced herself along the way), Tomoe, Akemi, the three first years and that little rabbit cat thing that called itself Kyubey.

“Now that everyone’s here, we can finally begin.” Tomoe said, “Who would like to go first?”

“I would prefer it if these… ‘Sorcerers’ explained their situation first.” Akemi’s cold voice echoed from her place at the table, they were the first words she’d said since she agreed to come here.

I have no objections to that . Kyubey replied with its freaky telepathic voice.

“The first thing we need to explain is cursed energy.” Fushiguro began, “Cursed energy is a kind of supernatural negative energy generated by human beings. It is intrinsically tied to negative emotions and strengthened by them. All humans have it to an extent, with only a few exceptions.”

“Cursed energy leaks out of people and attaches itself to places, objects and concepts that people relate with negative emotions. Think Schools, hospitals, graveyards, etc. As cursed energy gathers in places it coagulates into monsters called cursed spirits.” Nobara followed up on Fushiguro’s explanation.

“Cursed spirits are driven by a single-minded desire to hurt people, it’s all they can do.” Itadori said, “We Sorcerers are charged with exorcizing cursed spirits and protecting normal people.”

“What exactly is a Sorcerer? I’ve never seen someone with powers who wasn’t a Magical Girl.” Akemi asked, idly taking a sip of tea.

“Sorcerers are humans born with the ability to manipulate cursed energy. All you technically need to be considered a Sorcerer is the ability to see curses, normal people can’t see curses unless they’re on the verge of death or in a cursed area. Most Sorcerers also have something called a ‘Cursed Technique.’ This is a supernatural ability that the user can activate with cursed energy as the fuel. A prime example would be my Ten Shadows technique, which lets me summon 10 unique Shikigami using my shadow as a medium, or Kugisaki’s Straw Doll Technique, which lets her control nails and damage a target through a severed part of their body.”

“What’s Yuji’s technique?” Miki asked.

“I don’t have one!” Itadori said cheerfully, holding one of his hands up.

Was he trying to lighten the mood or something? Nobara couldn’t quite tell.

“These ‘Cursed Techniques’ sound quite similar to Wish Magic, is there anything else important we should know?” Tomoe’s voice was steady as she drank in the information.

“Is there no equivalent energy for positive emotions? Humans have more emotions than negative ones.” Kaname-chan inquired.

“Y’know, I’ve always had that same question.” Itadori said. It was a valid question, though not one Nobara had ever asked herself.

I can answer that. Kyubey’s voice rang out through their heads. All sapient beings with emotions have a certain amount of emotional energy. For most species this energy is neutral, or even positive. However humans have an innate bias towards negativity. This bias negatively charges your species’ emotional energy, creating ‘cursed energy’ as you call it.

“Species? You say that like you work with more than just humans, do you make animals into Magical Girls as well?” Nobara asked half sarcastically.

There are other species in the universe that I contract with. Kyubey said simply.

“Aliens are real!? That’s so cool!” Itadori exclaimed.

“There are other things we could get into like Binding Vows or the particulars of Jujutsu, but those aren’t really relevant to the basics,“ Fushiguro finished.

“So you guys are like magical superheroes? That’s so awesome!” Miki’s eyes were filled with stars. All three of them cringed at the comparison.

“It’s really not that glamorous. Being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is very dangerous. Sorcerers die all the time and not in nice ways. You can’t save everyone either, it’s a gruesome job.” Itadori countered.

Miki seemed to be quelled by that. Nobara really hoped that girl didn’t join in on anything hastily based on her fantasies, those kinds of Sorcerers never lasted long and she doubted it was any different for these ‘Magical Girls.’

“So… What’s the deal with Magical Girls?” Nobara asked, nodding towards Tomoe. The blond girl cleared her throat and began.

“A Magical Girl is a human girl who has made a contract with Kyubey. They gain magical powers, increased physical prowess and the ability to transform. That costume you saw me wearing earlier was my Magical Girl form. Magical girls are duty bound to fight Witches, a kind of spirit that spreads curses and disaster. Witches hide away in Labyrinths, a pocket dimension they mold however they want.”

Under your definition, Witches would be a type of cursed spirit. Kyubey added.

“Thank you Kyubey, as I was saying, Magical girls need to hunt witches for more reasons than just their duty.” She held out her hand and her ring transformed into a small, faberge egg style gemstone, yellow and slightly cloudy. “This is my Soul Gem, the source of my powers as a Magical Girl and proof of my contract with Kyubey. When I use my magic, it becomes darker and darker. If it becomes completely dark, I will lose the ability to use magic. Magic is replenished by something called a Grief Seed. These drop from defeated Witches.”

“That’s a pretty massive limitation, Sorcerers have a limited pool of cursed energy but that regenerates over time.” Fushiguro said.

“Was that group of cursed spirits I fought a Witch? They seemed more like Shikigami than normal cursed spirits.” Nobara cut in, curious.

“Those were Familiars, a kind of minion that Witches create. Familiars sometimes splinter off and create their own labyrinths. If they prey on enough people, they turn into Witches.”

Normal Witches are far stronger than that group of Familiars. If we were to use your Grade scaling, the average Witch is somewhere between semi-grade 2 to grade 1. Familiars tend to be between grade 4 and 3.

“Are you kidding me!? You send little girls after curses that strong!?” What the hell was this thing thinking!? Many trained Sorcerers couldn’t handle opponents that powerful!

Generally speaking, I only contract with people who have the talent and mindset required to succeed. It would be terribly wasteful to contract with girls who would die to the first Witch they come across. Beyond that, the positive energy wielded by Magical Girls is far more effective on cursed spirits like Witches than the cursed energy wielded by Sorcerers.

“Positive energy?” Itadori asked.

“We got sidetracked,” Tomoe said, “Magical Girls wield magic, which Kyubey says is positive energy. It’s fueled by emotions like hope and snuffs out the curses of Witches.”

“What’s the catch? If all you get is powers and the need to fight Witches, why would anyone want to be a Magical Girl? At least Sorcerers get paid.” Fushiguro questioned.

I am not asking the contractors to do this for free. In exchange for pledging themselves to this fight, all Magical Girls are granted one wish. The little Kyubey thing dropped a bomb on them. A wish!? Like an honest to god, genie in a bottle wish? It got her thinking about what she would’ve wished for, back when she lived in the countryside. Moving to Tokyo, perhaps? Maybe a reunion with Saori?

“A wish!?” Miki said, putting her hands on the table and leaning in, “It can be for anything right?”

There are a few limitations. What you can wish for is based on your Magical Girl potential, which is roughly a combination of how much cursed energy you have and how ‘important’ you would be to humanity if you didn’t contract.

“You never mentioned anything about cursed energy before today, Kyubey.” Tomoe spoke.

It’s never been important until today, I never intended for you to learn about Sorcery.

“About that, why?” Fushiguro stared at Kyubey inquisitively. Nobara had the exact same question.

That is a very long story. The essence is that until now I have deliberately made efforts to distance the worlds of Sorcery and Magic. A very long time ago, during the Heian era, Sorcerers and Magical Girls knew of each other's existence and clashed from time to time. However, there was this Sorcerer who you know by the name Ashiya Douman. He performed cruel experiments on Magical Girls, trying to fuse them with Witches. Ever since then, I have attempted to keep the two worlds separate for the safety of the Magical Girls under my care.

“What!?” Tomoe looked extremely disturbed, “Why would anyone..?”

He was very similar to the one you know as Kamo Noritoshi. Kyubey said. So it even knew about that guy?

“Who?” Kaname-chan asked.

“History’s evilest Sorcerer. He performed experiments on this woman who could bear the children of cursed spirits, creating 9 cursed objects we still have to deal with today.” Nobara explained.

Tomoe, Kaname-chan and Miki all cringed in disgust. Miki looked intently at Itadori and asked. “Are Sorcerers like that common?”

“Sorcerers who use their power for evil are called Curse users. Dealing with them is another duty of Jujutsu Sorcerers.” Itadori responded, “They’re… More common than they should be.”

“There aren’t many Sorcerers in the first place, I assume it’s the same for Magical Girls. No doubt there are Magical Girls who do the same thing, right?” Fushiguro said.

Tomoe went to reply but Akemi cut in before she could, “That is absolutely the case, I’ve seen it before.” Tomoe looked at Akemi searchingly for a few moments before sighing.

“That’s the basics, any questions?” 

“Not really.” Nobara answered.

In any case, I want Kaname Madoka to contract with me and become a Magical Girl! Kyubey’s message shot through their minds.

“How come?” Itadori responded, looking slightly worried.

Kaname Madoka has more untapped magical potential than any human girl I have ever met in my life. She would be the most powerful Magical Girl ever created.

Huh!? What makes Kaname-chan so special?

“About that…” Fushiguro cut in, “We were sent to Mitakihara to investigate the emergence of a truly massive amount of cursed energy, it blanketed the entire country, meaning all Jujutsu Sorcerers had to be sent out to every corner of it. Kugisaki, you wouldn't have noticed it because of your proximity, but around the same time as when you two,” He pointed at Kaname-chan and Miki, “Were sucked into that Domain, the emanation vanished .”

“Which means,” Itadori said, sounding a little defeated, “The emanation came from you Madoka.” Nobara guessed he was hoping the Kanames wouldn’t get involved in the world of curses.

Kaname-chan looked completely poleaxed by that statement, and Nobara was right there with her. If the emanation came from a sorcerer, then it would’ve had to have come from a newborn. Cursed energy doesn’t just increase as you age, you get what you get. Why was the emanation only discovered now if it came from a 14 year old girl? Had someone placed a seal on her power?

“I have… That much power?” Kaname-chan murmured, voice shaky.

Indeed! Kyubey said.

“No matter what, we're going to teach you how to control your cursed energy.” Fushiguro spoke, looking at Kaname-chan as if he was trying to solve a puzzle.

“Wait, why?” Miki asked, slightly suspicious.

Fushiguro sighed and continued, “Remember how we said that cursed energy seeps out of people and aggregates into cursed spirits? Only the cursed energy of non-Sorcerers does that, because Sorcerers have control over their cursed energy and can keep it from leaking out. If we don’t get your cursed energy under control, more and more powerful curses will spawn and hurt people.”

“I’m so sorry!” Kaname-chan gasped out, looking horrified.

“It’s not your fault, we just have to get it under control before anyone gets hurt.” Itadori spoke reassuringly. It didn’t seem to work very well, what with the disturbed look on Kaname-chan’s face.

If you became a Magical Girl, your cursed energy would become positive energy, and you wouldn’t need to worry about it hurting people. Kyubey cut in. The little thing was just determined to shoot its shot huh?

“I would recommend against that.” Came Akemi’s reply, cold as steel.

“I’ve been meaning to speak to you about that…” Tomoe’s voice gained an edge as she turned towards Akemi, “Why do you hate Kyubey so much? You were attacking him before Kaname-san found him.”

The tension in the room ratcheted up a notch at Tomoe’s question. 

“First you attack him, and now you’re trying to convince girls not to contract? Are you just jealous of Kaname-san’s power or are you worried she’d outcompete you for Grief Seeds?” Tomoe said somewhat smugly. Akemi sat in silence for a moment, seemingly parsing out how she’d respond.

“It’s neither of those things. I’m perfectly capable of getting Grief Seeds on my own and I do not believe that Kaname Madoka would be the territorial type.” Akemi’s response was calm and collected, “I wouldn’t need to worry about that.”

“I advise against being a Magical Girl because of how dangerous it is. Being a Magical Girl is extremely dangerous, even for someone as powerful as Kaname Madoka. a slight mistake in the heat of combat can get someone killed. Becoming a Magical Girl is confining yourself to a life of constant combat. Even the wish is dangerous, I’ve met many Magical Girls whose wishes went horribly wrong. Hastily making a contract is the worst mistake one can make.” Having said her piece, Akemi leaned away from the table.

“Even so, you have no right to dictate the decisions of others.” Tomoe replied.

“I am not dictating anything, merely suggesting a course of action.” Akemi shot back.

The two Magical Girl’s argument heated up as they continued to snipe back and forth at each other. It looked like it might boil over into something more serious when Itadori got in between them.

“Hey, lets just calm down, no need to fight.” he said, arms raised in a placating gesture.

“Anyway, if being a Magical Girl is anything like being a Sorcerer, I have to agree with Akemi. You can’t go into this kind of thing with shaky resolve. You have to be super motivated and a little crazy.”  Fushiguro spoke.

Tomoe sighed, “I can’t disagree with that. Becoming a Magical Girl is a big commitment, you shouldn’t make a wish unless you’re sure you won’t regret it.”

Both Kaname-chan and Miki both seemed to think hard on that. Nobara would never regret her decision to become a Sorcerer and come to Tokyo, even if it killed her. But these two were normal girls less than an hour ago, and now they’ve been introduced to the world of curses. Making a life changing decision like that would have to be extremely difficult.

“You two can come along for my next Witch hunt, that way you can have more information about what being a Magical Girl is like before making your decision.” Tomoe said.

“You’re gonna bring two civilians along with you into a goddamn Domain!?” Nobara cut in.

“I am perfectly capable of defeating a Witch while protecting Kaname-san and Miki-san.” Tomoe replied, looking sure of herself. 

“In that case, we’re coming too!” Itadori shouted, “Fushiguro and I should see what a Witch looks like anyway, and that way you can focus on the Witch while the rest of us keep Madoka and Miki safe.” Tomoe looked surprised at that, a sliver of something vulnerable showed on her face.

“Are… Are you sure?”

“It is our duty to hunt cursed spirits, just because Magical Girls are meant to fight Witches doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it either.” Fushiguro said.

“If both of them are sure, I’m fine with going along for the ride.” Nobara spoke. 

“I… Thank you.” Tomoe said, voice heavy with an indeterminable emotion.

I am unsure if an alliance like that is a good idea, what with one of you being the vessel of the most dangerous curse I have ever seen. Kyubey shattered the moment like glass with its words.

“What?” Tomoe, Miki and Kaname-chan asked. Itadori scowled slightly and all three of them explained about Sukuna.

“You’re going to be executed!? ” Kaname-chan said, worry evident in her tone.

“That’s not gonna be for a while, we have 5 of the 20 fingers and it’s been very slow going!” Itadori reassured.

“But you haven't done anything wrong, that’s so unfair!” Miki yelled, an outraged look on her face.

“I’m the only one who can stop Sukuna from hurting more people going forward, so I’m fine with it. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Even so, are you not a ticking time bomb?

“I can keep Sukuna from coming out, they would’ve already executed me if I couldn’t control him.” Itadori responded.

“I think we can trust them Kyubey, they seem like good people.” Tomoe said, maybe a little too quickly.

If you insist, Mami. Kyubey replied, not fighting her decision. 

Nobara changed the subject, “Would you like to come along, Akemi?”

“Will you three be able to keep Kaname Madoka and Miki Sayaka safe?”

“If that Familiar labyrinth I cleared is anything to go by, then yes.”

“Then my presence is not needed.”

There’s one more thing I need to ask of you three Sorcerers. If possible, please do not report the existence of Magical Girls to your superiors. Kyubey said about as seriously as its cutesy voice could convey.

“Why not?” Itadori asked.

Based on my understanding of the characters of the Jujutsu society higher-ups, I have no doubt they would feel very uncomfortable with the idea of a group of powerful young women they have no control over. They could be very hostile towards Magical Girls as a whole. Kyubey explained its reasoning neatly, I would prefer it if that did not happen.

Nobara… Couldn’t disagree with that. Considering how the higher-ups reacted to Itadori’s existence. Beyond that, she doubts their reaction to Kaname-chan’s immense power would be anything but ‘kill it with fire!’ so they already had motivation to not report in.

“We can’t just not tell Gojo-sensei right?” Fushiguro said, looking between the two other first years.

“Gojo-sensei wouldn’t have that kind of reaction to Magical Girls!” Itadori spoke with confidence, Nobara nodded in agreement.

Gojo Satoru… 

“Who is that?” Akemi-san asked.

“He’s the world’s strongest Sorcerer and our teacher back at Jujutsu Tech.” Nobara answered.

“He’s far more progressive than the leaders of Jujutsu society, he clashes with them all the time. He’s the reason Itadori’s sentence was suspended. I have no doubt he’d be fine with the existence of Magical Girls and know to keep it a secret from the higher-ups.” Fushiguro said.

If that’s the case, it should be fine. Please be cautious with this information.

The meeting began to wind down after that. Akemi left before anyone could get her phone number, the rest of them swapped contact information. Itadori had insisted on escorting both Miki and Kaname-chan home. With their business finally concluded they all took their time getting home.

Homura did not like change and her encounter with the Sorcerers was a perfect example of it. She had never encountered anything even close to that throughout her many loops. Cursed energy, cursed spirits, sorcery and Jujutsu society, all these new concepts bounced in her brain as she tried to think of a strategy.

Fushiguro Megumi and Kugisaki Nobara were new to her, but Itadori Yuji was not. Sometimes he was just visiting, sometimes the Kanames had custody of him after his grandfather’s death but Homura was familiar with Madoka’s cousin. He was a good person, very similar to Madoka in many regards that made him easy for her to trust. If he had super powers, and considering the way that Kugisaki Nobara ran to Madoka’s defense Homura thought she could trust them with her best friend’s safety.

This new development had both upsides and downsides for Homura’s situation. The downsides were that she now had an entirely new angle of potential threats to Madoka’s safety. Cursed spirits and Curse users could be dangerous to Madoka. This ‘Ryomen Sukuna’ character could be a problem if Itadori Yuji ever lost control of him. Homura had long since learned to not trust a single word out of Kyubey’s proverbial mouth, but if the elders of Jujutsu society were as paranoid about powerful young women as it said, Homura had no doubt they would have issues with Madoka’s immense power as well.

The upsides were that she had a ton of potential new allies. Homura was sure that Itadori Yuji would help with Walpurgisnacht if she were to ask, he was that type of person. Hopefully she could count on his friends helping as well. She wasn’t sure how powerful they were or how useful they’d be, but any amount of help counts. Then there was the three Sorcerers teacher, Gojo Satoru. Would ‘the world’s strongest sorcerer’ be willing to help them fight Walpurgisnacht? Beyond that, there was the question of cursed energy. Could she as a Magical Girl manipulate it? If so, what would that do? Had cursed energy always existed or was it a new metric for this timeline? Homura had no definitive answers to any of her many questions.

All in all, Homura could only hope that these new factors were for better and not for worse.

Megumi and his friends were walking back to their hotel room when he finally decided to bring it up.

“So… There’s definitely something wrong with the whole ‘Magical Girl’ thing right?” he said.

“100%” Kugisaki replied.

“What are you guys talking about?” Itadori’s response wasn’t quite what Megumi was expecting. Had he really missed it?

“That thing is shady as hell, Itadori, it is absolutely getting something out of this that it’s not telling us about.” Kugisaki turned to look at the pink haired boy.

“You guys are way too cynical. Not everything has to be as bad as physically possible.” Itadori threw his hands in the air.

“Are you telling me you want your cousin to become a Magical Girl?” Kugisaki shot back.

“I didn’t say that. Madoka shouldn’t have to fight but that doesn’t automatically make Kyubey a bad guy!” Itadori said.

“Seeing as that thing’s main goal is to conscript Kaname-chan into this whole Magical Girl business maybe you should rethink that.”

Before Itadori could respond, Megumi cut in, “Both of you calm down. I’m just stating my opinion, I’d love to be wrong about Kyubey, Itadori. Either way, we should call Gojo-sensei and inform him of what we’ve found.”

The three first years returned to their room and started a video call with their teacher. Gojo-sensei appeared on Megumi’s phone, standing in the middle of what looked like an abandoned building.

“If it isn’t my cute students, what’s up?” Gojo-sensei asked while he strode through the building’s halls. Was he exorcizing a curse or something? He seemed to notice the serious looks on all of their faces, “Something’s wrong, isn’t it.”

“It’s kind of a long story.” Megumi said.

“The curse I’m currently after isn’t a big deal, just a grade 1. I’ve got time.”

The three first years took their time explaining the Magical Girl system as Kyubey explained it, and the fact that the source of the emanation was Yuji’s cousin. Gojo-sensei absorbed the information as he defeated the curse he was hunting.

“That sounds… Fascinating! Sorry to hear about your cousin Yuji-kun. Here’s the deal, the higher-ups are absolutely not going to be okay with the concept of Magical Girls or your cousin’s power. They already wanted the source of the emanation dead, and if they knew the source was related to the vessel of Sukuna? It’d be just like when they sent you three to the detention center to get Yuji-kun killed, she’d be a target of the higher-ups.”

“What are we supposed to do then?” Itadori asked, worried.

“If I just drop everything and go to Mitakihara right now, the higher-ups are going to know somethings up and investigate. How about this, I will take care of my investigation here and go to Mitakihara in a month to sort things out. You three keep up your ‘investigation’ while teaching Kaname-chan how to control her cursed energy. The residuals will remain for a couple weeks, so unless they’re really paying attention they won’t notice the emanation vanishing. That way we’ll keep the heat off of your cousin and the Magical Girls.”

“Anything else?” Megumi inquired.

“Keep an eye on that Kyubey thing, you can never be too careful.” Gojo-sensei answered.

The call ended after that, with all three first years getting ready for dinner. Three weeks… Megumi wasn’t that worried. All of them were strong Sorcerers and he doubted Akemi or Tomoe were slouches either. What could possibly go wrong in a month?

Chapter Text

Kenjaku couldn’t tell if the emanation he’d sensed was good or bad for his plans. On one hand, it was fascinating and that was always a plus in his books. On the other hand, having Sorcerers all over the country would increase the chances of his cover being blown, which would ruin everything. Alongside that, they’d have to derail slightly to investigate. If the source of the emanation was a cursed spirit they could either have another new ally or a new trick for Kenjaku’s proverbial bag. If they were a newborn Sorcerer however… A new vessel in 25 or so years? It would depend on what Technique they had.

Kenjaku was lounging on a beach chair in Dagon’s Domain, the shining tropical sun above him beat down on the sand.  The sound of non-existent seagulls cried out alongside the waves crashing into the beach. Kenjaku was pulled from his peaceful rest when a massive detonation tore through the air a few dozen meters away. Mahito flew by, blown away by the explosion, and landed face first into the sand.

“Geto… I blew up another Soul Gem.” the curse born of humans mumbled through a mouthful of sand.

“I can see that, any thoughts on what you did wrong this time?”

“The insides of them are super delicate, if I try to mold them in the wrong way they explode. Useful as a weapon for sure, but for what she asked me to do… I’m still figuring that out.” The cursed spirit vomited up another Soul Gem, a green one, and began tinkering with it. The gem’s color and the little flower shaped emblem at its tip began to change. The gem’s color was halfway to a strange, pale rainbow when it began to glow ominously. This time Mahito stopped it before it exploded.

“Why did she have to ask me to make it multi-colored? That’s so hard! If it was just one color I could do it fine!” Mahito whined.

“You’ll get it eventually, what are your thoughts on the Soul Gems themselves?”

“Whoever made these is after my own heart. Super brutal!” The cursed spirit said with a hint of manic glee. Based on his own encounters with the Incubator, Kenjaku very much doubted that. He also doubted that Mahito would understand inflicting suffering for a cause rather than for the sake of causing suffering.

Mahito was taking to the Soul Gems that their new friend had given him with reckless abandon. The ten Soul Gems he’d been given had already became six, the curse’s experiments not yet bearing fruit. He needed to learn quickly, if their new friend’s plans were to work out and Kenjaku wanted them to work out. This ‘Magius’ organization could pose a threat to his own plans if left unattended, and a woman on the inside would be instrumental in shutting them down.

Kenjaku had quite a lot of experience with Diviners, or ‘Magical Girls’ as they went by now. Honestly Kenjaku preferred the new term, it was far more descriptive. There had been a couple major Magical Girl organizations throughout history. Kenjaku wasn’t sure what made the Magius different from say, the Order of the Dragon, but if what he’d heard was true they’d managed to keep a force of hundreds of Magical Girls whole and healthy. That was impractical on so many levels that it was worthy of Kenjaku’s respect. He really wanted to meet the leaders of this group.

Mahito’s experiments made Kenjaku think of some of his own. He’d tried to bridge the gap between Witches and Magical Girls back during the Heian era but they never really turned out right. The imperfect fusions were basically just Witches in human bodies. He remembered how one girl’s flesh twisted into gnarled wood and sprouted cherry blossoms. The closest he’d gotten to a perfect fusion had just degenerated into a Witch over the course of a month. Kenjaku was 100% sure it was possible, it might just be something that can’t be forced. There was no method that could force a Sorcerer to learn Domain Expansion for example.

“Oh!” Mahito chirped out, “I think I figured it out!” The curse showed Kenjaku his handiwork. A pale, multicolored Soul Gem with an emblem like a stage magician’s hat. On Mahito’s command, it morphed into a ring and then into a star shaped brooch.

“Very good, she’ll take it when she gets back from her errand. Can you go get the others, Mahito?”

“How come?”

“We have plans to discuss.” Kenjaku replied, walking off to a table underneath a beach umbrella.

Kenjaku and all of his allies sat around a table. On said table, Kenjaku had unfurled a map of Japan.

“What are we going to do about this emanation?” Jogo asked.

“That depends entirely on its source. If it’s a human Sorcerer, we can just leave it alone. A newborn isn’t going to interfere with our plans in the short term. If it’s a cursed spirit however we can either recruit them or I can absorb it with my Technique.” Kenjaku replied.

“All of that hinges on whether or not we can find the source.” Hanami said.

“We’re going to have an easier time with that than the Sorcerers will.” Kenjaku spoke.

“How come?” Choso questioned, looking a little bit disinterested.

“I keep sensor-type curses all over Japan. Based on the strength of the readings they’ve given me, I can isolate the source’s location with reasonable accuracy.” Kenjaku circled an area on the map. “This area comprises Kamihama, Mitakihara, Kazamino and Takarazaki. We’ll split up and search each location.”

“Why do we have to do this ourselves? Can’t you just send cursed spirits to search?” Choso’s disinterested voice made his opinions on the search very clear.

“I can’t share senses with my curses all the time, I have to directly interface with them, so their ability to search is limited.” Kenjaku said.

“Come on Choso, think of it this way. They’ve sent all the Sorcerers to every corner of Japan right? If you’re lucky you might run into Itadori Yuji!” Mahito pointed out. Choso’s interested increased, if only a little.

“Kamihama is way bigger than any of the other cities, so we should send two of us there. How about Hanami and Jogo?” Kenjaku asked, looking at the two curses.

“I have no objections,” Hanami said. Jogo simply nodded his assent.

“Kazamino sounds fun, can I go there?” Mahito spoke, looking excited.

“Sounds good, I’ll take Takarazaki then.” Kenjaku answered.

“That leaves me with Mitakihara.” Choso said.

Kenjaku dispatched communication curses with all of them so they could keep in touch. All things settled, the group that Kenjaku had never bothered naming began to filter out of Dagon’s domain. As the ancient Sorcerer set out for Takarazaki, he felt a slight tug on his memories.

Mitakihara… He used to know someone who lived there, right?

Madoka was feeling a little nervous. It had been a day since the conversation at Mami-san’s apartment and everyone had gathered for a Witch hunt. All three Sorcerers were decked out in their uniforms. None of them looked particularly ready for a fight based on what they were wearing, but Madoka guessed that was at least partially intentional. Yuji turned to look at Mami-san.

“We’ll follow your lead, Tomoe.” He said, deferring to the Magical Girl’s experience.

Mami-san nodded and summoned her Soul Gem into her hand, “Alright, follow me.” Kyubey leapt up onto Madoka’s shoulder when they started to walk.

As Mami-san led them around she began to explain her method for finding Witches, “The Soul Gems of Magical Girls can detect Witches within a certain radius of their labyrinths. Witches also tend to gather in places where human misery is prevalent. Graveyards, hospitals, suicide spots, Witches love to haunt places like that.”

“Sounds pretty similar to the places cursed spirits like to gather and form in.” Fushiguro-san said, idly adjusting his sleeve.

“Kyubey did say that Witches are a type of cursed spirit.”

The walk gave Madoka time to think about some things. Her mind drifted to Sukuna, the curse / demon in her cousin's body. That eye she had seen on Yuji’s cheek… Was that Sukuna? Was the curse interested in her, was it because of her supposed immense power? Madoka could still barely believe that part herself. She was somehow so powerful it could be felt across the entirety of Japan? And then there was the disturbing part about Yuji’s condition.

Yuji was going to die. Logically, Madoka knew this, everyone dies eventually. However the timetable on that had become significantly sooner than she’d ever expected. Her cousin had only been at Jujutsu Tech for a couple of months and they already had a fourth of Sukuna’s fingers. This time next year, Yuji could be dead and there was nothing Madoka could do about it. The thought was horrifying in a way Madoka had never experienced before. Unless… She made a wish about it?

That was the other part of Madoka’s thought process, she had no idea what to wish for or even if she wanted to make a wish at all. Madoka’s family was well-off, and she’d never wanted for anything in her life. She had no burning desires that would press her into making a wish. If what the others had said about her vast power was true, Madoka could wish for something massive like an end to world hunger or world peace, but those seemed… Unappealing for reasons Madoka couldn’t quite parse.

Madoka’s rumination was cut short when she saw Mami-san’s Soul Gem begin glowing. 

“We’ve found one.” The Magical Girl said, “Now it’s just a matter of finding its precise location.”

“How do we do that?” Kugisaki-san asked, looking intently at the glowing gem.

“The gem will glow brighter as we get closer, we’ll find it shortly.” Mami-san answered.

The group followed Mami-san’s Soul Gem until they found themselves at a large abandoned building. Madoka could feel a slight presence in the area, like an evil heat haze. They looked up to see a woman teetering over the edge of the building with a serene smile on her face. She threw herself from the building with no warning, Madoka gasped in fright. Yuji and Kugisaki-san both rushed forward while Fushiguro-san formed some hand sign with both hands, fingers outstretched. Mami-san however, was quicker than both, leaping into the air and transforming in a flash of yellow ribbons. More yellow ribbons manifested and shot out, catching the woman and gently placing her on the ground.

Mami pointed to the side of her exposed neck, which had a strange emblem that looked like a stylized butterfly branded onto it.

“This woman has been kissed by a Witch, that allows the Witch to influence her. People who are kissed are usually forced to kill themselves so that the Witch can eat their souls easier.”

“How twisted,” Kugisaki-san said, “At least curses usually just kill you.”

Yuji and Fushiguro-san shared a grim look and turned towards Mami-san, “Is it close?”

Mami-san ushered the group into the abandoned building and raised her Soul Gem. At the top of a nearby staircase, a surreal circular gateway tore itself open. A butterfly very much like the Witch’s kiss from earlier rested at its center. It didn’t look real at all, as if it had been drawn in a different way from the rest of reality.

“This is it, if any of you want to back out, now’s the only chance you’ll get.” Mami-san’s voice was grave. Madoka shared a look with Sayaka-chan, swallowed her nerves and followed the group into the labyrinth.

As Yuji drank in his surroundings, he couldn’t help but think that this wasn’t quite what he was expecting. He’d been in a couple domains so far and while they’d been fanciful landscapes they hadn’t looked as unreal as the labyrinth surrounding him did. Just like Kugisaki had described, a surreal rose garden spread out in front of him. Stylized iron fences jutted from the various terraces of the labyrinth and strange, surreal creatures dotted its landscape. There was also this overwhelming sense of… something. Yuji couldn’t quite tell what it was, but it was unlike any of the other Domains he’d been in. Unlike Gojo-sensei’s endless depth, the volcano curse’s sweltering heat or Mahito’s unbridled malice. The best word Yuji had to describe the feeling he was getting was despair .

“Itadori, you take point with Tomoe. Kugisaki and I will defend the civilians.” Fushiguro said, summoning his Nue. The brown, birdlike creature maintained its altitude next to the other Sorcerer.

“You alright with that, Tomoe?” Yuji asked. Tomoe nodded and began leading the group through the labyrinth.

One thing quickly became apparent as they fought their way deeper into the labyrinth. Tomoe was way stronger than he’d expected! Her Technique, or ‘Wish Magic’ as she’d called it when he’d asked, allowed her to summon and control ribbons. She also somehow turned her ribbons into muskets, which she fired with insane accuracy. Yuji could barely keep up as she tore through the Familiars like a hot knife through butter. The only times Yuji really got to pitch in were when Familiars managed to sneak up on Tomoe.

There were two kinds of Familiars in the labyrinth. The mustachioed puffballs that made up the Witch’s main fighting force and squishy bodied things with numerous eyes, the same mustache as the other Familiar type and butterfly wings stuck to its back. The second kind seemed to be some sort of lookout, as whenever they saw the group more of those puffballs showed up.

It took about half an hour of fighting through the labyrinth before they finally reached its center. A red door embedded into a strange half-circle stone overlooked a bizarre town in the distance. As they approached, the door opened and pulled them all through it, that same scenery repeating over and over in a loop until they finally came to the Witch’s room. Yuji and the rest of the group found themselves in a large open space with a grassy floor. They were standing on a terrace that overlooked the whole area. Repeating patterns of crowns and butterflies adorned the back wall of the room. An immaculately groomed rose garden spread out before them on the ground.

And then there was the Witch itself. It was completely unlike any cursed spirit Yuji had seen before. It had a strange, bulbous body with six spindly black legs jutting from the bottom. Its back arched over the end of its lower body, stretching out into a neck. From the back of that, butterfly wings sprouted and fluttered lightly. A large overgrowth of moss emerged from the end of its neck, resembling hair. Roses were intertwined with its moss-hair, almost looking like blood red eyes. The abomination was lounging on a large, red plush couch. It was large too, maybe about the same size as that large curse that Yuji and Fushiguro fought back at his old middle school. Based on its cursed energy, Yuji could tell the Witch was roughly grade 2, strong but nothing to write home about.

“Let me take care of it.” Tomoe said, stepping forward and leaping off the balcony they were on. She landed on the ground with a quiet thud and stared the Witch down. She walked over and while maintaining what Yuji could only assume was eye contact with the Witch and ground one of its roses under her heel. The Witch shrieked in rage, the whole labyrinth shaking under the weight of its master’s fury. Its butterfly wings carried it into the air, while thorny vines grabbed the couch it was sitting on and threw it at Tomoe.

Tomoe dodged gracefully and blew the couch away with a single shot from one of her muskets. Tomoe leapt away from the scissor tipped vines that followed the couch, pulled her hat off her head and swung it in front of her. Muskets dropped from her hat and landed around her. She picked them up one by one, fired them at the Witch, and threw them away once they were spent. The Witch darted across the skies of its labyrinth, dodging most of Tomoe’s shots and sending more scissor vines with a screech. Tomoe batted the vines away with spent muskets and kept pelting the Witch with shots.

Yuji and the others saw it before Tomoe did. A group of those squishy bodied Familiars, smaller versions this time, snuck up behind Tomoe. They transformed into a vine and wrapped themselves around Tomoe’s leg just as Yuji yelled, “Behind you!”

The vine grabbed Tomoe and threw her into the wall above the balcony. She hit the wall with a rough sounding impact, letting out a pained cry. She pulled herself out of the crater her landing had created with a smile on her face, looking wounded but not quite worse for wear yet.

“I can’t have myself looking so uncool in front of my potential juniors!” She said, mostly to herself, and leapt into the air. With a gesture a storm of ribbons manifested and tied the Witch in place. She summoned a musket and shouldered it. Yuji gawked as the musket’s barrel ballooned in size, becoming a little bit larger than Tomoe herself.

“Tiro Finale!” Tomoe called out as the musket’s hammer hit the firing pan, launching a titanic shot at the immobilized Witch. The bullet hit with an earth-shaking explosion, destroying the Witch in an instant and reducing it to a swarm of butterflies. The labyrinth swirled into a single vanishing point and disappeared, leaving the group standing in the center of the abandoned building. A single, spindle-like object with a rose emblem and a butterfly emblem lightly floated down and landed perfectly on its pointed tip.

Tomoe picked up what Yuji was pretty sure was a Grief Seed and dusted her costume off. She summoned her Soul Gem into its egg form and demonstrated how a Grief Seed cleanses the Soul Gem of taint. After Tomoe was finished, she looked over to the side of the building. Standing there in the shadows was Akemi Homura.

“It seems this Grief Seed has another use, why don’t you take it?” Tomoe said as she flung the Grief Seed at Akemi with her ribbons. Akemi threw the Grief Seed back.

“That Witch was your quarry, I have no right to take that Grief Seed.” 

“Then why are you even here?” Tomoe asked.

“I was searching for a Witch and did not realize this one was yours. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Akemi turned and left.

Miki grumbled to herself, “What the hell is her problem!?”

“Trust me, I’ve met plenty of Magical Girls like her.” Tomoe returned her Soul Gem to its ring form..

“I don’t know… She doesn’t seem like a bad person.” Madoka said quietly.

“I get that feeling too… Maybe she’s just awkward?” Yuji replied. Tomoe ran to the woman who’d been enchanted by the Witch, who was just now waking up.

“Why… Why would I do such a thing?” She murmured, shaking. Tomoe helped her up and comforted her.

“Don’t worry, it was all a bad dream.” Tomoe ushered the woman away.

Miki turned to look at Madoka with a smile on her face and said, “Mami-san is super cool right?”

“Yeah!” Madoka responded with stars in her eyes. Yuji couldn’t disagree but he didn’t quite like it. More than anything, Yuji wished his cousin wouldn’t have to fight.

Yuji was whipping up dinner for the three first years when he asked, “So… What do you guys think about Tomoe?”

“She was insanely strong!” Kugisaki yelled.

“I know right!?” Yuji replied, “I don’t think any of us could beat her!”

“I don’t think all three of us working together could beat her.” Fushiguro said, “She’s easily grade 1 level.”

“She sure was a good showing for Kaname-chan and Miki huh?” Kugisaki pointed out. Yuji stopped cooking for a moment, his conflicted emotions clearly showing on his face.

“Itadori…” Fushiguro started saying something but cut himself off before he could finish.

“I just… I just wanted this to be like a vacation y’know? I’d get to visit my aunt and uncle, see Mitakihara again, and have some fun with you guys. I never wanted the world of curses to intersect with my family. But now Madoka is the source of the emanation, there’s Witches and Magical Girls and everything is so complicated!“ He threw his hands in the air and let them fall to his sides in defeat.

“We have the cursed energy training session scheduled for later this week. We’ll do that and see where it goes from there. I doubt Gojo-sensei will force your cousin to become a Sorcerer if she doesn’t want to be one.” Fushiguro reassured Yuji.

“Yeah, you’re right Fushiguro. Thanks!” Yuji said with a forced smile. Neither of his friends called him on it. Yuji finished cooking and began to eat with Fushiguro and Kugisaki. The meal was mostly silent, so Yuji had time to think. Even though he tried to keep his mind off of it, he kept coming back to the same thought. Was keeping Madoka as uninvolved as he could even possible? Was she doomed to fight because of her immense power? That train of thought left a sour taste in his mouth for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

Madoka’s dreams of late had been very, very strange. There was nothing sensical or coherent about them. Just flashes of Witches, Soul Gems exploding and Mitakihara being destroyed. All throughout those dreams Madoka’s doppelganger watched from the edges of her vision, staring and staring. Madoka woke up from another short, violent dream and sighed. She looked at her clock and saw that it was already almost time for her to wake up anyway. She slipped into some clothing that was easy for her to move in. Her Papa noticed her exhaustion as she walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

“Are you okay, Madoka?”

“Yeah, I just keep having nightmares.” She answered, rubbing her eyes.

“If you need to, you can go back to sleep.” Her Mama said, looking up from her morning coffee.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, just a little tired.” Madoka ate her breakfast pretty quickly, both of her parents gave her a concerned look.

“Got anywhere to be?” Her Papa asked lightly.

“I’m hanging out with Yuji and his friends today.” Madoka got up from the table and started to head out.

“I see… I hope you have fun!” Her Papa called after her.

“I will, thanks!” Madoka replied, pasting on some cheer to try and reassure her parents. Madoka walked out the front door and headed towards where Yuji had said to meet.

It was Sunday, the day that the three Sorcerers had scheduled Madoka’s first training session for cursed energy. Thinking too hard about how her power could hurt other people was paralyzing to Madoka. She had tried to get a grasp on her power on her own time but she couldn’t manage. Madoka was fairly certain that the slimy, greasy presence she’d felt for over a week now was her cursed energy. Her attempts at controlling the writhing mass weren’t working, it was like the energy was antithetical to what her instincts told her to do.

Madoka idly observed her surroundings, taking in the decaying factory district around her. Mami-san had mentioned a junkyard that she used to practice her magic and the Sorcerers had decided to use it. Both Sayaka-chan and Mami-san had invited themselves to watch. Madoka really hoped she didn’t embarrass herself by being terrible at controlling her power. Madoka continued to wander to her destination, lost in thought, when she heard a voice cleave through the air from behind her.

“What are you doing here, Kaname Madoka?” Homura-chan’s soft voice surprised her. Madoka squawked in fright and turned around. The Magical Girl was wearing a black dress with a floral pattern.

“H-Homura-chan! You scared me!” 

“Ah, my apologies.” There was a moment of silence between the two.

“Well?” Homura-chan said. It took Madoka a moment to realize she was talking about her question.

“Oh, I haven’t decided if I’m going to contract yet, so Yuji and his friends are going to teach me how to control my cursed energy.” Madoka explained.

Homura-chan smiled thinly and said, “I am glad to see you have taken my warning to heart.”

“So back in the hallway you were talking about becoming a Magical Girl?”

“Correct, I sensed your potential and gave you that warning because of that. I did not wish to see you sell your life away to Kyubey’s game.” Madoka thought that Homura-chan could’ve been more specific but that’s besides the point. Madoka hadn’t really thought of the danger inherent in the contract until Homura-chan had mentioned it. That was thoughtful of her, she really wasn’t a bad person, maybe she was just misguided?

“Say…” Madoka said, trailing off as she gathered her thoughts, “Would you like to come along to the session? You seemed interested in Sorcery during the meeting.”

“I am unsure if I would be welcome, I do not think Tomoe Mami or Miki Sayaka like me very much.”

“Mami-san let you come to the meeting right? I hope you guys can get along better in the future.”

“I see… I will keep that in mind.”

Their conversation trailed off and Madoka began to lead Homura-chan to the junkyard.

The junkyard was rather out of the way, seemingly abandoned like the rest of the city’s factory district. Yuji, Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san were waiting in their uniforms. Mami-san turned to look at the two of them, Kyubey on her shoulder. Sayaka-chan’s face scrunched up when she saw Homura-chan.

“What the hell is she doing here?” she said.

“I ran into her on the way here and offered because she seemed interested in Sorcery.” Madoka replied awkwardly. Sayaka-chan observed the two of them critically before shrugging.

“Fine, as long as she doesn’t do anything crazy.”

“Why would I?” Homura-chan asked.

“Doesn’t matter, just don’t.”

Yuji clapped his hands to get all of their attention, “So… Who’s ready for the lesson?” Homura-chan walked to one side of the junkyard, pulled one of those folding chairs out of… somewhere? Madoka wasn’t sure, and sat down.

“Where do we start?” Madoka asked, she really wanted to get a handle on her powers as soon as possible.

“We’ll start with controlling cursed energy. First things first, can you feel your cursed energy?” Fushiguro-san inquired.

“If you mean this slimy, greasy feeling I’ve had for a while now, then maybe. I’ve tried to control it but I’ve come up short every time”

“Fantastic, feeling your cursed energy is the first step, Actually manipulating it comes next.” Fushiguro-san held up his hand and a cyan aura emanated around it, “Manipulating cursed energy is kind of just a feeling, you either figure it out yourself or have someone else show you. Feel out the flow of my cursed energy and try to replicate it.”

Madoka looked down at her hand and curled it into a fist. The cursed energy felt slick to her senses, like it was covered in a kind of mucus that made it difficult to keep hold of it. She’d been trying to grip it so far, but was that the correct answer? Maybe she just needed to let it…

Bright pink cursed energy enveloped her hand for a moment, before her control slipped and it vanished. Yuji had an excited look on his face while Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san just stared in surprise at her feat.

“That’s… Very good. I wasn’t expecting for you to figure it out that quickly, it took a lot longer for me to figure out how to control cursed energy.” Fushiguro-san said, letting his cursed energy fade away from his hand, “We’ll have you practicing that until you can keep it up consistently. Afterwards, we’ll work on controlling your cursed energy at all times but I doubt we’ll get to that in this session.”

Was it supposed to be difficult? Madoka hadn’t thought so, once she figured out the trick of letting the cursed energy flow around her rather than trying to keep it bound to her it had been pretty simple. Now it was just a matter of keeping her control up. They spent a few hours working on it while Homura-chan, Mami-san and Sayaka-chan watched and asked questions. Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san explained a lot of the intricacies of Jujutsu while they guided Madoka through control exercises.

“I just realized something, does Kaname-chan have a Cursed Technique?” Kugisaki-san asked.

I can answer that. Kyubey said in their minds, Having a Cursed Technique often correlates with higher amounts of cursed energy, which equates to higher potential as a Magical Girl. I have ways of detecting if a human has a Cursed Technique. Of the people in this area, excluding the Sorcerers, both Kaname Madoka and Tomoe Mami have Cursed Techniques.

“I have one?” Mami-san’s surprise was evident on her face.

You had quite a lot of potential when I contracted with you. If you hadn’t become a Magical Girl you would’ve made a fine Sorcerer.

“So I also have a Cursed Technique?” Madoka asked.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell you anything about your Techniques, all I can say is whether you have one or not.

“About that… Kyubey, is it possible for Magical Girls to wield cursed energy?” Homura-chan’s question cut through the air, “For example, would it be possible for Tomoe Mami to learn how to use her Cursed Technique?”

That is… complicated. The simple answer is yes but they shouldn’t. Kyubey said after a moment of contemplation.

“That is not an answer.” 

It would not technically be cursed energy, the fundamental difference between cursed energy and magic is its base polarity. Magical Girls can wield this ‘dark magic’ and many girls did so during the Heian era. However this power comes at a cost, using dark magic without perfect control has the chance to sear the Soul Gem with corruption, permanently tainting the Gem and reducing how much magic you can use. Beyond that, girls who wielded that power freely tended to go down very dark paths. They ended up heaping despair on the world like the Witches they fought. That is why Magical Girls shouldn’t wield dark magic.

“I see…” Homura-chan said, looking down at her hand adorned with her Soul Gem. Sayaka-chan gave her a look and turned to say something. Madoka interrupted swiftly.

“A-anyways, I have a cursed technique, how do I use it?”

Kugisaki-san gave her a pensive look, “I’m not sure if we should while your control is still not up to snuff.”

“Come on, she’s been doing well so far! We might as well.” Yuji replied.

Fushiguro-san sighed and began to explain, “Using a cursed technique is like using a muscle, you just have to find the right proverbial ‘muscle’ and flex it.” Madoka combed through her cursed energy until…

“Oh, like this?” She said and flicked a switch in her brain. Sayaka-chan gasped and everyone else jumped slightly. Was something wrong? Madoka didn’t really feel very different.

“Did something happen?” Madoka asked, looking between her friends and the Sorcerers.

“What do you mean ‘did something happen?’” Kugisaki-san blurted out.

“Kugisaki, I don’t think she can see it.” Yuji said, pointing to the area around Madoka’s head. He pulled a mirror off the side of a nearby wrecked car, dusted off the glass and showed Madoka her reflection. Floating behind her head was a large stylized wheel. It was made of lines and split into six segments, with whatever segment was on top having an arrow pointing towards it. 

Each segment contained a seemingly symbolic picture rendered in a minimalistic style. The first was a grayed out image of a divine figure lounging in a grand palace. To the left was a grayed out image of two multi-armed figures dueling, each holding weapons in their many arms. To the right was a grayed out image of a figure interacting with other figures.  At the bottom was an image of a figure being tormented in some hellish landscape. To the left of that was a scene covered in many different animals. To the right of that was a group of starving figures, lunging for food and drink they could not reach.

Madoka reached behind her head, her hands passing through the great wheel as if it wasn’t even there. Madoka had no idea what was going on, however…

“I think I know what my Cursed Technique does?” She said, half questioning herself. Her Technique felt like a six fingered hand, Madoka twitched one of the fingers and she could practically feel the wheel turn, leaving the hellish picture on top. She then curled that same finger and a pitch-black doll arm emerged from the ground. Everyone stared at it for a few moments before Madoka flexed the finger and the hand made a thumbs-up.

“So you can make hands? Is that all?” Kugisaki asked, “You had to swap the segment to use that ability, does that mean you have six abilities?”

“I don’t think I can use three of them right now, the grayed out ones. It feels like they take a different fuel source, or something like that?”

“So, what do the other two you can use do?” 

Madoka twitched another finger, selecting the animal power. As the finger curled, Madoka instantly regretted it as a wave of pain assaulted all of her senses. Madoka doubled over, gasping in pain. Homura-chan was at her side in an instant, faster than Yuji or Sayaka-chan, who reached her seconds later.

“Are you alright!?” Yuji asked, loudly. Very loudly, considering how much it made her ears hurt.

“I-I figured out what this power does…” Madoka said, “It makes my senses way more powerful, I just wasn’t expecting it so it hurt me.” She uncurled the finger and the pain faded away.

“Are you sure you should try the last one, considering this one hurt you…” Homura-chan trailed off, a concerned look slipping past her neutral expressions.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Madoka said with a smile on her face. Once again she went through the process of changing the wheel to the starving figures. She curled the figure and felt a swirling presence build in her hands. She looked down to see spectral jaws open around her hands, a gnawing hunger seemed to build in her gut as she looked at them. Three trails, one purple and two cyan began to peel off of the people surrounding her. Homura-chan looked at the trails, seemingly comprehended them and was immediately a half a dozen meters away.

“You were absorbing magic from my Soul Gem.” She said, showing that her Soul Gem was now slightly dim. Madoka instantly uncurled the finger and the jaws faded away.

“I’m so sorry!” Madoka apologized profusely. It was a strange feeling because the cursed energy and magic had a taste. Homura’s tasted like charred food, Yuji’s tasted like this awful combination of vomit and a meat she’d never had before. Sayaka’s tasted like vomit mixed with seawater. Madoka came to believe that cursed energy just tasted like vomit. Tasting through her hands was a new experience for her, it took away from how horrible the energies were on her proverbial tongue.

“It is fine, you did not mean any harm.” Homura-chan replied neutrally.

“Well, now that the excitement is over, let's grab some lunch and then we’ll get into some control exercises.” Kugisaki-san said, beginning to lead them away from the junkyard.

Madoka followed Kugisaki-san into the cheap sushi place they’d found nearby. All of the teenagers bundled themselves into a booth at the back of the restaurant.

“Yo, Transfer Student, you should go order.” Sayaka-chan said, narrow eyes glancing at her. Homura-chan tilted her head in confusion but nevertheless took everyone’s order. She went down the lines of the booth, mentally jotting down all the orders when she came to Sayaka-chan.

“Just get me whatever.” The blue haired girl answered when prompted. Homura-chan nodded and walked off. Once she was out of earshot, Sayaka-chan leaned in conspiratorially, “There’s something up with the Transfer Student, right?”

“Sayaka-chan! You asked her to order just so you could talk behind her back?” Madoka replied.

“I was going to bring it up during the training but you invited her along so I couldn’t.” 

“She seems like the selfish type, there’s many Magical Girls like that.” Mami-san said, “She might be dangerous, she attacked Kyubey after all.”

“I’m not gonna lie, from an outsider’s perspective she doesn’t seem that much more suspect than you Tomoe.” Kugisaki-san cut in.

“You saw that look on her face when Kyubey was talking about dark magic right? She’s totally planning something.” Sayaka-chan said. Madoka really did not like talking about Homura-chan behind her back.

To add on to all of that, she is an anomaly. Kyubey’s telepathic voice shot through their skulls.

“What do you mean Kyubey?” Mami-san asked.

I have no memory of making a contract with Akemi Homura. I remember every contract I’ve ever made, so that’s strange. Sayaka-chan gestured as if to say ‘I told you so.’

“I don’t think she’s that bad of a person, maybe she’s just misguided.” Madoka came to Homura-chan’s defense. Sayaka-chan scrutinized her for a few moments before a mischievous look overtook her face.

“I get it Madoka, it’s okay, you don’t have to defend her just because she’s your type.” She declared confidently. Madoka’s mind screeched to a halt. Yuji and Kugisaki-san ‘oooooooo’d’ just as Madoka’s face started to burn.

“It’s not like that!” Madoka desperately denied.

“Sure it isn’t. I pay attention to the kinds of people you’re into y’know. She’s got the long dark hair, the cool demeanor, she’s taller than you and she’s pretty. All she’s missing from being your dream girl is the glasses, right?” How on earth did she know all of that!? Had Madoka really been that much of an open book over the years!? Madoka hung her scarlet face in her hands. How had they gone from talking about how Homura-chan was an evil mastermind to… This!?

Footsteps hitting the floor was Madoka’s only warning as Homura-chan returned with their food. Madoka forced herself into a semblance of composure as the Magical Girl started to hand out the orders to everyone.

“Oh! This is my favorite! How did you know?” Sayaka-chan asked once she got her plate of sushi.

“I just guessed.” Homura-chan replied, not meeting their eyes. She slid into the seat right next to Madoka and began to quietly eat her fill. Madoka did the same, glancing between her food and Homura-chan every now and then. Her face heated up once again, just because what Sayaka-chan had said was embarrassing didn’t make it wrong, at least not entirely. Madoka wasn’t so shallow that she’d defend someone only because she thought they were pretty, right?

Homura-chan ate her lunch in silence, not really talking to anyone else. This was in stark contrast to the animated conversation Yuji, Kugisaki-san and Sayaka-chan were engaged in. Mami-san and Fushiguro-san chimed in from time to time as well. It reminded Madoka of something Yuji had said the other day, if she wasn’t evil or something and was actually just awkward…

That was actually kinda cute.

Wha!? Madoka internally groaned as she went bright red, After what Sayaka-chan had said she was hyper aware of Homura-chan and now she couldn’t stop thinking about it! 

“Is something wrong, Kaname Madoka? Your face is red.” Madoka was swiftly cut from her thoughts when she heard Homura-chan speak.

Madoka laughed awkwardly and responded, “N-no! I’m fine!” She heard Sayaka-chan, Kugisaki-san and Yuji snickering to themselves in the background. “This sushi is delicious!” Madoka changed the subject. Homura-chan looked at her for a few moments before returning to her own meal. Madoka wanted to shrivel up into a ball and explode.

From his skull throne within his Innate Domain, Ryomen Sukuna watched the world from the eyes of his vessel. The affairs of the humans the brat was interacting with did not interest him, but there were a few things of late that had caught his attention. The first was the brat’s encounter with a Diviner. He’d half expected them to go extinct considering the Jujutsu administration’s efforts at removing the little white rat from Japan back in the Heian era. The second was the brat’s cousin, Kaname Madoka.

Brat number 2 was just as boring as the first brat was in terms of her personality. Her power however? That was interesting. Sukuna hadn’t expected much of anything from any of the Kanames once he’d seen them in the brat’s thoughts, they just seemed like regular human beings. Clearly something was different however. It probably came from her father’s side, since Sukuna very much doubted that there was anything interesting in the brat’s lineage, considering his mediocrity.

Then there was her Cursed Technique. The closest thing he could compare it to was Fushiguro Megumi’s Ten Shadows Technique, a Technique that was comprised six separate powers was bound to be at the very least versatile. Of the powers she’d showcased thus far, the cursed energy absorption interested him the most. Did it just absorb cursed energy, or could it absorb Techniques and barriers? Depending on the particulars of it, it might even be able to bypass Gojo Satoru’s Infinity.

It wasn’t just that she had an extremely strong Cursed Technique, she was also just talented. She got the hang of her Cursed Technique remarkably quickly, and although her control over her cursed energy was sloppy in comparison, it was still far better than the average Sorcerer. Given some proper training and time to get used to her abilities, Sukuna was certain she could ascend to the heights of Gojo Satoru.

All in all, Kaname Madoka was shaping up to be an even better vessel than Fushiguro Megumi. However, it was unlikely that would ever come to pass. For one, he still wasn’t sure if her body could even handle being a vessel, she might just die of the poison that was his fingers. The second part rankled Sukuna even more, her soul. It wasn’t just her cursed energy that was massive, her soul was just as big. It was fractal, splitting off and expanding far past her body. Loathe as Sukuna was to admit, he wasn’t sure if he could subdue Kaname Madoka’s soul, even if she was in the depths of despair.

But there was another option Sukuna could take to entertain himself. Kaname Madoka seemed to be driven by very similar core desires as the brat. Give that girl either a contract with the rat or time to get used to her abilities and she’d be a force to be reckoned with. After he got done killing the brat and Gojo Satoru, once he was free, he was sure that Kaname Madoka would be drawn to fight him. And a battle like that… That would be quite the meal, wouldn’t it?

Chapter Text

Sayaka entered Kyosuke’s hospital room with a smile on her face. The boy smiled back and waved lightly. Kamijo Kyosuke was one of Sayaka’s childhood friends, alongside Madoka and Hitomi.

“Sayaka! How are you?” He said.

“I’m doing fine.” Sayaka answered, “I got you another CD!”

Kyosuke was a violin prodigy and Sayaka liked to get CDs with classical music on them for him. He’d been in an unfortunate accident and was recovering in the hospital. He couldn’t play while he was recovering so she’d buy him the CDs so he could still listen to the music while bedridden. He looked at the CD and smiled slightly.

“Wow, I’ve never seen a CD of this piece. You’re really good at finding rare CDs Sayaka!”

Sayaka blushed a little at the praise. The two of them put in the earbuds so they could listen to the song together. Kyosuke nodded along until the violins kicked in and his smile faltered. The sound of something he might never again play reduced him to stifled sobs of despair. Kyosuke needed a miracle, something that could save him from his injuries. Sayaka could grant that miracle, but…

That just made her think about a conversation she’d had with Mami-san.

“Tiro Finale!” Mami-san called out the name of her finishing move, blasting the Witch she was fighting into smithereens. The labyrinth shuddered and collapsed, leaving Sayaka, Madoka, Mami-san, Kyubey and Yuji in a park. After the danger level of Witch hunts had been established, the Sorcerers decided to rotate who went with Mami-san during each hunt. This time it was just Yuji with the girls, he hadn’t been able to contribute much in the fight because of how skilled Mami-san was.

“That went well, Mami-san’s just as cool as I thought!” Sayaka thought out loud.

“Geez, that wasn’t a show you know. Make sure you understand the dangers.” Mami-san said with a slightly disapproving look on her face. Yuji looked around at the ground and raised a brow in confusion.

“No Grief Seed?” He asked.

“That was just a Familiar and Familiars don’t drop Grief Seeds.”

“I see…” Yuji replied, lost in thought.

“So…” Mami-san changed the subject, turning to look at Sayaka and Madoka, “Have you two figured out your wishes yet?” Sayaka put an apologetic smile on.

“Not yet.” 

“Me neither.” Madoka said, “Oh yeah, what did you wish for Mami-san?”

Mami-san was caught off guard by the question and looked down, pensive. 

“It’s okay if you don’t wanna say.” Madoka looked nervous.

“...It happened a few years ago. When me and my family were going out on a drive, we got caught up in a massive traffic accident. Kyubey approached me as I lay dying in the wreckage of my family’s car. I wished to save my life…” Mami-san looked up and shook her head, “That’s why I want you two to think carefully about your wishes. I didn’t get the chance to do the same.”

There was a moment of silence as both girls drank in that statement.

“Say Mami-san… Does the wish have to be for ourselves?” Sayaka asked.

“What do you mean?” 

“Lets say, hypothetically, that someone else is much worse off than me and I wanted to use my wish to help him…”

“Sayaka-chan, are you talking about Kamijo-kun?” Madoka cut in.

“This is purely hypothetical!” Sayaka replied, a blush coloring her face.

“Yeah you could. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Still, I really don’t like the idea.”

Sayaka was confused. Mami-san was super heroic, why would helping others be a bad idea to her?

“Miki-san, do you want to make that person’s dream come true? Or do you just want to make him indebted to you for making it come true?” Mami-san stared directly into Sayaka’s eyes as she said that. Sayaka stifled her surprise. The accusation almost made her indignant, but when she really thought about it she couldn’t say that wasn’t what she wanted.

“Mind if I add onto that Tomoe?” Yuji cut into the conversation, “When I first started to become a Sorcerer, I was doing it because I wanted to honor my grandpa’s dying wish. But the principal at our school gave me a reality check. If Kamijo is your entire reason for being a Magical Girl, is it going to be his fault when you’re about to be killed by a Witch?"

Sayaka flinched as if she’d been slapped. She looked down at the ground and clenched her fists. She really, really didn’t want to curse Kyosuke, for any reason.

“I’m sorry for being harsh but I don’t want you to make a mistake and regret it.” Mami-san said.

“Yeah, you’re right. I was being naive.” Sayaka said after a few moments of contemplation.

“It’s a difficult decision, so you shouldn’t rush into it.”

It would be better for me if you would hurry up though. Kyubey spoke.

“No! Girls hate guys who are too pushy, Kyubey!”

Madoka, Sayaka and Yuji laughed as they left the park.

Kyosuke wasn’t in a good state for visitors after they listened to the CD, so Sayaka had to leave. Sayaka walked down to the waiting room, where Madoka was sitting. Kyubey was perched on Madoka’s shoulder.

“Yo, sorry for keeping you waiting.” Sayaka said apologetically.

“That was pretty quick.” Madoka replied.

“He got upset so I had to leave.” Sayaka answered. Suddenly, Madoka shivered and started looking around.

“Do you feel that?” Madoka got up from her chair with a concerned look on her face, “It feels like… Cursed energy!?” She began walking towards the source of whatever she’d sensed. Sayaka followed her, until they came to a certain section of the hospital. Embedded in the wall, cracking with a malignant power was…

“A Grief Seed!” Madoka cried. Sayaka felt dread enter her heart. Mami-san had mentioned that Witches haunting hospitals was really, really bad. Something about how people who already had weak lifeforce being easier to snare?

The Grief Seed is about to hatch! We need to escape before the labyrinth is established! Kyubey said quickly.

“We can’t!” Sayaka shouted, both Madoka and Kyubey turned to look at her, “If we just leave, it could move somewhere else! Madoka, go get Mami-san and the Sorcerers!” Besides, this was where Kyosuke was, if a Witch got him…

Fine, I’ll stay with you then. Kyubey said, jumping from Madoka’s shoulder to Sayaka’s. If I stick around, Mami can find us with my telepathy.

“What about you?” Madoka asked.

“I’ll be fine, if it manages to ensnare me it probably won’t move.” Sayaka replied, a resolute look on her face. Madoka ran off and probably started to contact Mami-san with telepathy. She also pulled her phone just as she turned the corner. Kyubey had said that he wasn’t allowed to include non-potentials like Yuji and his friends in the telepathy network that potentials could use to contact each other. Because of that, they didn’t use it very often.

Just as Madoka’s footsteps faded away, the labyrinth began to form around Sayaka and Kyubey. Reality gave way to unreality as a landscape of sweets overtook the hospital. 

Are you scared, Sayaka?

“Yeah, of course I am.”

If you decide on a wish, I could make you a Magical Girl right now…

“If it comes to that I might ask you, but not quite yet. This is a very important thing for me. I don’t want to make any hasty decisions.”

Sayaka’s eyes never left the pulsing Grief Seed, even as the labyrinth swallowed her whole.

Mami ran towards the hospital, following Kaname-san’s directions. Along the way, Itadori-san joined up with them.

“Tomoe! The others are on their way but I was closer!” The Sorcerer said. The hospital came into view and all three of them shot down the halls. They reached the hallway where the Witch manifested and slid to a halt.

Kyubey! What’s the situation!? Mami sent a telepathic message to her friend.

We’re alright for now, but could you try to get here as quietly as possible? It would be bad to use lots of magic and stimulate the Witch.

Right! Mami turned to her companions, “They’ll be fine, but we should still hurry!” Mami raised her Soul Gem and the labyrinth expanded around them. The labyrinth was a veritable candy land fused with a hospital. small polka-dotted creatures with singular spiraling eyes and nurse’s hats were sitting, inactive, around the labyrinth. Standing in their path was Akemi Homura.

“I’ll handle today's prey. Of course, I’ll also assure the safety of the two trapped in the labyrinth.” Her voice was cold as always. One of Mami’s eyes twitched at the statement. The nerve of this girl… 

“And we’re just supposed to leave? Do you actually think we trust you?” Mami crouched down and placed a hand on the ground. A forest of red ribbons erupted from the ground beneath Akemi-san’s feet, binding her and leaving her tied up suspended above the ground.

“Wha!? You fool! This is not time to-”

“I don’t intend to harm you but if you struggle too hard I make no guarantees. Let’s go, Kaname-san, Itadori-san.” Mami strode off into the depths of the labyrinth. 

“Are you sure Tomoe?” Itadori-san asked as he began to follow her, giving Akemi-san an apologetic look. Kaname-san gave the other Magical Girl an pensive look before she turned to follow.

“Of course, let's go save Miki-san and Kyubey!”

“W-wait! This Witch is like nothing you have ever faced before!” Akemi-san called out from behind them, which Mami ignored.

The labyrinth had become more active by the time the three of them had gotten further into it. The polka-dotted creatures were awake now, sniffing the floor as they searched for something. Tall nurses with lollipops and wrapped hard candy for heads pushed stretchers around while searching, probably for the same thing the polka-dotted things were. As they made their way through the candy filled hallways, Kaname-san began to speak.

“Mami-san…”

“What is it?” 

“I’ve been thinking about my wish… You’ll probably get angry since it’s too naive.”

“Go ahead.”

“I… Don’t really have any subjects I’m strong at, or any abilities I’m proud of. I’ve always kinda hated myself for living everyday not being of use to anyone. But when I saw you fighting for the sake of others and I realized I could do the same thing, that made me happier than anything else. That’s why if I became a Magical Girl, my wish would’ve already come true! To think that even I could help others like that, my biggest dream is to live a life that would make me proud of myself!” Kaname-san spoke with a thin smile on her face. Mami didn’t quite know how to respond to that, but…

“I’m not something anyone should emulate.” All three of them stopped walking as the words left Mami’s mouth, “To tell you the truth, fighting scares me like nothing else. When I’m with you and Miki-san I force myself to act like a ‘cool senpai’ but when I’m alone all I can do is cry. I’m not-”

“That’s not true!” Kaname-san cut her off in an instant, “Mami-san, you aren’t alone anymore!” Four words. All it took was four words for Mami to be reduced to tears. Because that’s what it came down to for her nowadays. Lonely, lonely, so very, very lonely. She’d had a dozen students but none of them stuck around. Either they left because she was too idealistic, fighting Familiars even though they didn’t drop Grief Seeds or they died. Kyoko leaving her had left a gaping wound in her heart that Mami didn’t think would ever heal. Her apartment felt cavernous in its emptiness without other people around. Mami choked back a sob as Kaname-san continued.

“I may not be someone you can rely on but at the very least I can stay by your side! Would you mind me fighting alongside you?”

Mami wiped tears from her eyes as she let out a small, self-deprecating laugh, “Here I should be acting like a proper senpai but I just can’t pull it off huh?” Mami grasped Kaname-san’s hand, “But thank you, of course you can! A Magical girl combo… We’ll be a team!”

Kaname-san cringed slightly and looked back at Itadori-san. The Sorcerer looked slightly sheepish, with one hand on the back of his head.

“Sorry Yuji, you didn’t want me to be a Magical Girl right?” Kaname-san said. Itadori-san sighed and looked at both of them seriously.

“You could tell? Either way, it’s not my decision that matters here. I get wanting to feel there’s something only you can do, that’s the reason I became a Sorcerer in the first place. If you want to become a Magical Girl, that's your choice.” He looked a little conflicted but ultimately accepting, “If you’re gonna make a contract though, at least try to get a cool power!” All three of them laughed.

Mami! You need to get here quickly! The Witch is starting to hatch! Kyubey’s voice slashed through Mami’s reverie. 

“We’ve got to get going!” Mami said as she triggered her transformation with a flash of yellow light. Yellow ribbons engulfed her body and left her in her Magical Girl costume. Itadori-san and Kaname-san followed her as she shot into the depths of the labyrinth. The sound of Mami’s muskets tore through the air as she carved through the Familiars in her way. Mami wasn’t alone, so wasn’t afraid of anything anymore!

Mami and the others arrived at the center of the labyrinth just as the Witch hatched. It was a small, doll-like creature with hair done up in twin pink pigtails. It wore a polka-dotted scarf over a black coat. Its body underneath the coat was pink and tiny. It floated down from the ceiling into a chair and table with impossibly long legs. Miki-san was crouched with Kyubey in one of the corners, hiding from the Familiars patrolling the labyrinth. Thankfully, the Witch seemed pretty weak.

Mami put on a confident smile and leapt into the air. She summoned a storm of ribbons, entangled the small Witch in an instant and finished it off with a couple of rounds from her muskets. Mami landed with her back turned to the Witch. Instead of the smiling friends she’d expected, She saw Itadori-san running with an urgency she’d never seen out of him before and a horrified look on both Kaname-san and Miki-san’s faces. She turned around to see the massive, worm-like creature that had emerged from the small Witch’s mouth. Its body was black with red polka-dots. It had a pure white clown face, a pointed nose with a red star on the end of it, eyes full of maddened spirals and a mouth lined with extraordinarily sharp teeth.

It was too late for Mami to move or dodge. Was this how it ended? A moment of carelessness right as her isolation was over?

“TOMOE!” Itadori-san’s boots impacted the side of the worm, knocking it off course. Instead of the teeth closing around Mami’s head, they dug into her upper arm, spewing blood everywhere. Mami could barely hear herself scream over the sound of the Witch pulling back and ripping her arm off with a wet splatter. All of her magic slipped from her grasp as the shock of losing her arm overtook her. The edges of her vision dimmed as she felt her costume dissolve from her body, finally with a muted thump, Mami collapsed to the floor.

Yuji watched Tomoe fall to the ground as an icy feeling overtook him. Tomoe was way stronger than him and this Witch had taken her out in a single attack. If not for his intervention Tomoe would’ve died. The Witch licked its lips and looked down at Yuji, who had placed himself in between it and Tomoe. Yuji barely managed to scoop Tomoe into his arms and jump away when the Witch surged forward and bit down where they once were. That game of cat and mouse ran itself for a while as Yuji darted from massive cakes to improbably large tables, avoiding the Witch all the while.

An explosion rocked the Witch’s face, stunning it for a little while. Yuji could actually see stars spinning above its head. The Witch turned its head to see Akemi standing on one of its massive tables.

“I’ll take care of this” She said, voice stone cold. The Witch brought its jaws down on her location, but she was somewhere else in an instant. Was her Wish Magic teleportation or something? The inside of the Witch’s mouth exploded again and it vomited up another worm. It seemed to be some kind of hydra. The same song and dance played out until the Witch eventually ran out of energy and finally died. The labyrinth dissolved, leaving all five of them standing in some random hospital hallway. Tomoe’s armless sleeve was turning red from her blood. Akemi landed nearby Madoka and Miki, sparing a glance their way.

“Burn this into your memory. This, more than anything else, is what being a Magical Girl means.” She said as she picked up the Witch’s Grief Seed, “I will take Tomoe Mami back to her apartment, you three should leave before you get caught by hospital security.”

“Take her back… She’s lost her goddamn arm! She needs help!” Yuji cried back.

“Magical Girls can heal from wounds like that fairly easily given enough magic. It’s for the best that she is unconscious. She cannot scream in pain and alert hospital personnel.” Akemi stuck her hand elbow deep into the gap between her shield and her wrist and pulled out a tourniquet. She crouched down and calmly applied it to Tomoe’s severed arm.

“Why don’t you heal her then!? Are you being stingy with your magic at a time like this!?” Miki called out, outraged at Akemi’s callous words.

“I am not very good at healing and healing other people is far more difficult than healing yourself. What would take me half a dozen Grief Seeds and several days would take Tomoe Mami hours and maybe two Grief Seeds.” Akemi cooly replied. Miki grit her teeth in anger. The situation seemed to finally set in for Madoka, who stifled a sob.

“Why are you even trying to help us?” Yuji said seriously, looking Akemi dead in the eye. The Magical Girl seemed to stop and think for a few moments, before responding.

“I do not want Tomoe Mami dead.” Was all she said. Yuji was surprised that he actually believed her. He handed Tomoe off to Akemi, who adjusted the Magical Girl in her arms. After she got a good grip on Tomoe, Akemi’s shield opened with a sound like a ticking clock. The shield’s inner mechanisms turned and in an instant Akemi was gone. Yuji sighed and turned to Madoka and Miki.

“Come on you two, let's go.”

Chapter Text

Mami held her Soul Gem close to the wound on Kyoko’s arm, her magic crackled with yellow light as she healed her. These past few days Kyoko had been obviously distracted and it kept getting her hurt. Her long red hair was tied up in a high ponytail, her red eyes were shrouded as she looked down, away from Mami.

“You’re still not your usual self…” Mami said as she concentrated on a gash on Kyoko’s forearm, “This may be hard for you to hear right now… But if you can’t give it your all you’re better off not fighting in the first place. Your life's on the line, after all.”

Kyoko said nothing.

“You just fought a Familiar, but if you had used your illusion magic you wouldn’t have gotten hurt. Why didn’t you use it?” Mami continued as she finished healing her student.

“I don’t need it to take down a Witch…” Kyoko finally spoke through grit teeth. Mami could barely believe her ears.

“Kyoko… Fighting Witches isn’t a game-”

“Now that I’ve got you here, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.” Kyoko got up from the floor and looked away from her, never meeting Mami’s eyes, “It’s about the way we fight…” A dreadful feeling overtook Mami, she’d heard this before…

 Kyoko turned to look at her with hollow eyes, “How about instead of taking down Witches and Familiars, we just focus on the Witches?” It took all of Mami’s self control to not flinch.

“If we’re hunting Familiars even though they don’t drop Grief Seeds, we’re just wasting our magic right?” Kyoko held her Soul Gem, grimy and coated in corruption, in her hand.

“...Did something happen, Kyoko?”

“You may be trying to play the hero and ‘protect the peace’ but to tell you the truth it’s a pain going along with your hobbies.” Kyoko drawled. It felt like a spear through Mami’s heart, “It just doesn’t feel right to me anymore.”

“W-what are you talking about?” Mami voiced her disbelief, “It may just be a Familiar, but if it escaped and killed someone… We have to fi-”

“That’s why I’m saying we can’t go saving everyone all the time!” Kyoko raised her voice, cutting Mami off. The blonde was stunned into silence. A few moments later Kyoko continued, “Whether or not they’re possessed by a Witch, the people who want to die are going to die right!? Why do I have to risk my life to save assholes like that!? I say we just let the damn Familiars eat them! At least that way their deaths will do us some good!”

Cold sweat beaded on Mami’s face. After a long pause, Mami spoke, “Kyoko… I understand how you feel about your family but-”

“Oh yeah? You understand? ” Kyoko dug out with a sarcastic lilt, “A girl whose family died in an accident has no way of understanding a girl whose family died because of her!” Mami gasped.

“But hey, you were right about one thing. I really should’ve made that wish for myself. If I did, the only person hurt would be me.”

No…

“That way you don’t push your selfish ideas of happiness on other people!”

Not again…

“Serves me right! It was my wish that got my whole family killed!”

It was happening again…

“I’ll bet that somewhere deep inside, you thought something like this was inevitable, right?”

It was happening again, her student was leaving her again and there was nothing Mami could do. Tears began to fall from her face, her misery leaking its way out into the world.

“I never…” Mami choked out, suppressing her sobs.

“So I made up my mind,” Kyoko said, “I’m not going to do anything for other people’s happiness or try to save anyone anymore.”

Ah… Now Mami remembered…

“I’ll never use my magic for that reason ever again! I’ll only use it for myself!”

This already happened. Kyoko had already left her. Kyoko turned around, a sickening sense of finality following her.

“You must despise me now… We’re done here…” Kyoko said gravely.

The last time, Mami had fought. She had tried to convince Kyoko to stay, to not leave her.

“We can’t fight together anymore. You and me… End here.” She walked away.

But now all Mami could do was cry.

Mami startled awake, eyes full of unshed tears. She was staring at the ceiling of her room, so someone defeated the Witch? Mami raised her arms to rub the tears out of her eyes, but only one answered her call. Ah right, her arm. The pain was sharp, far worse than it had been in the moment. She built up her courage and actually looked at the wound but it was covered by her uniform. Slightly above the wound, someone had applied a medical tourniquet, which staunched the bleeding. Mami tried to get out of her bed but she only managed to get into a sitting position, groaning in pain all the way.

There was a knock on her door, someone had noticed that she was awake? 

“Come in.” Mami gasped out. The door swung open, admitting Itadori-san into her room.

“Tomoe, you’re up!” The smile on his face was weak, his eyes kept darting between her face and her empty sleeve. There was an ugly red stain circling the wound, her uniform was ruined. The plastic sheet that someone had covered her bed with crinkled as she tried to get up again. As she shakily got to her feet, Itadori-san walked forward to give her a hand.

“Come on, everyone else is set-up in the living room.” Itadori-san said. Mami felt off kilter, like her balance had shifted. Itadori-san slung Mami’s remaining arm over his shoulder and helped her out of her room. They slipped through her bedroom door and into the living room. Everyone was waiting in her living room. Kaname-san and Miki-san both turned to look at her as she entered.

“Mami-san!” Both of them shouted at the same time. Good, her failure hadn’t gotten anyone killed. Fushiguro-san looked up from his phone at her, while Kugisaki-san got up from Mami’s couch. Kyubey was curled up on one of her chairs. Finally, Akemi Homura stared at her idly from her place at the table.

“Why are you here? Just to gloat?” Mami bit out, self-deprecation evident in her tone.

“No,” Akemi-san replied simply, “I came here to assist in your recovery.”

“What do you mean ‘recovery!?’ Did you get someone with powerful healing magic?”

“Magical Girls can heal from any wound that does not immediately kill them. This includes severed limbs.”

“How do you even know that?” Miki-san asked.

“Another Magical Girl once sliced off both of my legs.” Akemi-san spoke without missing a beat, “The only reason I am not… I still have my magic is because I knew someone with proper healing magic.” Everyone’s faces went white. Her casual attitude to such a horrific injury was disturbing.

Akemi-san continued, “It would go far smoother if we could get someone with actual healing magic but we do not have time for that, unless you would like to be absent from school tomorrow? It will take three hours and be extremely painful, but if we work together we can heal your arm by the end of the day.”

“Three hours? Can’t you make it shorter?” Kugisaki-san inquired.

“Theoretically we could do it in minutes but healing faster would be extremely inefficient, you would lose a lot of magic and need a lot of Grief Seeds. You need to take your time for healing to be sustainable.”

“W-why would it be painful?” Kaname-san asked nervously.

“Healing tends to form the bone, then the flesh, musculature and nerves, then the skin. For several hours it will be like you have no skin on that arm.” Akemi-san explained succinctly. Kaname-san looked green.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Mami said with finality. Itadori-san helped her over to the couch as Akemi-san covered the couch with a second plastic tarp. Kugisaki-san unwound the tourniquet and helped her out of her uniform, the uniform stuck to her skin and peeled off painfully. Akemi-san gave her a blanket to help her preserve her modesty. Akemi-san turned to look at Kaname-san and Miki-san.

“You both should leave, this isn’t something you need to see.” Her voice was cold but her words held a note of compassion. Both girls shook their heads. Mami and Akemi-san held their Soul Gems up to the now exposed wound. Seeing the inside of her body like that was making her sick.

“Is there anything special I should do?”

“No, it’s the same as regular healing, just allow your magic to fill out the gap,” Akemi-san explained. Next she held up a folded up belt for Mami to bite, it tasted strange on her tongue.

At the count of three, Mami and Akemi-san pushed their magic into the wound. The nerve endings lit up and agony flooded Mami’s entire body. She screamed into the belt but didn’t stop healing herself. The three Sorcerers held her down to stop her from thrashing. Bolts of yellow light and purple flame shot from their soul gems into the wound. The skeleton grew like roots and the flesh writhed as it coated the bones. Mami knew it was only a few hours but for her it felt like days. Kaname-san left part way through, Mami could hear her retching in the bathroom. They ran through two Grief Seeds but in the end Mami’s arm was good as new.

Mami was drenched in sweat when it was all said and done. It was surreal, she hadn’t even gotten used to not having the arm and now it was back. Mami moved it around, making sure everything was in working order. The entire arm felt raw but nothing was wrong from her cursory examination. The three Sorcerers looked distressed, Kaname-san had just gotten back from vomiting and Miki-san looked green as well. The only person who seemed unphased was Akemi-san, who was using a Grief Seed to purify her Soul Gem.

“Hey, Akemi.” Kugisaki-san called out, catching the attention of the entire room, “You didn’t help out of the goodness of your heart, did you?”

“Did you seriously do all of this just to get a favor out of Mami-san!?” Miki-san cried. Akemi-san took a few moments to respond.

“I suppose even if I waited until Miki Sayaka and Kaname Madoka left, you would simply tell them anyway.” Akemi-san sighed, looking over the group with calculating eyes. She paused for another few moments, seemingly ruminating on what to say before she settled on something direct and to the point.

“Walpurgisnacht is coming to Mitakihara.” Her tone brokered no arguments. Mami inhaled sharply. 

“Wal… What now?” Miki-san asked, looking confused.

“It’s a Witch spoken about in Magical Girl rumors. The so-called ‘Queen of the Witches,’ who doesn’t need a labyrinth. A monster whose manifestation heralds the destruction of entire cities.” Mami explained, “I thought it was just a legend.”

“That thing is very real. I ask for your assistance in defeating it.” Akemi-san’s voice was full of disdain. Still, there was something that was bothering Mami.

“If you want to defeat Walpurgisnacht so badly, why are you against Kaname-san contracting? Surely someone with her power would make defeating Walpurgisnacht easy.”

“W-well… I don’t know about contracting but if it would help with Walpurgisnacht…” Kaname-san began, looking nervous.

“NO!” Akemi-san’s outburst had everyone staring at her for a few moments. An awkward look slipped past her neutral mask, “I do not want anyone else to condemn themselves to this life to satisfy my grudge…” Mami got the feeling that Akemi-san wasn’t telling the whole story.

“Either way, you’ve got our help with this walnut thing.” Itadori-san said with a smile on his face, “When is it coming? Gojo-sensei will be here in a little under three weeks, so we’ll have to tell him if he needs to come earlier.”

“October 31st, Walpurgisnacht will descend on Mitakihara on October 31st. That is twenty seven days from now.” Mami took in the information calmly. Having someone who was known as ‘the strongest Sorcerer’ on their side would be a massive boon. If this was what motivated Akemi-san the entire time…

“I think I’ve misjudged you, Akemi-san. Don’t attack Kyubey again and we’ll be fine.”

“How can you say that!? Didn’t she leave you to almost get killed by that Witch!?” Miki-san said, getting up from her seat.

“Wait Sayaka-chan, Homura-chan tried to help but Mami-san tied her up in the entrance to the labyrinth!” Kaname-san’s rebuttal caused Miki-san to flinch.

“She could’ve been more transparent about it, but she did try to help me.” Mami explained.

Miki-san huffed and crossed her arms, “Doesn’t mean I have to like her." Kaname-san let out a nervous laugh. The pink haired girl looked over to the clock and squawked in surprise.

“Oh no! If I don’t get home soon I’ll be late for dinner!” She said as she started packing up her things. Miki-san seemed to have a similar revelation and followed her friend’s example. After the two of them left, everyone else filtered out, including Kyubey, leaving Mami alone in her apartment once again.

Mami realized that Kaname-san hadn’t contracted yet. Mami understood why the ordeal that Witch had put them through would make her hesitate, but it didn’t make the disappointment sting any less.

Madoka entered her home in a hurry, idly kicking her shoes off. Her Papa raised an eyebrow as she entered the dining room.

“Cutting it close there, Madoka.” He said, putting the finishing touches on dinner. Madoka felt her face turn red.

“Sorry, An upperclassman invited me over and we lost track of time…” Madoka made excuses for herself.

“It’s fine, just don’t make a habit of it.” He replied as he laid out dinner, it was cream stew, her favorite! Madoka began to dig in, but all she could think about as the pork entered her mouth was the sound that Mami-san’s arm had made as it was torn off. The sound of teeth ripping flesh apart. Suddenly, the pork tasted like rubber in her mouth, she shuddered as she forced herself to swallow.

(And if she ate her pork last, well it’s not like anyone in her family noticed.)

Yukiko was running for her life. Her school shoes clacked against the pavement as she darted from alleyway to alleyway. She ran into a fence and in a storm of blue light transformed into her Magical Girl costume. A black top hat with a navy blue band appeared on her head. A mix between a white leotard and a white dress shirt covered her torso, a navy blue tie manifested around her neck. She wore a navy blue tailcoat with white gloves. Finally, navy blue and white thigh-high boots covered her legs. Her Soul Gem became a card-like emblem tucked into the band of her hat. Yukiko leapt over the fence in an instant and kept running.

Yukiko hadn’t gotten a good look at what was chasing her but she could hear it. Hear the mechanical clicks and the tensing of wires. A dagger flew from behind her, Yukiko drew her cane sword and slashed it out of the air. She threw up her barrier as thin, piano wire strings swung from outside her vision, trying to carve her to bits. The strings bounced off as Yukiko shot forward. She was so focused on running that she didn’t notice the other strings as they sliced her eyes out.

Yukiko screamed and tumbled to the ground. She knew she was done for but that didn’t ease the fear in her heart as she heard clanking footsteps approach her.

“ Finally , do you have any idea how annoying chasing you was?” The voice was tinny, mechanical and vaguely feminine, as if a girl’s voice was projected through an old speaker. Yukiko tried to scramble to her feet when her ankles were slashed, probably by more threads, “Now now… We can’t have you running away can we?”

“W-why..?” Yukiko asked between gasps of pain.

“Why?” The thing walked forward and picked Yukiko up off of the ground, “I think your costume is cute!” The monster threw her into the air and Yukiko could feel it as she was butchered by threads. The fading remnants of her consciousness felt the thing pick her Soul Gem off of her hat before darkness overwhelmed her.

And Yukiko simply ceased to be.

After a night of tempestuous dreams, Madoka was eating breakfast with her parents. It was another normal school day, as if one of her friends hadn’t almost died the previous day. The TV was turned to the morning news.

“This morning the dismembered body of Takarazaki teenager Watanabe Yukiko was found in an alleyway. This marks the eleventh case of dismembered teenage girls since September. Authorities originally did not believe these cases were connected due to the large amount of distance between victims however…”

“That’s really close…” Madoka’s father murmured to himself. He turned to Madoka, “You should come home straight from school today, at least until we’re sure this won’t happen here.”

“W-well… Sayaka-chan, Hitomi-chan and I were going to go to the mall today.” Madoka replied, looking pensive.

“In other news, the weather forecast predicts heavy rain in the afternoon…”

“I just don’t want you out and about when there’s something this dangerous going on.” Madoka thought for a while.

“What if I got Yuji to come with us?” She asked. Her father seemed lost in thought, probably remembering all the borderline superhuman physical feats he’d seen from Yuji. It was weird that even before he became a Sorcerer Yuji could move like that.

“In that case, it’d be fine.” Her Papa said.

“Thanks Papa!” Madoka finished up her breakfast and ran out the door to school.

Choso had been wandering the streets of Mitakihara for a few days now. Geto had given him some money so he wasn’t at risk of starving to death. He was barely able to convince himself to keep going and not just return to Dagon’s Domain. There had to be a better way than searching an entire city by foot.

Choso turned a corner to see a teenage girl sitting behind a folding table. She had long silver hair done up in a side ponytail and emerald green eyes. She wore a black dress and a purple shawl with a star pattern on it. The table held a crystal ball, shiny and clear. The other people walking down the street seemed to be trying very hard to ignore her. As Choso walked past her, he noticed something. Her power wasn’t like the normal humans surrounding them, it was tightly controlled and positively charged. Was she some kind of Magical Girl?

“You there, the man in the robe, come here.” The girl said, beckoning him closer. Choso was intrigued, so he walked up and slipped into the chair facing her. “Would you like your fortune told?” She asked with a smirk. Fortune telling? Choso didn’t exactly believe in that, but this girl clearly had power. He would play along for now. Choso nodded.

“Then place your hands over my crystal ball, and I will look into your future.” She said theatrically. Choso complied, holding his hands over the crystal ball. The girl did the same and hummed. There was no pulse of magic or anything he could sense, was she pulling his leg?

“You’re… Looking for someone…” She murmured, “Looking for someone who killed your two younger brothers.” Choso flinched, the girl continued, “My condolences…” Suddenly very invested in the situation, Choso leaned forward.

“What else do you see?”

“What you seek does in fact lie in Mitakihara. Go to the bus stop near the domed mall in about an hour and you will find him.” The girl leaned away from the crystal ball, “When all is said and done, you will find a new purpose.” Realistically speaking, Choso had no idea if she was telling the truth. Her speaking on his dead younger brothers could’ve just been an incredibly lucky guess and she could be filling his ears with nonsense. Worse, she could be leading him into a trap.

However, Choso also had nothing better to do. He was confident in his ability to handle anything she could theoretically throw at him. The most important thing was that if she was right, if following her word would lead him to Itadori Yuji…

He would finally be able to avenge his brothers.

About an hour later, Choso walked up to the bus stop the silver haired girl mentioned. Strangely, it felt like he’d crossed the threshold of a barrier, was it something that girl had set up? The bus stop was a glass tube, like most bus stops in Mitakihara. Placed a decent distance away from the bus stop on each side were metal streetlights, not yet active. A single large wall rose just behind the bus stop, the other side of the street leading out into open road.

Choso’s attention was drawn to three people who had just started walking towards the bus stop. 

“Come on,” The pink haired girl said nervously, “I said something feels off around here.”

“You worry too much Madoka, it’ll be fine.” The blue haired girl walking beside her had a carefree smile on her face, “Right Yuji?”

She was speaking to an older boy who was also walking with them. A boy with short, spiky pink hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a Jujutsu Tech uniform over a red hoodie.

“I…” He started speaking, before trailing off. He met Choso’s eyes across the street.

It was Itadori Yuji. The man who murdered his younger brothers.

Something inside Choso snapped.

Chapter Text

Sayaka felt the world freeze in place as the robed man across the street stared at Yuji. Everything happened so quickly it was hard for her to comprehend it. First, a look of pure rage and focus overtook him. Next, bright red fluid spilled out from his body and compressed itself into a ball in front of him. Then, Yuji pushed Sayaka and Madoka out of the way as the man’s hands came together around the red sphere. Finally, Yuji raised his arms to block the attack, as a flash of red shot from the man’s hands.

Blood Manipulation “Convergence” is a skill that involves applying pressure to blood in order to compress it to its limit.

A sharp, wet sound rushed through the empty street, reaching Sayaka’s ears just as a beam of red liquid pierced its way into Yuji’s arm.

The blood compressed with Convergence is then released through a single point. The initial speed of this blood enhanced with cursed energy well exceeds the speed of sound when released.

Yuji’s face contorted in pain as he wrenched his arms upward, parrying the beam. 

This secret art of Blood Manipulation is called…

A second clap shot through the air, as the man spoke, “ Piercing Blood. ” A blood beam carved through the air towards Yuji, accompanied by that same sharp, wet sound. Yuji managed to get his abdomen out of the way of the beam. He ran off to the side, away from where Sayaka and Madoka were. The beam of blood followed him, tearing through the wall as he surged towards the blood wielder. Yuji’s fist slammed into the Curse user’s arm with a distinct dual thud sound. Blood flew into the air as the robed man was launched backwards towards the bus stop.

“I don’t know what problem you have with me,” Yuji said as blood oozed over his clenched fist, “But leave those two out of it!” 

“Yuji!” Madoka cried, starting to walk towards him.

He looked back at them with a shaky smile on his face, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.”

“But-”

“There’s something I have to ask you…” the Curse user interrupted, “Did my younger brothers leave any last words?”

“Younger brothers!?”

“Tch! I’m talking about the two you killed.”

A flash of understanding ran through Yuji’s face, “Not really, no…” he looked down, as though trying to find the right words. “But… they did cry.”

Yuji’s opponent seethed as a tidal wave of blood poured from his back. The Sorcerer took up a stance as the fight began in earnest. Yuji was fighting for his life right in front of them and there was nothing she could do. Suddenly, a realization hit her, there was something she could do!

Mami-san! Mami almost jumped when Miki-san’s telepathic message hit her. She sounded so distressed… 

What’s wrong? Mami said back, already getting ready to move.

It’s Yuji! He’s being attacked by someone, I think another Sorcerer. He’s stuck protecting Madoka and I! 

Where are you? Mami replied, shooting out of her front door. Miki-san rattled off her location as Mami got to the rooftop, transformed and leapt across the roofs towards them.

Sit tight Miki-san! I’ll be there in just a few mo- Mami was interrupted when a sickle-like blade made of pitch black metal sliced through the air at her. She weaved a musket into her hand and smacked it away, stopping dead in her tracks. A Magical Girl wearing black and white stepped out of the shadows on a nearby rooftop. A massive eyepatch covered one half of her face, while her single visible eye glimmered with instability. Those sickle-like blades, that Mami now recognized as claws, shot out from sleeves that were far too long. All in all, the girl looked like a twisted version of a groom.

“So sorry Tomoe Mami, Darling told me to make sure you don’t go anywhere.”

“Awfully bold of you to attack me in my own territory.” Mami replied.

Mami-san, is something wrong? Miki-san asked telepathically.

I’ve run into some trouble, I’ll be there as quickly as I can so stay safe! Mami thought back, manifesting a cavalcade of muskets all around her. She faced the hostile Magical Girl, “I’m only going to say this once, get out of my way now and no-”.

The black-clad Magical Girl shot at Mami like an arrow released from a bow, closing the distance in less than a second. Mami barely managed to block the incoming slashes with her muskets. Mami took a deep breath and steeled herself for a fight.

Yuji stared at his opponent, mind racing for a way to close the distance. The Death Painting stood across from him, hands pressed together and aimed directly at his head. Yuji had at best, a 50-50 chance of dodging that blood beam. If he guessed wrong and the blood beam hit his head, he’d die. Yuji swallowed his nerves and turned part of his attention to Madoka and Miki. The Curse hadn’t attacked either of them yet, and it didn’t seem like he would start now. Everything considered, his best chance was…

Yuji leaped straight into the air, staring the blood manipulator dead in the eyes. Assuming the Death Painting took the bait, Yuji had dictated the timing of the Piercing Blood. Just as his heels touched the floor, blood rocketed towards his head. Yuji barely ducked under the beam as it carved a long diagonal slash across his face. He regained his footing and launched at the Curse, dodging the far slower swipes of blood along the way. He knew it! Piercing Blood was only fast when fired! As long as he avoided the initial shot, Yuji could close the distance and lay on the pressure-

“Supernova”

Three compressed blood orbs burst behind Yuji, sending waves of pain through his body.

Blood Manipulation: Supernova. The blood condensed by Convergence is released and then shot out in every direction like buckshot.

The Curse grabbed a fourth blood orb and formed it into a blade. He swiftly stabbed it straight through both of Yuji’s feet. A yelp of pain turned into a growl of rage as Yuji kicked the Death Painting with his newly stabbed foot. One kick transitioned cleanly into a second flip kick, sending his opponent flying away as he stumbled to the ground. Yuji looked up at the robed man as he prepared another blood beam. All he could do was grit his teeth and get ready for the blow.

“Piercing Blood.”

The attack hit with far less force than Yuji was expecting. He tumbled, getting to his feet as quickly as he could.

“Tch! I was hasty…” his opponent muttered, manifesting 6 more blood orbs.

Yuji’s mind raced as he tried to pull a strategy together. ‘Why wasn’t I pierced all the way through?’ he thought as he grabbed his abdomen, next to where he’d been hit. Had his opponent not had time to fully charge the attack? The orbs of blood flattened and spun themselves into discs at the Death Painting’s command. He was in a disadvantageous position, he was far away from his opponent and he was down an arm. Yuji had to admit, this bastard… was strong!

Sayaka had never felt more useless in her entire life. Yuji was fighting for his life right in front of her and there was nothing she could do. Sayaka was sitting on a bench, next to Madoka, silently watching the fight unfold. She had telepathically messaged Mami-san but she still hadn’t arrived yet. All Sayaka could do was watch as Yuji ducked and weaved through a barrage of blood discs, accumulating scratches from near misses at every turn.

Then she felt it. Drops of rain started to land on her head. Sayaka’s mom had mentioned that it would rain, and she’d brought an umbrella with her. She’d just started to reach for it when-

“The rain!” Madoka yelled, startling Sayaka.

“Yeah? Is something wrong with it” Sayaka replied, pulling out her umbrella and raising it above her and Madoka’s heads. She could see the ground becoming wet and slippery being a problem for Yuji. The rain intensified, turning from a drizzle into a downpour.

“It’s just that… That Curse user’s blood has been exposed to the air for minutes now, and it hasn’t shown any signs of hardening…” Madoka explained, looking down at her lap. “Blood is supposed to coagulate when it leaves the body.” She turned to look at her. “He must be using his Technique to stop it from happening, probably to make it easier to manipulate.”

“But what does that have to do with the rain?” 

The blood manipulator hurled a blood chakram straight at Yuji’s chest, too quickly for Yuji to dodge out of the way. He threw his arms up in a vain attempt to block the attack.

“It means we've gotten very lucky.” Madoka said.

The blood disc shuddered and exploded, painting both Yuji and the pavement red. The Curse user starred in obvious shock.

In order to enhance the effects of the Blood Manipulation technique users constantly have the coagulation properties of their blood turned off.

The rain pelted the earth and a silence fell over the battlefield.

As a result, Choso’s blood dissolves in water more easily than that of others.

Yuji walked forward, each step slapping against the now wet concrete.

On top of that, once exposed to water, the osmotic pressure causes the red blood cells to expand and rupture their cell walls. This left him unable to control the blood cells that comprise 45% of his blood, breaking his Convergence.

Yuji slipped into a stance, facing his opponent.

Madoka was right.

In that situation, it was impossible for Choso to use Blood Manipulation outside his own body.

The Curse user’s blood formed into a blade in his hand, before it dissolved under the pressure of the rain. He stared at the blood in his hand for a moment and then moved into a stance.

“Flowing Red Scale - Stack” he murmured, the marking on his face transforming into repeating arrows.

Flowing Red Scale - Stack, a Blood Manipulation technique in which the user manipulates blood within their body to increase physical strength and speed.

Choso lacked combat experience, so he couldn’t comprehend what was happening to him. He just coldly accepted the new reality and conducted his blood manipulation within his body

Sayaka didn’t fully understand what was going on. She didn’t know why the blood orbs had dissolved or why the Curse User couldn’t use his Technique anymore. She did, however, know one thing. The robed man was on Yuji’s turf now!

Yuji leapt towards his opponent, launching 3 kicks at him in a row. The blood manipulator blocked all three of them and counterattacked with a punch to Yuji’s chest. The Sorcerer stumbled backwards, throwing himself to the ground to dodge a roundhouse kick aimed straight for his head. The two flowed into a flurry of strikes, kicks, blocks and parries, neither one truly gaining ground until the Curse user managed to grab Yuji by the collar. Yuji responded by sinking his teeth into his opponent’s hand, drawing blood.

Yuji grabbed the blood manipulator’s collar with both hands and delivered a devastating headbutt. Yuji’s opponent threw a blind punch and hit empty space. He turned to see Yuji already behind him in the air, launching a kick crackling with cursed energy straight into his face! Sayaka could tell, they didn’t just have to wait for Mami-san to arrive, Yuji could win!

The Curse user brought one of his sleeves up to block Yuji’s sight of his hand. Said hand moved perpendicular to Yuji’s torso. Then came the sharp, wet sound Sayaka had come to associate with the blood manipulator’s techniques. Next came a sickening splatter. Finally, the sound of something hard impacting the metallic street light behind Yuji.

Choso had been keeping a clot of blood from being exposed and dissolving in the water as he strengthened that clot with cursed energy and compressed the coagulated lump to its limit, so the moment Itadori Yuji was convinced of victory, it pierced his liver.

“Blood manipulation: Blood Meteorite.” he said to himself.

Sayaka could barely convince herself to breathe. There was a hole in Yuji’s abdomen, she could see what was behind him through it! All she felt was dread, an icy feeling gripped her heart as she realized that Yuji had lost. She was going to have to watch Yuji die and there was nothing she could do about it. Their eyes met and Sayaka could see it, his fear and pain were evident in his gaze. There was a moment, like time had frozen, as they stared at each other.

Yuji’s boot slammed into the ground, his opponent jumped backwards. He slowly flowed into a stance, stone cold resolve etched into his face.

Sayaka wondered how he could do it, how he could keep fighting even though he was in so much pain. Yuji seemed so fragile in that moment where their eyes met. For the longest time, Sayaka had thought that being a hero meant being invincible. But Mami-san wasn’t invincible and even though he looked like he could keel over at any moment, Yuji had never seemed so heroic as he did right then. Maybe Sayaka was wrong, maybe the true essence of being a hero was getting hurt and fighting back despite it.

The Curse user looked down at his right hand and slowly clenched his fist.

Normally, Blood Manipulation sorcerers never coagulate blood like he did for Blood Meteorite.

A wave of red enveloped the robed man’s hand, painting it a deep crimson.

Even those sorcerers with Blood Manipulation can’t extend their concentration to every blood vessel at once.

The blood coating hardened, solidifying the hand into a deadly weapon

So when they strongly coagulate their blood, it always poses the risk of causing spontaneous thrombosis.

Yuji’s opponent let out a breath and shifted into a fighting stance.

“Bring it.”

However, Choso decided the risk posed by Itadori Yuji was far greater.

Yuji took up a position in front of his opponent. He slowly inched forward, crossing his hand with the Curse user’s. There was a moment of silence, nothing but the rain hitting the ground and Sayaka’s heart pounding in her chest. The robed man launched a punch straight at Yuji’s face, Yuji dodged backwards and threw a backwards flip kick at his opponent, which barely missed.

The Curse user tried to sweep Yuji’s leg that had just hit the ground, but he jumped backwards. The two Sorcerer’s flew into a dance of strikes, dodges and blocks. Yuji’s opponent threw out a punch with his unarmored hand, which Yuji countered with a punch of his own. They collided with a wave of force, however a second impact rang through the empty street and the robed man’s fist was flung backwards. He responded with a sweeping kick that knocked Yuji off of his feet.

The robed man attempted to stomp on Yuji’s head, but he was too late. Yuji threw himself into the air, barely dodging the stomp that was shrouded with cursed energy. He pushed himself off against the wall and fired a full force kick with both of his legs at the Curse user. The other man blocked, grabbed Yuji by the leg and flung him into the tubular bus stop. He rushed to follow Yuji and once he made it into the bus stop he summoned a knife made of blood into his hand.

“Blood Blade” he said lightly.

Blood Blade is a technique which involves shaping then strengthening the blood’s lethality by rotating it at high speeds.

The rain pattered against the glass roof of the bus stop. The robed man threw slashes and stabs at Yuji, who ducked and danced around them carefully. Even a single mistake here would mean death. Yuji’s opponent threw an overhead stab at him, he grabbed the man’s forearm and kicked him straight in the gut, throwing him backwards and dispelling the Blood Blade. The Curse user jumped to his feet and launched a discus of blood at Yuji. He leapt over the disc and charged his fist with cursed energy.

Yuji’s punch collided with the other man’s armored hand, creating an explosion of force that shattered the glass roof and walls of the bus stop. Two blades of blood shot out from the blood manipulator’s hand, slicing Yuji across the shoulder and right eye. Yuji let out a gasp of pain and ducked under the second slash. The Curse user armored hand, twin blades of blood protruding from between the fingers, flew at Yuji. He weaved under the third swing, and blocked the backswing. The blades of blood splattered over Yuji’s face, blocking his eyesight. 

The blood manipulator threw a roundhouse kick directly into Yuji’s face, launching him against the wall outside of the bus stop. Yuji leapt to his feet as his opponent closed in on him. He blocked a kick with his forearm, using his other arm as a brace. Yuji stumbled and couldn’t block the following strike, a blow digging into his wounded abdomen. The robed man’s fist flew into Yuji’s face, knocking blood from his mouth. Yuji caught the Curse user’s next strike and threw both of them to the ground. They tumbled, blood mixing up with the puddles in the pavement.

Yuji got up before his opponent, regaining the initiative. The blood manipulator barely had time to react as Yuji flew into him with a running dropkick. The Curse user blocked it with both hands, but had no response as Yuji threw his legs apart, slamming his opponent’s head against the wall behind him. Yuji wrapped his legs around the robed man’s neck and twisted, flinging him against a nearby street light, denting the metal pole. The Sorcerer rushed forward, his right fist ignited with cursed energy. The Curse user brought his arms up to block the strike, but was surprised when Yuji’s hand was held flat in front of his eyes. Yuji’s wounded left fist which he hadn’t used since the start of the fight sizzled with cursed energy as Yuji delivered a devastating blow to his opponent’s abdomen!

CLANK!

What the hell was that sound? Sayaka had expected the sound of a fist impacting flesh, but it sounded more like a fist hitting stone. The Curse user’s armored hand struck Yuji’s shoulder, cleaving a chunk of flesh out of it. Blood spurted from the wound like a crimson geyser. Next, the blood manipulator’s fist delivered a cataclysmic punch to Yuji’s chest, blowing him off his feet and against the wall behind him. The boy let out a gurgle of agony and slumped against the wall.

“Too bad.” The Curse user said, revealing that the area Yuji had struck was also covered in the hardened blood armor.

A sickening silence permeated the street. Sayaka couldn’t believe it. Despite it all, how hard he’d fought and their burst of good fortune…

Yuji had lost.

Sayaka knew she had to do something, but she couldn’t get her body to move. Madoka seemed just as frozen in place beside her, body trembling with emotions Sayaka couldn’t parse. If Yuji, a trained Sorcerer, couldn’t defeat this guy, then what was Madoka, untrained with her Cursed Technique, or Sayaka who had no powers at all supposed to do? Yuji’s body lay there against the wall, limp and unmoving. Blood oozed from his various wounds and dribbled from his open mouth. His eyes were empty and lifeless.

“He’s still breathing…” The Curse user murmured to himself. The man slowly walked towards Yuji’s still form. He raised his fist to finish off Yuji and said “Apologize… to my brothers in the afterlife!” his voice dripping with fury.

Then, the blood manipulator froze in place. He stared at Yuji with wide eyes, trembling from head to toe. The blood armor on his hand sloughed off his hand, forming a puddle on the ground. Their blood swirled together, forming a spiral pattern.

In that moment, memories flooded Choso’s mind.

Memories that didn’t exist.

“Why… Are you… There..?” He murmured. The Curse user shuddered and limped away, looking horrified. Sayaka and Madoka watched him until he finally turned the corner before springing to their feet. Running towards Yuji, they slid to a halt, crouched in front of him. Madoka pressed her hands against his neck, checking his pulse and looked even more terrified.

“YUJI!”

Chapter Text

Madoka shivered as she took in the sight of her cousin’s injured form. Blood slipped from his open mouth. Crimson ichor oozed from the wound on his shoulder, a brighter red than any blood Madoka had ever seen before. The hole in his abdomen, the chunk taken out of his shoulder, Yuji looked bad . The rain fell from the heavens, washing the blood down the street drains.

“W-what do we do?” Sayaka-chan asked.

“Magical Girls can heal people, what about Mami-san?” Madoka replied, getting ready to send a telepathic message.

“I already called for her, she got into trouble on the way here. We shouldn’t distract her.” Sayaka answered. Thoughts shot through Madoka’s head until she came to a conclusion that was obvious in hindsight.

“I’m such an idiot!” Madoka cried, frustrated. Next, her mind brushed another’s in the telepathy network.

Homura-chan! Madoka’s message was urgent.

What’s wrong!? The black haired Magical Girl responded immediately.

I need your help! Madoka said.

Where are you? Homura-chan replied very quickly.

Before Madoka could even fully finish giving Homura-chan her location, she was there. She simply appeared in an instant, her long black hair flowing in the wind. In one hand she held an umbrella, in the other… Was that a handgun!? The girl’s eyes were focused on Madoka.

“Are you okay? What happen-” She cut herself off once she caught sight of Yuji’s injured form.

“He got really hurt protecting us. Can you heal him?” Madoka asked, looking Homura-chan dead in the eye.

“I will do my best.” Homura-chan leaned down to inspect Yuji’s injuries. Sayaka-chan looked at Madoka skeptically.

“You called for her? ” 

“She’s the only other person who can heal right? Besides, I trust her.”

“Still…” Sayaka-chan looked like she wanted to argue before she let the tension fall from her body, “I guess you’re right.”

Homura-chan looked over Yuji for a few nerve-wracking moments before sighing and looking over her shoulder at Madoka.

“My apologies…”

Madoka’s heart dropped into her stomach.

“What are you apologizing for!? You’re a Magical Girl right!? You can heal him, right!? ” Sayaka-chan exploded.

“I am not very good at healing. He is simply dying faster than I can fix him. Most of the damage seems to be internal and healing organs is very complicated. All I can do is delay the inevitable.” Homura-chan replied, holding her Soul Gem over Yuji’s wounds, “Which I will do.” Purple flames coated Yuji’s body, delaying his death for that much longer. Madoka could actually feel a little bit of heat coming off of them.

“Mami-san is on her way but she’s been delayed, I don’t know if she’ll make it in time…” Sayaka spoke nervously, fidgeting with her sleeve.

“W-what about Kyubey? If Mami-san doesn’t get here in time we could just wish Yuji better.” Madoka said. Homura-chan grit her teeth but was silent.

Kyubey! We need you here! Sayaka-chan threw out her message on the shared channel.

I am sorry but I am currently busy, I cannot be there right now. Was Kyubey’s simple, but frustrating reply.

“Tch, Typical.” Homura-chan spat sardonically.

“DAMN IT!” Sayaka-chan yelled, slamming her fist against the wall, “What the hell are we supposed to do!? Just watch him die!?” Frustrated tears burned Madoka’s eyes. Her cursed energy roiled in her gut. What was the point of having all of this power if she couldn’t use it to help the people she cared about!? Madoka searched her memories for something, anything that could help. What her mind circled back too was a moment from a training check-up the previous day.

Madoka had taken to controlling her cursed energy very well. She had already gotten to the point where she could keep her body shrouded in cursed energy for an indefinite amount of time and had now moved on to trying to restrain her cursed energy to her body. This part was far more slow going, apparently the method Yuji had used wouldn’t work for her, so she just had to try and keep it up whenever she could. She was showing her progress to Fushiguro-san when Kugisaki-san asked Mami-san a question.

“Hey Tomoe, what kinds of powers do Magical Girls actually have? I just realized we never fully went over it.” She asked, looking over at Mami-san.

“Magical Girl powers are split into three categories generally. There’s the basic applications of magic, enhancing the body, healing and creating barriers. Then there’s the weapon, almost all Magical Girls have a weapon they can summon. They can summon copies of that weapon and at high levels can wield those weapons telepathically using magic. There are exceptions however, I do not have a weapon besides my ribbons. I learned how to turn my ribbons into muskets. Finally there’s Wish Magic, which is a special magical ability based on that girl’s wish. It’s similar to your Cursed Techniques.” The older Magical Girl replied, a hint of a smile on her face.

“Wow, so all Magical Girls can heal? If we could establish an agreement with some Magical Girls that could be super useful.” Kugisaki-san said.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s only three or four Sorcerers who can heal,” Fushiguro cut in, “And of them, only Ieiri-sensei and Okkotsu-senpai can heal other people. Ieiri-sensei is our dedicated healer and Okkotsu-senpai is a special grade who has much better things to do than healing people. If we could get some Magical Girls to act as healers, it could reduce the amount of Sorcerers who die by a lot.”

“Wait, I thought healing was the domain of positive energy, how can Sorcerers heal?” Sayaka-chan asked.

“There’s this thing called ‘Reverse Cursed Technique’ which allows Sorcerers to convert negative energy into positive energy, which can then be used to heal themselves and sometimes others, assuming they can output it.”

“Is it difficult? Why can only a couple of Sorcerers use it?” Mami-san inquired.

“Reverse Cursed Technique is an extremely advanced technique that the vast, vast majority of Sorcerers never even get close to learning.”

“How do you even convert negative energy into positive energy?” Sayaka-chan leaned in, thoroughly engrossed in the conversation.

“Ieiri-sensei’s explanation was unhelpful to say the least and all Gojo-sensei said when I asked him was that cursed energy is negative in the same way a number is negative. Anyways,” he turned to look at Madoka, “your control slipped again.”

“I-it did?” Madoka stuttered, feeling for her cursed energy and realizing he was right. She sighed to herself and tried to get back into the swing of things.

“Kaname-san, you’re very talented but things like this still take practice. Don’t get discouraged.” Fushiguro-san reassured her.

“...Thanks!” Madoka replied with a smile on her face.

“Reverse Cursed Technique…” Madoka mumbled, looking at her hands. She stepped backwards, away from Yuji’s body.

“What?” Sayaka-chan asked.

“If I can figure out Reverse Cursed Technique, couldn’t I heal Yuji?”

“But isn’t that supposed to be super hard?”

“Fushiguro-san said I was very talented, maybe I can do it.”

“If anyone can, it’s you,” Homura-chan cut in, “I believe in you.” Madoka desperately wanted to unpack that but she just didn’t have the time. Think! Cursed energy is negative like a number is negative. How do you get a positive number out of negative numbers? Madoka brainstormed vigorously until old math lessons popped into her mind. 

“Multiplying two negative numbers makes a positive number!” Madoka said. Now then, how on earth does one multiply cursed energy. Multiply, multiply, multiply, Madoka churned and contorted her cursed energy in every way she thought could ‘multiply’ it. Sayaka-chan pulled out her phone, probably to contact Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san. Madoka mentally kicked herself, she was getting distracted.

“He’s running out of time.” Homura-chan spoke, ratcheting up Madoka’s anxiety. She was such an idiot! Why did she think she could learn Reverse Cursed Technique in minutes when it took most Sorcerers years !? Now Yuji was going to die and there was nothing she could do-

“You are thinking too literally.” A voice cleaved through the air like a knife. It was horrifying, carrying a lingering pressure that threatened to choke the air out of Madoka’s lungs. In an instant Homura-chan had drawn her pistol on Yuji’s limp body. A single, blood red eye had opened on Yuji’s cheekbone. Just below that, a mouth had split Yuji’s cheek, lined with sharper than usual teeth. It was Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses that was contained in Yuji’s body.

“‘Multiply’ is misleading. A far better term would be ‘fusion’ when talking about Reverse Cursed Technique.” Was all he said before disappearing from Yuji’s face. Madoka did not have time to dissect why the King of Curses was helping her, but she’d take what she could get. Fusion… Madoka separated part of her cursed energy into two distinct blobs. She tried to press them together and got nowhere. Just smashing them together wasn’t working, so what else could she try?

She tried centrifuging them together, it didn’t work. She tried swirling it together, it didn’t work. There was something she was missing here. Wait, maybe she needed to cancel out the negativeness of each blob? It was purely instinctual, but Madoka took both streams of cursed energy, spun them in opposite directions and then slammed them together. There was probably some other process she was doing, but Madoka couldn’t elaborate on any of it. After a few moments of not working, the cursed energy crackled and fused. Homura-chan looked over her shoulder as she sensed the positive energy Madoka was creating.

“You did it…” She murmured.

Madoka rushed forward and held her hands over Yuji. It was strange, but the positive energy she held in her body now felt right in contrast to cursed energy. She followed her gut and poured the positive energy into Yuji’s body. She watched as his flesh knitted itself back together. The heavily damaged organs, the shattered ribs, the chunk taken out of his shoulder, the hole in his abdomen, the slash over his shoulder and eye. All these wounds slowly but surely disappeared.

Relieved tears slipped from Madoka’s eyes as she took in her handiwork. Yuji was okay, he wasn’t going to die. Madoka rubbed the tears out of her eyes and looked around. She caught a glimpse of something on a nearby rooftop. Concerned that it might be a threat she activated her Cursed Technique’s animal aspect and sharpened her vision.

What she saw was a fluffy white tail, the being it was attached too scurrying off out of sight. Was that… Kyubey?

“Something wrong, Madoka?” Sayaka-chan asked noticing, her Technique’s wheel.

“No…” she said, deactivating her Technique, “Nothing’s wrong at all.”

Still… why was Kyubey there if he had said he was busy?

Mami deflected another slash from the black haired Magical Girl as she tried to make it past her. The girl was fast , blisteringly so, she outpaced Mami by leaps and bounds. Even though she was leading her shots, the girl was still long gone by the time Mami pulled the trigger. The black clad Magical Girl ducked into Mami’s blindspot and shot towards her, claws outstretched, leaving three lacerations on her upper arm. The rain washed the blood off of Mami’s arm. The other Magical Girl giggled to herself as she landed.

“I thought you were supposed to be strong, Tomoe Mami!” She taunted. Mami tsked to herself. The two of them had dropped down from the rooftops their fight had started on and into one of Mitakihara’s many alleyways. The terrain wasn’t exactly ideal for Mami. She was a long ranged fighter and the relatively slim corridor made it hard for her to evade her opponent. If not for the other girl’s speed, it would be easy for Mami to overwhelm her with pure firepower, but even if she summoned a line of muskets, the girl was out of the way by the time they fired.

Mami sent ribbons after her but the girl easily and swiftly avoided them. She was careful around her ribbons, seemingly knowing that if she got caught the fight would be over. The girl sneered at Mami and threw two of her claws at her. Mami barely smacked them out of the air in time. The two of them settled on opposite sides of the alleyway, looking for any openings.

Still, there was something that was bothering Mami. It was the way her claws flew when she threw them. They didn’t fly with the force or velocity that Mami would’ve expected from someone who moved so quickly. They didn’t stick into the walls or ground as deeply as they should’ve. They were still difficult to dodge, but Mami couldn’t parse why. It was almost as if…

Mami summoned a musket and tossed it into the air slightly. When she failed to catch it based on her usual timings, she realized what was going on. The other Magical Girl wasn’t fast , she was making Mami slow . Blood dripped down her arm as she considered her options. A smirk graced Mami’s face as a plan was born.

Mami threw her hand straight up into the air, summoning dozens of muskets, each pointed in a different direction around her. They fired in staccato bursts, pelting the entire alleyway in bullets made from ribbons. The other Magical Girl skillfully dodged her blasts.

“What, did you lose your nerve? Resorting to attacking everything in sight?” The black clad Magical Girl asked.

Mami smirked and snapped her fingers, “Gabbia di Tiro.” The bullets that she had fired exploded into grasping ribbons, reaching out in all directions. The girl tried to run but by the time she realized what was going on it was already too late. She was caught and bound in an instant, strung up by her arms and legs. The Magical Girl struggled against the ribbons to no avail. Mami leveled one of her rifles directly at the girl’s chest.

“It’s over.” Mami said, looking her directly in the eye, “Surrender and I won’t have to hurt you.”

The other Magical Girl laughed, “Do you think that scares me? I have my orders and you’ll have to kill me to stop me!” It wasn’t quite what Mami was expecting. Was she so devoted to this ‘darling’ that she’d die for her cause?

“I’m serious!” Mami yelled, suppressing her nerves.

“So am I! That pink haired Sorcerer might be dying right now and you’re here screwing around!”

Mami grit her teeth. After a few moments of deliberation, she pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the girl’s chest, piercing her heart and splattering bright red blood over the ground. The girl spit up blood just as Mami dissolved her ribbons, allowing her dying body to fall to the ground. Mami trembled, she’d fought other Magical Girl’s to defend her right over Mitakihara but this was the first time she’d killed someone. Mami turned away, looked back at the corpse she’d created for a few moments, before leaping away to go help Itadori-san.

(She moved so quickly that she didn’t notice the so-called corpse pick itself off the ground, clutching its chest. That same ‘corpse’ staggered away from the alleyway as the rain washed any evidence of their fight away.)

Mami hit the ground swiftly as she finally made it to the place that Miki-san had listed. She came to a halt as she found the others. First, she saw Itadori-san, unconscious, clothes torn and bloodied, but otherwise looking completely unharmed. Next, Kaname-san and Miki-san were crowded around his motionless body, looking relieved. Akemi-san was standing nearby, holding an umbrella over the three, watching over them protectively. Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san were just now approaching as Mami got there, looking worried, probably over Itadori-san.

“Mami-san, Fushiguro-san, Kugisaki-san!” Miki-san called out as she noticed their arrival. All three of them ran up to Itadori-san.

“Akemi-san, you healed him?” Mami asked.

“Not me…” She replied, looking over at Kaname-san. Mami finally noticed that part of her cursed energy felt different.

“Reverse Cursed Technique…” Kugisaki-san said, a quiet awe permeating her voice. Both her and Fushiguro-san shared a charged look before they moved forward.

“What happened here?” Fushiguro-san asked lightly.

“There was this guy, I think he was a Curse User, who attacked Yuji out of nowhere! They fought for a while but Yuji barely lost in the end. I called Mami-san but she got delayed.” Miki-san started.

“Why didn’t you try to contact us!?” Kugisaki-san said, a little hotly.

“That guy would’ve noticed us using our phones. If he thought we were calling for help he might’ve attacked us. If Yuji had to fight while protecting us he would’ve lost way quicker.” Kaname-san said succinctly. Kugisaki-san couldn’t argue.

“Anyways, we didn’t know if Mami-san would get here in time, so Madoka called the Transfer Student, but she couldn’t properly heal him. We tried to get Kyubey here so we could make a wish but he was busy. Finally, Madoka tried to learn Reverse Cursed Technique so she could heal him, but…”

“Sukuna came out and gave me a tip, so I could figure it out and heal him.” Kaname-san said seriously. The group was silent like the grave.

“Sukuna… Helped you?” Fushiguro-san asked, sounding flabbergasted, “Why!?”

“It’s very simple actually,” A horrid voice sliced the air in twain, digging into Mami’s soul. They all turned to see the eye and mouth that had manifested on Yuji’s cheek. “Kaname Madoka…”

“Y-yes?” Kaname-san stuttered nervously. Akemi-san placed herself in between her and Sukuna. Hearing Kaname-san’s full name from a being like that was disturbing.

“You have more potential as a Sorcerer than any other human being I’ve ever seen, except perhaps Gojo Satoru. I believe that fate will eventually bring us to blows. In that case, I will relish the chance to dismantle you at your strongest .” The King of Curses said with a cruel lilt to his voice. He disappeared, leaving Mami in a cold sweat. The pressure of the King of Curses was unmatched, Mami understood where his title came from. Kaname-san looked horrified and Mami couldn’t blame her.

After a few moments of stunned silence, Kugisaki-san looked over at Mami, “Oi, Tomoe, you’re injured.” 

“Ah right, I forgot…” Mami replied, forcing her magic into the wound to heal herself. The three slashes (and her costume) sealed themselves in a few moments. It took plenty of magic but Mami could afford to use it.

“What were you fighting, Mami-san? Was it another Curse User?” Miki-san asked.

“No, it was a Magical Girl. She had claws and short black hair.” Mami replied. Akemi-san froze in place.

“She had an eyepatch and her costume looked like a suit?” Akemi-san asked urgently.

“Yes, do you know her?”

It seemed to take a little while for Akemi-san to process that information. When she did her normally neutral face twisted with anger. She gripped the umbrella hard enough to crack the handle. Her magic writhed with uncontrollable rage. Everyone felt the temperature of the street increase, it was like standing in front of a bonfire.

“Kure Kirika…” She seethed, looking down at the floor with murderous eyes.

“An old enemy of yours? We won’t have to worry about her anymore. I k-killed her.” Mami stumbled over her words, finding it difficult to acknowledge her deed.

“I doubt that. Remember what I said about Magical Girls being able to heal from any wound that doesn’t kill them?”

“I shot her in the heart. There’s no way she survived that.”

“Magical Girls are far more durable than the average human. Even a shot to the heart might not kill her.” Nobody wanted to ask how Akemi-san knew that this time. It was reassuring that Mami had not killed someone, but frustrating that she’d let the girl goad her into allowing her to escape.

Akemi-san sighed and her rage abated slightly, “I assume she mentioned a ‘darling?’”

“She did,” Mami replied.

“That is a girl named Mikuni Oriko. I will deal with both of them once everyone is safe.”

“Are you sure you won’t need help?” Mami said.

“No, my magic will be more than enough to kill both of them.” A couple of the others cringed at the frank description.

“W-what’s that about killing someone?” A shaky voice spoke. Everyone turned to Itadori-san, who’d just now woken up.

“Yuji!” Kaname-san cried. Itadori-san looked around for a few moments before a self-deprecating smile graced his lips.

“I lost, huh?” He got to his feet with a groan, Kaname-san reached out and helped him up. “Sorry for not taking you seriously, Madoka.”

“What do you mean?” Kaname-san asked.

“You said that something felt off before I fought that Curse, right?”

“It was probably the barrier over this area,” Akemi-san interjected, “It is subtle and designed to draw attention away from the location. There is a reason no one else has walked down this street.”

“You can tell what the barrier is for?” Kugisaki-san asked.

“My magical specialty is barrier techniques, it is easy enough to discern when you are familiar with barriers. The barrier is going to dissolve soon, by the way. What should we do now?”

Mami placed a hand under her chin as she thought. “We don’t know if they have any other ambushes planned.” She turned to the Sorcerers, “You three should be safe together,” next Mami turned to Miki, “I’ll walk you home, Miki-san.”

“So I would go with Kaname Madoka?” Akemi-san asked. Kaname-san met Mami’s eyes, a smirk crossed Mami’s face as she winked at her. The pink haired girl stared in silence for a few moments before going bright red.

“That is the plan.” Mami said, keeping her mirth out of her voice.

“Very well.”

All of their group went their separate directions as Mami laughed to herself.

Homura was following Madoka as they walked back to her house. She didn’t understand why Tomoe Mami had insisted on Homura walking Madoka home, but she wasn’t exactly complaining. Homura didn’t get to spend much time with Madoka anymore, so she’d take what she could get. They were standing nearby, both sharing the same umbrella. Madoka fidgeted with her sleeve, looking down, cheeks pink.

“Say… Homura-chan.” Madoka spoke nervously, finally mustering up the will to look directly at her.

“Yes, Kaname Madoka?” 

“You know you don’t have to do that, right?”

“Do what?” Homura wasn’t sure where she was going with this.

“Call people by their full names. You do it to establish distance,” Madoka called her out. Homura stiffened before she sighed. Every Madoka in every timeline had always been able to see right through her. “But you’re friends with everyone now, so you don’t have to keep doing that.”

“I am not trying to be friends with everyone, we are just allies. They do not have to like me or enjoy my company, they just need to be there when Walpurgisnacht descends.” Homura countered.

Madoka pursed her lips, “That sounds awfully lonely…”

“It does not matter how I feel. All that matters is that Walurgisnacht dies.”

“...You shouldn’t have to live like that. I want to be friends with you, Homura-chan.” Homura didn’t understand. She wasn’t the kind of person that people wanted to be friends with. 

“I…” Homura didn’t know how to respond.

“It’s just… I feel this connection with you that I can’t explain. I keep having these dreams and I feel deja vu in a lot of our conversations… You probably think I’m weird.” Once again, Homura was stunned into silence. Dreams and deja vu… Was Madoka remembering things from previous timelines? That would be a nightmare, Homura didn’t want Madoka knowing about all her failures, all the times she couldn’t save her. 

“Either way, you should stop calling people by their full names. You asked me to call you by your first name, s-so I wouldn’t mind if you used my first name.” Madoka had an awkward smile on her face. Homura thought about it for a few moments.

“Very well… Kaname-san.” Was her response. Madoka winced slightly but otherwise took it in stride. Their conversation petered out from then on, they kept going until they came to Madoka’s home.

“Here,” Madoka said, “This is where I live.” Homura knew, but it wouldn’t do for her to say that. They walked up to Madoka’s front door and were greeted by Madoka’s father.

“Madoka! You came home with a friend?” He asked, looking at Homura.

“She just walked me home. This is Akemi Homura.” Madoka introduced her.

“I see… My daughter has talked about you quite a lot, Akemi-chan.”

“Papa!” Madoka cried, embarrassed. Homura didn’t understand.

“I will be on my way.” Homura said, turning to walk away.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay? It’s looking pretty dangerous out there right now.” Madoka’s father was concerned for her. It was a nice gesture, but Homura was long past the point where she needed protection from adults.

“Thank you for offering, but I have something I need to do today.” Homura turned and left. After she got a decent distance away, Madoka called after her.

“Homura-chan!” She yelled, an absolutely radiant smile on her face, “See you tomorrow!” Homura waved back, face heating up. Once Homura was out of sight, she steeled herself and transformed. She had work to do.

Chapter Text

Nobara let out a sigh of relief as the three first years finally made it back to their hotel room. They’d had to dart between alleyways and shadows on the way back. It wouldn’t be good if people saw Itadori’s bloodstained, damaged uniform. Nobara and Fushiguro waited in silence as Itadori showered and got changed. Itadori exited the hotel bathroom and sat on his bed, a solemn look on his face.

“Itadori…” Fushiguro started, looking up at the pink haired boy, “You know we don’t think any less of you for losing, right?”

Itadori flinched, “W-what are you talking about Fushiguro?” He laughed awkwardly.

“If that guy took you out he had to be crazy strong. There’s no shame in losing to a guy like that.” Kugisaki cut in. She looked about as sympathetic as she could get.

“It’s not just that I lost, it’s that I lost when there was so much potentially at stake.” Itadori clenched his fist, “The only reason I was able to keep fighting was because I didn’t know if that Curse would’ve hurt Madoka or Miki when he was done with me. I steeled my resolve and gave it all I had but I still lost! The only reason all three of us aren’t dead is because that guy chose to spare us. Hell, he stopped being able to use his Technique when it rained, I got lucky! It doesn’t matter how strong that guy was, I couldn’t protect people when push came to shove.” 

“Curse? I thought that guy was a Curse user?” Kugisaki asked.

“Remember those two brothers we killed three weeks ago during the bridge mission? He was their older brother.” Gojo-sensei had told them about the Death Paintings when they’d asked him after the Yasohachi bridge mission.

“So his only grudge was against you and me, he was never going to hurt Kaname-chan or Miki.” Kugisaki reasoned,

“If we had encountered a less scrupulous Curse user they could’ve died and it would be my fault. I thought I had gotten strong enough to protect the people I care about, but I guess I’m still just small fry.”

“All right, all right, enough with the pity party. Itadori, all that means is that next time you’ll just have to be stronger!” Kugisaki said enthusiastically. Itadori looked unconvinced.

“We can use that junkyard Tomoe showed us for training. All we’ll need is a simple curtain and we can practice as hard as we want.” Fushiguro chimed in. Itadori looked down and sighed.

“Yeah, I guess you guys are right.” His smile was thin but Nobara wasn’t going to call him on it. Still, Itadori was right about one thing, why had that Curse decided to spare him and the two girls? Sure, Nobara could see him being uninterested in Kaname-chan and Miki, but Itadori killed his brothers! There had to be more to this than meets the eye.

Nobara sighed and leaned back onto her bed. Why did this mission have to be so complicated?

Homura stood in front of the Mikuni residence with a gun in her hand and a fire in her heart. Mikuni Oriko contracting was not a consistent or foreseeable outcome, so Homura did not make a habit of killing her. This was a mistake that Homura intended to correct. Ever since Mikuni Oriko killed Madoka at the very last moment, made Homura a failure in a new, novel way…

Homura hated Mikuni Oriko with a passion she thought she could only reserve for the Incubator. It was overpowering, like a crackling, roaring flame in her gut. 

The house was western in influence, like an English manor. The Mikunis were an old political family torn apart by a scandal, their family home reeked of that wealth. Homura’s shield clicked into place and her time stop activated. She walked up to the door, crouching down to pick the lock when she realized. The door was unlocked… Concerning. Homura pulled open the door and strode in confidently.

Homura’s guard was as high as it could be, she was in enemy territory and one mistake could mean death. Especially considering Mikinu Oriko’s precognition. Mikuni Oriko was not above using traps and an improvised explosive device attached to a tripwire would do serious damage even through her time stop. Homura stepped slowly and methodically, taking in every detail of the home as she watched for potential hazards. Every nook and cranny, every abstract painting or family photo. When her shield started running out of sand, she’d find a place she was one hundred percent sure was safe and hide there, waiting for her sand to return to its place.

Homura’s caution seemed to be unwarranted, however. There were no traps anywhere as she made her way to Mikuni Oriko’s room. She could sense her magic there, alongside the magic of Kure Kirika. Homura barged into the room and saw something she didn’t expect.

“Oriko!” Kure Kirika whined as Mikuni Oriko held her Soul Gem over her wounded chest, silvery magic slowly mending the wound shut. The black haired girl was lying down with her head resting in Mikuni Oriko’s lap. They were sitting in Mikuni Oriko’s bed. Blood seeped into her Mitakihara Middle School uniform from the hole in her chest. Mikuni Oriko looked slightly upset.

Mikuni Oriko was in her Magical Girl costume. A large bucket shaped hat with a short brim adorned her head. Her long silver hair flowed freely, in contrast to her usual style. Around her neck was a cravat, her silver, oval shaped Soul Gem embossed into it. She wore a frilly shawl and a gown reminiscent of a wedding dress. The whole thing was varying shades of white and silver. It looked very impractical for combat.

“You aren’t going to get out of this by being cute, Kirika.” The seer replied sagely, “You were still very reckless. I’m going to be upset with you.”

“But Tomoe Mami caught me! That was the only way for me to escape!”

“You didn’t have to stay that long, you could’ve left several minutes earlier and everything would’ve gone according to plan.”

“I had to keep her there to make sure your plan went off without a hitch. If Tomoe Mami got there too quickly everything would’ve been ruined. Besides, the fight was fun.”

Mikuni Oriko sighed, “I just wish you hadn’t gotten yourself hurt, Kirika.”

It wasn’t the romantic bickering that surprised Homura, she’d seen plenty of this from previous versions of the pair. What surprised her was that it happened during her time stop. Mikuni Oriko looked up and noticed Homura.

“Ah, Akemi-san. I’ve been expecting you.”

Homura zeroed her pistol on the silver haired girl’s Soul Gem in an instant and fired three shots. Mikuni Oriko’s weapon, floating vined orbs that could shoot lasers, manifested in the path of the bullets, blocking them. Kure Kirika tried to jump to her feet, but Mikuni Oriko placed her hand on her chest, holding the claw wielder down.

“It’ll be fine Kirika, don’t worry.” She reassured her girlfriend. 

“H-how!?” Homura gasped out, cursing herself for how weak she sounded.

“A simple barrier. All things within this barrier are considered to be ‘touching’ me.” Mikinu Oriko said with a thin smile on her face. How had she not sensed the barrier beforehand!? The realization came to Homura in an instant. One usually sensed barriers based on the flow of energy within them. That flow wouldn’t exist during stopped time. Homura tsked herself, she’d gotten sloppy in her rage.

“When one understands your magic, Akemi-san, it becomes rather easy to counter, don't you think?”

“Even in time stop, I would’ve noticed a barrier over the entire house. This barrier is contained to this room correct?” A bead of sweat dripped down Homura’s face. She had to get them talking. She was not faster than Kure Kirika and Homura’s trump card had been countered. This was an extraordinarily bad situation.

“Correct. Anyways, I’d love to have a civil conversation with you. ” Mikuni Oriko demurred, running her fingers through Kure Kirika’s hair. The black haired Magical Girl practically purred in delight.

“I find it hard to believe you’d want a ‘civil conversation’ with your enemy.” Homura spat.

“Well now, Akemi-san, that assumes that we are in fact enemies.”

Homura blinked, that was not the response she’d been expecting.

“Why don’t you drop your time stop so we can talk without you wasting magic.”

Homura, reluctantly, did as she was told. Time began to move and color returned to the environment. Mikuni Oriko finished healing her girlfriend’s heart and began to stand up. Kure Kirika hummed disapprovingly as she got up from the silver haired girl’s lap, not unlike a grumpy cat.

“Ah, where are my manners? I’ll be right back with some refreshments for our conversation.” She said as she left the room. Homura made awkward eye contact with Kure Kirika.

Homura could empathize with Kure Kirika far better than she could with Mikuni Oriko. She understood being slavishly devoted to another person better than almost anyone could. Perhaps, if Kure Kirika had fallen in love with someone other than Mikuni Oriko they could’ve been friends of a sort.

“You… Why do you want to hurt Oriko?” The black haired Magical Girl asked, genuine confusion on her face.

Homura thought for a few moments before asking a question, “How would you feel towards a person who had theoretically killed Mikuni Oriko?”

“Oh I’d hate them. I’d slice them into ribbons with my claws.” She replied simplistically.

“Then you understand how I feel about Mikuni Oriko.”

“But… Oriko hasn’t done anything to you? I’m pretty sure that’s the case.”

Homura did not respond. After a few moments, Kure Kirika continued. 

“I’m not gonna let you hurt Oriko. I’d rather die than let anyone do that.” A dangerous glint entered her eyes.

Homura raised a brow, “Why would I kill Mikuni Oriko and not kill you?”

Kure Kirika’s face changed into approval of all things and she didn’t respond. A few moments later, Mikuni Oriko returned.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long.” Was what she said, holding a tea tray in her arms. She set it down and went about preparing tea for herself and her girlfriend. Some milk and sugar for herself and a lot of sugar for Kure Kirika. “How do you take your tea?”

“Don’t put anything in it.” Homura said, taking the teacup but not actually drinking from it.

Mikuni Oriko rolled her eyes, “Please, why would I bother poisoning the tea? We’re Magical Girls. You’d just filter out the poison with your magic.” Homura still refused to drink.

Mikuni Oriko sighed, “Very well… Let's talk business. The simple truth is this, we are not enemies. In fact, we are closer to allies than anything else. I can’t say we have the exact same goals. You want Walpurgisnacht dead and for Kaname Madoka not to contract. I want to save the world. However, these two things are very similar. Just to be clear, I mean no harm to you, Kaname Madoka, or anyone else in your cohort”

“Allies..? Your actions almost lead to the death of Itadori Yuji. How does getting a good fighter who could help with Walpurgisnacht killed factor into your master plan.” Homura said acidicly.

“The Death Painting Womb was never going to kill Itadori Yuji, for reasons I can’t get into. He was also never going to harm Kaname Madoka or Miki Sayaka.”

“How do you know that?” Homura questioned.

“I knew via my visions. I knew for a fact he wouldn’t. I sent that Curse after Itadori Yuji for a specific reason. Why do you think I did it?”

Homura thought for a moment, considering Mikuni Oriko’s consistent motive… The first idea was that she wanted to kill Sukuna via killing Itadori Yuji, but considering what she said about the Curse user he fought, that made no sense. It wasn’t an attempt on Madoka’s life either.

Mikuni Oriko gave her a hint, “What changed because of this event, Akemi-san?”

The answer shot into Homura’s mind in an instant, “You wanted Madoka to learn Reverse Cursed Technique?”

Mikuni Oriko's smile grew wider, “Precisely.”

“Why? What does Madoka learning how to heal people have to do with saving the world?”

“Kaname Madoka learning how to wield Reverse Cursed Technique is necessary for a brighter future, yes, however it is far more complicated than that. Kaname Madoka is at a delicate time in the maturation of her powers. She does not understand what she can do, however she also does not comprehend her own limits. I engendered a situation in which Kaname Madoka was forced to learn how to use Reverse Cursed Technique or lose a loved one.”

“Why does that matter?”

“If she was given more time to understand her power, she would’ve thought ‘I can’t use Reverse Cursed Technique, it’s way too advanced’ or ‘It’ll take years for me to learn how to do that.’ She would’ve limited herself unconsciously and gained Reverse Cursed Technique far too late for it to matter. By forcing her to learn it, I have also made her realize exactly how talented she is, thus making her growth as a Sorcerer that much more explosive.”

Homura did not like where this was going, “Kaname Madoka won’t become a Sorcerer. I will not let her fight.” She said solemnly.

Mikuni Oriko chuckled to herself, “Akemi Homura, you are a fool if you think you can stop that girl from fighting on behalf of others.”

Homura flinched.

“Either way, now Kaname Madoka’s potential has been unlocked. That was my entire reason for my actions up to this point. In summary, I mean no harm to you or anyone you care about, we are essentially allies and we have no reason to fight.”

“...Very well.” Homura moved to stand and leave when Mikuni Oriko stopped her.

“Before you go, I have two things I need to say to you. The first is a warning. On the night of Walpurgis you will encounter a man in monk's robes with a scar dividing his forehead. Under absolutely no circumstances are you to fight or kill that man. If you do, everyone in the city, including Kaname Madoka, will die a horrible death.”

Homura wasn’t quite sure if she believed her, but she’d remember it anyway. Any potential threat to Madoka was worth remembering.

“The second is something of a gift. I have taken steps to… Enhance… Your living situation. I hope that you use the opportunity I have given you to foster better relationships with your allies.” She said with a wink. Homura had a bad feeling about this. She turned to finally leave and this time Mikuni Oriko did not stop her.

What on earth had she meant by… That?

Homura’s eye twitched as stood in front of the burned out carcass that was her apartment. The fire department was surrounding the building, dealing with the aftermath of a particularly brutal house fire. A house fire that destroyed the only place she had to stay. Mikuni Oriko’s final words, words that she now realized were taunts, flooded Homura’s mind. 

She really should’ve blown her brains out when she had the chance.

Madoka was doing her homework in her room when a notification played from her phone. She picked it up and saw that someone had put a message in the group chat for the Magical Girl / Sorcerer business.

Akemi Homura: I have gained information from my meeting with Mikuni Oriko.

Kugisaki Nobara: ‘meeting?’ I thought you were going to kill her?

Akemi Homura: I was forced to reconsider.

It was reassuring that Homura-chan hadn’t killed someone. Sure, she had tried to get Yuji killed but it still didn’t sit right with her.

Tomoe Mami: So, what have you learned?

Akemi Homura: I should preface this by explaining Mikuni Oriko’s magical ability. She can see into the future. She acts in accordance with those visions to bring forth a future she desires.

Fushiguro Megumi: Are her visions inviolable?

Akemi Homura: They are not.

Homura-chan really knew a lot about this girl’s powers. They seemed to have a lot of history.

Itadori Yuji: how are we supposed to fight someone who can see the future?

Akemi Homura: Based on what she said to me, I doubt we will have to. She has already gotten what she wanted. She stated that there would be no more hostilities between our groups.

Kugisaki Nobara: what was her deal?

Akemi Homura: She somehow knew that the Curse user would spare Itadori-san. She wanted to force a situation where Itadori-san was injured while Kaname-san was present.

Itadori Yuji: btw i just realized, you’re just using people’s last names?

Akemi Homura: I was told that keeping people at a distance doesn’t work when trying to be allies with them.

Madoka felt a little warm and fuzzy in the chest seeing Homura-chan take her advice seriously. She felt the need to chime in.

Kaname Madoka: Why did she try to get Yuji injured while I was there?

Akemi Homura: She wanted you to learn Reverse Cursed Technique. Apparently it’s important for the safety of the world.

What?

Kugisaki Nobara: what?

Itadori Yuji: what?

Miki Sayaka: huh?

Tomoe Mami: That is… Not what I was expecting.

Akemi Homura: Mikuni Oriko believes her actions are for the sake of saving the world. I wouldn’t put too much stock in it, she is completely insane. She also told me not to kill a man with a scar across his forehead.

Madoka laughed awkwardly to herself. She could barely comprehend how she could be important enough to save the world or anything.

Akemi Homura: There is another problem.

Kaname Madoka: What’s wrong, Homura-chan?

Akemi Homura: She burned my house down.

Kugisaki Nobara: i’m sorry, what the hell? didn’t you say she wasn’t going to be hostile anymore?

Akemi Homura: That was what I thought until I came back home to see it completely destroyed.

Kaname Madoka: That’s terrible! Do you need a place to stay? I’d have to ask my Papa but we have an extra room in the house.

Madoka saw ‘Akemi Homura is typing’ startup before stopping and starting again for a few moments.

Akemi Homura: I wouldn’t want to impose on your family.

Kaname Madoka: It should be fine, I just have to ask!

Madoka slid out of her seat, slipped out her room’s door and walked down the stairs.

“Papa! I need to talk to you about something!”

Homura did her best to swallow her nerves as she looked at Madoka’s front door. She could not remember the last time she’d been to Madoka’s house, it’d had to have been years. She’d been in Madoka’s house but that was very different. Packed bags of stuff from her shield were held in both of her hands. She spent a few moments gathering the courage to ring the doorbell before she actually did it. With barely any delay at all, the door opened with Madoka behind it.

“Homura-chan! You’re here!” A smile graced her face.

“Thank you for offering me a place to say, Kaname-san.”

“Don’t worry about it! If it weren’t for you Yuji might’ve died. It’s the least I can do.” Madoka ushered Homura into the house with an arm. Homura was familiar with the Kaname household but she allowed herself to be led to the dining room. Standing in the dining room was Madoka’s father.

“Akemi-chan, you’re back.” He said, “Sorry to hear about your apartment.”

“It is fine, most of my belongings survived the fire. I got lucky.” Or to be more accurate, Homura kept almost all of her things inside of her shield. There wasn’t anything in the house to burn.

“I see, feel free to make yourself at home.”

“Thank you for letting me stay here.” Homura said sincerely.

“It’s not a problem. We have plenty of space and I wouldn’t say no to helping a friend of my daughter.” 

Homura joined the Kaname family for dinner afterwards. It was delicious, something she hadn’t had in years and hadn’t expected to have ever again. Homura decided to bask in the warmth of a happy family. Following dinner, Madoka showed Homura to the Kaname’s guest room.

“Here’s your room, I hope it’s to your liking.” Madoka said as she opened a door on the building’s top floor. The room was unadorned but no less luxurious than the rest of the household.

“You could’ve had me sleeping on the couch in the living room and I would be happy.” Homura bluntly replied.

“Nonsense! I want you to be comfortable while you stay here.” Madoka cheerfully replied.

“Thank you for the hospitality.” 

“Homura-chan…” Madoka began, not meeting Homura’s eyes.

“Yes?”

“I uh, really want to get to know you better. It’s kinda wrong because you’re here under such unfortunate circumstances but I’m glad to take this opportunity to get closer to you.” Madoka’s cheeks were a little pink. Homura still couldn’t understand why Madoka wanted to be her friend so much. Madoka turned around and scurried away after that.

Homura entered the room, unloaded her bags and laid down on the bed. Her situation and this timeline in general were surreal to say the least. She was closer to Madoka than she had been in years and Homura had no idea what had caused this. Homura stared at the ceiling as a thought crossed her mind. Was that Mikuni Oriko’s intention? Was her being close to Madoka somehow important to the Magical Girl’s plans?

The thought left a sour taste in Homura’s mouth.

Kyoko had been having a pretty good day all things considered. She’d busted an ATM and gotten a solid haul. Kyoko had splurged on a nice meal and she had a hotel room lined up so she didn’t have to sleep on the street. Now all Kyoko needed was a Grief Seed to conclude a perfect day.

Those had been scarce recently, however. She’d heard rumors from her usual sources that Witches had been disappearing from all over Japan. Maybe Kazamino was drying up after all these years. Perhaps she’d have to conquer new territory? Kyoko pondered her options as she wandered Kazamino, Soul Gem in hand.

Seeing as how one of Takarazaki’s Magical Girls had been sliced to bits she could maybe fill in that spot. Filling in for someone who’d been murdered seemed like a bad idea though. She’d heard that there was an organization based in Kamihama that paid Grief Seeds for work, so that could be a great option. Idly, Kyoko’s thoughts turned to Mitakihara.

Kyoko grit her teeth, the thought of Mami was still frustrating for her. She wasn’t so desperate that she’d suck up to Mami and her chances of beating her in a proper fight were slim to none. Hell, maybe she’d found a new student and it’d been a two-on-one! That idea made Kyoko feel a little bit hollow, she didn’t know how to react so she defaulted to anger.

(She also knew that deep down she wouldn’t be able to bring herself to hurt Mami again.)

Kyoko’s thoughts trailed off as the Soul Gem in her hand started to glow. She located the labyrinth and entered it, but all she discovered was a Familiar. Without a second thought, Kyoko exited the labyrinth and left the Familiar to its devices. Annoying, most of what she found these days were Familiars, nothing of real value prowled Kazamino’s streets

She found two more Familiar labyrinths before the sun started to set. She was just about to call it quits for the day when she picked up on another signal. Just as Kyoko made it there, however, the labyrinth collapsed. Kyoko transformed in an instant, ready to eviscerate whatever upstart Magical Girl had decided to poach from her territory. What came out of the labyrinth wasn’t what she expected.

A relatively tall man practically skipped out of the dimensional anomaly, holding the Grief Seed in the palm of his hand. He had long, light blue hair and extremely pale skin. His eyes were different colors, one was a silvery gray and the other was a deep blue. He wore a strange black shawl with one side having a slit in it and tight black pants. The strangest part were the stitch lines coating his body and face. Then there was his presence.

The patchwork man pulsed with a curse thicker and more vile than any Witch Kyoko had ever encountered. It forced her into a cold sweat. He brimmed with malice and power beyond anything Kyoko could muster. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, this thing could kill her if it wanted to.

The being turned and saw her. Kyoko shivered as a malevolent, ear-to-ear grin split its face.

“Say…” it said, looking at her like a child looking at a toy it wants to play with, “You’re a Magical Girl, aren’t you?”

Chapter Text

Sayaka’s shoes clicked against the hospital floor as she walked to Kyosuke’s room, another violin CD in hand. She huffed as she reread the group chat. Through a series of circumstances Sayaka could barely believe, the Transfer Student had ended up living with Madoka.

Sayaka didn’t believe that the Transfer Student was a direct threat anymore, she’d shown up and helped Yuji when she didn’t have to. Besides, Madoka trusted her, that had to count for something. Even so, Sayaka didn’t trust the black haired Magical Girl. She couldn’t say why she knew, but she knew Akemi Homura was lying about something important. Sayaka would never be able to bring herself to trust someone so fundamentally dishonest.

She entered Kyosuke’s hospital room and had a pretty normal interaction with him. However, when she played the CD for him he got agitated. He slammed his injured hand against the CD player, breaking it and drawing blood.

“Don’t play that crap for me! That crap I can’t play…” He yelled.

“Kyosuke! Your hand! You’ve gotta be more car-”

“They told me to give up…” Kyosuke’s voice was despondent. Sayaka’s chest felt tight. Kyosuke continued, “They told me that modern medicine can’t fix my hands. The only way I’ll ever play violin again is if magic and miracles exist.”

“They do…” Kyosuke looked up at her, a strange look on his face. Sayaka spoke her next words resolutely, “Magic and miracles do exist!”

She left, running towards the hospital roof, her mind racing. Thoughts of Yuji’s broken body, slumped against a wall. Madoka’s immense power, far surpassing her own. Mami-san’s screams as her arm was healed. The image of Kugisaki-san, a stalwart shield between her and the monsters that went bump in the night.

Sayaka knew what she had to do.

Madoka found herself standing in ankle deep water. The moon rose high in the sky, the countless stars were painted pink and purple. Throughout the water, lotus flower buds floated alongside the lingering petals of numerous colorful flowers. Madoka looked down and saw the robes she was wearing, pink, red and white. Her gaze landed on the large hexagonal platform in front of her, peeking up above the water. Pale stone was trimmed by shining gold, splitting the platform into six segments. At the center of the platform was a shining golden throne atop a blooming bronze lotus. Madoka felt drawn to the throne by some unspeakable force of fate.

Madoka began walking towards the dias, sending ripples through the water. Each step felt laden with meaning and purpose. As she moved up onto the platform she noticed that each of the segments had the drawings from her Cursed Technique’s wheel. She reached for the throne when the bronze lotus enlarged itself and enclosed the throne in an instant.

“You’re not ready yet.” A familiar voice cut in, shocking Madoka out of the strange trance she’d been in. Madoka turned around to see her faceless doppelgänger standing on the dias with her. The being rested her chin on her hand and seemed to consider Madoka.

“If you tried to take that now, you’d crumble under its weight.”

Madoka wasn’t interested in the throne now, she had questions that needed answers, “What are you exactly?”

“Hmmm…” The double tapped a finger on its chin, “That’s a fantastic question.” It began to walk towards her, “A pale shade of the darkness within your soul, perhaps?”

“Then why are you here?”

“Well… I suppose it’s because I dislike you, Kaname Madoka. If I existed I might feel hatred for you, but I don’t exist.” It gestured to the gaping black hole where its face was, “So I can’t hate you, not like I could if I existed.” 

“That doesn’t make any sense, why would you existing make you hate me?” 

“Well, I’d only come into existence because of your mistakes. So if you haven’t made that mistake I can’t hate you, can I?” Madoka was silent, so the copy continued.

“You’re getting more than you usually do… I suppose it’s because of the cursed energy? It hasn’t existed in this form until this time.”

Madoka couldn’t comprehend what the thing was saying, It was all just nonsense to her. The doppelgänger tilted its head and Madoka got the feeling that if it had a face, it would be smiling at her.

“Don’t worry, you’re not really meant to understand any of this. Perhaps one day you will but until then this is just for my own… Satisfaction.”

Before Madoka could respond a harsh light began to spread across the landscape.

“Our time is up,” her double said, “Maybe you’ll find some answers next time.”

Madoka turned to see the sun peek out over the horizon, bathing the area in golden light. Suddenly, Madoka awoke in her room. The whole thing was a dream.

Madoka sighed and buried her face in a pillow. Why did her dreams have to be so complicated!?

Madoka slipped into her uniform, today was a school day after all. She was half surprised when she bumped into Homura-chan in the upstairs hallway.

“Ah, good morning Kaname-san.” She said politely, also dressed in her uniform.

“H-h-homura-chan! You’re already awake!” Madoka stuttered, cheeks pink. Now she remembered, she offered her house as a place for Homura-chan to stay. They spoke as they walked downstairs.

“Did you sleep well?” 

“Kind of..? I had another weird dream last night.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Well… There was this other me with no face who kept saying vague nonsense. Honestly I’m not sure if it means anything.” Although, that copy did appear in Madoka’s prophetic dream from… a little over a week ago? Had it really been such a short amount of time since her world was turned upside down? Still, talking about that dream with Homura-chan was way too embarrassing for Madoka.

Their conversation wrapped up just as they made it to the dining room, Madoka’s Papa was cooking up breakfast.

“Akemi-chan, how was your night?” He asked.

“I slept well.” Homura-chan replied. He nodded.

“Madoka, could you go wake up your mother?” Her Papa asked with a smile on his face.

“Wait here, Homura-chan.” Madoka requested as she sauntered over to her Mama’s room. The door opened with a bang, the curtains parted with a swish and Madoka pulled the covers off her Mama’s bed with a cheer. Homura-chan peeked around the corner into the room with a bemused look on her face as her Mama squealed at the light. Madoka smirked, just another normal day!

Madoka, Homura-chan and her mother were all brushing their teeth in the bathroom. Her mother eyed Homura-chan from her place in between the two.

“Akemi-chan, how are you holding up?”

“Not having a stable place to stay was a very stressful thought, but thanks to your family's generosity I will be fine.” Homura-chan said formally, “Thank you.” 

“Don’t worry about it. It’s nice to see Madoka making new friends and we’ve got plenty of room.” Mama waved away Homura-chan’s concerns.

All three of them spat out their toothpaste, Homura-chan was a little slower than the rest of them. Madoka tied her red ribbons into her hair as her Mama applied her makeup. Homura-chan lightly adjusted her hair as she looked into the mirror.

“Homura-chan, I’ve noticed that your hair always looks incredible. Do you take good care of it?” Madoka asked.

Homura got a wistful, almost nostalgic look on her face, “Someone I used to know told me that my hair was beautiful. I decided to make sure I take care of it ever since.”

“I think we could both learn something from Akemi-chan’s hair care routine.” Mama said as she finished her make-up.

Homura-chan blushed slightly and didn’t meet either of their eyes, “I wouldn’t mind teaching you.”

Madoka smiled, seeing Homura-chan get along with her parents was really heartwarming. She seemed very lonely, it made Madoka want to fix that.

Madoka didn’t understand Akemi Homura. During the family’s breakfast, Madoka’s thoughts were dominated by the black haired Magical Girl. She seemed so awkward sitting at the table, it was clear she was unused to eating with other people.

Who Homura-chan was as a person was a mystery Madoka was committed to unraveling. The more Madoka spoke with her, the more Madoka was certain they were connected somehow.

“Madoka, how is school?” Mama asked after taking a sip of her morning coffee.

“We’ve got a test later this week and I’m a little worried. I’m not very good at math.” Madoka replied. Homura-chan seemed very… Contradictory. One moment she’s calling Madoka by her full name to establish distance and the next-

“Do not put yourself down. You are intelligent and I am sure you will do fine.” Homura-chan’s reply made both of Madoka’s parents grin a little.

And the next she’d say things like that!!! It was maddening the way Homura-chan seemed to oscillate between acting like she didn’t care and portraying her care so obviously! Madoka was certain that they’d met before and that Homura-chan wasn’t saying anything about it. She couldn’t imagine why though, what would possibly motivate Homura-chan to act this way?

“Oh, it’s getting late, you girls should get going.” Papa cut Madoka from her rumination. Madoka glanced at the clock and realized he was right. She scarfed down the rest of her breakfast quickly.

“C’mon Homura-chan,” She grabbed the black haired girl by the arm and pulled her off towards school, Homura-chan grabbed a slice of bread from her plate on the way out.

Homura-chan finished her bread as they walked down the street. Walking to school with Homura-chan felt pretty good, Madoka had to admit. On the way there, Madoka pulled out her phone and opened up the group chat.

Kaname Madoka: @Itadori Yuji @Fushiguro Megumi @Kugisaki Nobara Can we have another training session for cursed energy after school today?

Itadori Yuji: sure why?

Kaname Madoka: I want to try and figure out my new powers.

Fushiguro Megumi: Just meet us at the junkyard, we’re already going to be there for our own training.

Kaname Madoka: Got it!

Madoka slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“You were talking in the group chat, why?” Homura-chan asked her.

“I learned Reverse Cursed Technique yesterday, so I want to try and figure it out. I also think I might be able to use the other three powers on my Technique’s wheel now.”

“I see.”

A little bit after that, Madoka and Homura-chan ran into Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan.

“Ah, Madoka!” Sayaka-chan’s cheerful look slipped, “And the Transfer Student…”

“I’m surprised to see you two walking to school together.” Hitomi-chan either missed the tense atmosphere or decided to ignore it, “What’s the story behind that?”

“My house burned down last night. Kaname-san and her family were kind enough to allow me to stay with them for now.”

Hitomi-chan stared at them in disbelief for a while, “So you two are… Living together? ”

“That is correct.” Homura-chan answered coolly.

Hitomi-chan's eyes flicked between the two of them. Madoka internally sighed, she could see where this was going.

“But that’s forbidden love!” the green haired girl screamed and ran off into the distance. Sayaka-chan snickered as Homura-chan’s face belied her confusion. She looked at Madoka and raised an eyebrow.

“Hitomi-chan’s parents are very… Traditional .” Madoka’s euphemism was not lost on Homura-chan, who simply nodded and moved on. It was strange either way, things like gay relationships were pretty widely accepted throughout the world. Only the most conservative places and people still disallowed them. It happened out of nowhere at the turn of the century… Now that Madoka was looking back on it with new context, she realized that it might’ve been someone’s wish.

Random train of thought aside, Madoka realized that something was off. Sayaka-chan’s… presence for lack of a better term, was different than it had been yesterday. She felt out with her cursed energy and found… Positive energy!? Madoka’s eyes flew to Sayaka-chan’s fingers and found a silver ring around one of them.

“Sayaka-chan, you made a contract!?” Madoka blurted out in surprise. Homura-chan inhaled sharply beside her.

Sayaka winked at her with a sly smile on her face, “Let's talk about it at lunch time, okay?”

Sayaka-chan practically skipped away towards school. Madoka caught a glimpse of Homura-chan’s face, as if she was watching a tragedy she had seen play out countless times, and felt something akin to dread pool in her heart.

The first half of Madoka’s school day was tense, complicated feelings seemed to slosh in her mind like muddy water. She kept glancing between Homura-chan, who was forcing a neutral look, and Sayaka-chan, who looked quite sure of herself. It set her nerves ablaze, like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff. 

Lunch couldn’t have come quickly enough. All of them, sans Hitomi-chan and the Sorcerers, met up on the school’s rooftop. They were seated between two benches, with Madoka and Homura-chan on one and Sayaka-chan and Mami-san on the other. Kyubey was perched on Sayaka-chan’s shoulder.

“So you decided to make a contract, Miki-san?” Mami-san asked rhetorically. Madoka was sure Mami-san could tell.

“Yeah! I hope you’ll help me figure it out, Mami-san!” Sayaka-chan said cheerfully, gesturing wildly with every word. She seemed really hyped to be a Magical Girl.

We made a contract yesterday evening. Kyubey added in, tail swishing lightly.

“I see… We’ll have to use that junkyard so you can train. We wouldn’t want you going into your first Witch blind.” Mami-san said sagely.

“The Sorcerers and I were already going to use the junkyard for training today, so we can all go!” Madoka chimed in between bites of her lunch. 

“Why?” Homura-chan’s question came out of nowhere.

“Huh?” 

“Why have you decided to become a Magical Girl, Miki Sayaka?” Homura-chan’s eyes were freezing cold. Madoka didn’t like where this was going.

“I’d hope it wasn’t because of that boy you mentioned.” Mami-san gave Sayaka-chan a pointed look.

“It wasn’t… entirely that. Sure, Kyosuke needed help but I just… I could do nothing but watch while you and Yuji nearly died protecting me and I felt so useless! It can’t just stand around and do nothing and it’s not like I have a Cursed Technique or anything, so being a Sorcerer is out. Becoming a Magical Girl means I get to help protect the people I care about, that’s why I did it.” Sayaka-chan was resolute, eyes unwavering. Homura-chan met them and looked away.

“I suppose I cannot find fault in that…” She said, getting up from her seat and walking away. The clacking of her school shoes on the roof’s stone tiles announced her departure.

“...What the hell is her problem?” Sayaka-chan said sourly. Mami-san’s expression was pensive.

“I-I’ll go after her!” Madoka leapt to her feet, packed her things and pursued the black haired Magical Girl. Madoka caught up to Homura-chan quickly, casually moving to walk beside her.

“W-what was up with that?” Madoka inquired.

“It just… Reminds me of my own reasons for becoming a Magical Girl.” Homura-chan’s response instantly piqued Madoka’s interest. The girl continued, “It is not just that though. That girl does not understand the real reasons why she is doing this. She will not understand until it is far, far too late. It is already too late in fact. She never does…” She said that last part so quietly Madoka almost missed it.

“Okay..?” Madoka didn’t understand.

Homura-chan sighed, “Miki Sayaka is ill-suited to the life of a Magical Girl. She is doomed, I sincerely doubt she will last a month.” She met Madoka’s eyes, an unbearably cold look overtaking them, “It would be better for you to just forget about her.”

Madoka shivered, she seemed so cold.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Being a Magical Girl is a thankless, dangerous job. You will not get gratitude or sympathy from the people you protect. Additionally, Magical Girls usually die in labyrinths. This means that their remains are never found and they simply become ‘missing persons’ forever. Tomoe Mami could die protecting this city and not one person would bat an eye. She would die unknown and unremembered. That horrid fate is Miki Sayaka’s future, I am sure of it. Spare yourself the pain and distance yourself from her.” Homura-chan’s statement was bitingly cynical. Suddenly, the way Homura-chan kept people at a distance made sense. Even so, something indignant poured out of Madoka’s soul.

“Don’t say things like that! I won’t forget about Sayaka-chan, I won’t forget about Mami-san and I won’t forget about you Homura-chan!” Madoka was shocked when the temperature in the hallway fluctuated. Madoka was now sure that was undoubtedly the wrong thing to say.

Homura-chan grit her teeth and sped up, leaving Madoka in the dust. The pink haired girl felt a little hollow, things had been going so well with Homura-chan this morning but now it seemed Madoka had dumped all that goodwill in the garbage.

Madoka felt a little better about herself when Homura-chan walked with her to the junkyard, alongside Mami-san and Sayaka-chan. At least she wasn’t upset with her enough to not join them for training. Sayaka-chan was practically vibrating the whole walk, clearly wired and ready to go.

They walked into the junkyard, past the ‘curtain’ as the sorcerers called it, to witness a sparring match between Yuji and Fushiguro-san. The two were locked in an exchange of fists so fast Madoka could barely keep up. She could tell that Yuji held the upper hand, however. Fushiguro-san threw a kick and Yuji’s chest, which was blocked. He used Yuji as a springboard and backflipped into the air, making a hand sign like a dog’s head.

“Divine Dog: Totality!” Fushiguro-san chanted as his shadow shuddered and burst. A large, black and white werewolf creature leapt from Fushiguro-san’s shadow, taking a swipe at Yuji with its claws. Yuji ducked under the swipe, shot between the werewolf’s legs faster than Madoka could blink and slid to a halt right where Fushiguro-san was going to land. Fushiguro-san tried to block the oncoming haymaker, but was still hit like a dump truck, blasting him to the ground. The black haired Sorcerer tried to get to his feet, but he wasn’t fast enough as Yuji launched himself forward and put Fushiguro-san in a submission hold.

“I give!” Fushiguro-san choked out. The two got back to their feet. Kugisaki-san raised one of her arms.

“Itadori: 3, Fushiguro: 1” She called out the score, a devious sneer on her face.

“Please don’t act like you’d be doing any better, Kugisaki.” He grumbled. Even though it looked like Fushiguro-san was in a bad mood, it was easy to tell it was all in good fun. Yuji noticed them enter.

“Hey, good to see you all!” His smile was infectious.

“Hold on… Miki, you’re a…” Fushiguro-san began.

“Magical Girl? You’ve got it!” Sayaka-chan held out a thumbs up, smiling. Fushiguro-san and Kugisaki-san shared a charged look.

“Just so you know, the curtain will stop the normies from seeing or hearing anything supernatural, so feel free to go crazy.” Kugisaki-san said.

“Alright!” Sayaka-chan was pumped up, she followed Mami-san off to another part of the junkyard as Madoka got ready for her training session.

“Before we start, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask about.” Fushiguro-san was holding a very dry looking stick in his hands. The 5 of them, Madoka, Homura-chan and the Sorcerers were posted up in the junkyard, near a pile of rusty cars. Madoka could hear the cracks of Mami-san’s muskets so it was easy to tell that she and Sayaka-chan were close by.

“Akemi.” Fushiguro looked at the Magical Girl.

“Yes?”

“Would you mind flaring your magic?”

Homura-chan raised an eyebrow but complied, her hand becoming shrouded in purple flame. Fushiguro held the stick above the flames. After a few seconds, the stick caught flame, burning purple.

“Whoa…” Yuji let his surprise slip out.

“I see. I was right, your energy has a trait.” Fushiguro didn’t seem that surprised

“What does that mean?”

“I heard about it from Gojo-sensei. Apparently some people’s cursed energy, or in this case magic, have innate properties to them. In your case, your magic has the properties of fire.”

“Interesting…” Homura-chan leveled a considering gaze at the flame in her hand.

“Anyway, you said you thought you could use the rest of your Technique, Kaname-san?” Fushiguro-san asked her.

“Yes, it felt to me like they took a different fuel source and positive energy is a different fuel.” Madoka activated her Technique, the great wheel manifesting behind her head. She couldn’t see them, but she knew the top three images were no longer grayed out. Madoka curled the finger related to the divine figure which was already selected. An immense power suffused her being, but nothing directly happened. However, Madoka could tell what this power did.

“Yuji, I need you to punch me.” Madoka said seriously.

“B-but-”

“Trust me, I’ll be fine.” 

Yuji swung lightly and Madoka flexed the finger as his fist came closer. A shining pink barrier erected itself between Madoka and Yuji. As Yuji connected with the barrier, waves of pink light seared the air as Yuji was repelled. Yuji shook his fist, his knuckles were slightly singed.

“Sorry!” Madoka let go of the power for now, keeping the wheel manifested.

“Don’t worry about it!” Yuji said with good cheer, “So… This one creates barriers?”

“It’s more complicated than that. I think it just lets me make solid constructs out of light.” Madoka made a cube above her hand, which morphed into a pyramid and then a sphere. 

“Sounds versatile.” Kugisaki-san chimed in. Homura-chan nodded along with her.

“What’s next?” Yuji asked. Madoka curled another finger and the wheel turned to the many armed figures. She held out a hand and a sword made of pure light tore its way into the world. It burned with an insane amount of power.

“You can make swords?” Fushiguro-san inquired. Madoka shook her head. The sword morphed into a battle axe, a spear and then a buddhist ringed staff. That form felt… Right to Madoka.

“I think I could do basically any weapon, or even weapon-like objects.” Finally Madoka transformed the staff into an arc of pure light, a bow. Homura-chan inhaled sharply. Madoka drew back the bow, manifested an arrow in the other hand and aimed the bow at the top car in the pile. Erring on the side of caution, Madoka put less cursed energy into the attack than she felt was ‘normal.’

Madoka released the arrow, it flew like a shining pink bullet. When it collided with the top car, a titanic detonation rang through the junkyard. The car was vaporized in an instant, the car tower toppled over from the sheer force of the attack. Madoka (and all the others) stared in slack jawed disbelief.

“Thank god for the curtain I guess.” Kugisaki-san tried to break the tension. Madoka heard footsteps across the junkyard.

“Is everyone okay!” She heard Sayaka-chan’s voice. Madoka turned to see Sayaka-chan’s Magical Girl costume. She had a long white cape around her shoulders. She had dark blue detached sleeves and white cuffed gloves. She wore a sleeveless shirt, blue around the chest and white for the rest. A hint of her midriff was peeking out, revealing her crescent shaped, cyan Soul Gem. A blue skirt, slanted to one side, rested on her hips. She had white knee high socks with cyan shoes.

“We heard an explosion, is everyone okay?” Mami-san asked as she followed Sayaka-chan.

“Yeah, my Cursed Technique was just stronger than expected.” Madoka replied.

“All that excitement aside, what about the last power?” Yuji cut in. Madoka curled the finger related to the group of figures and the wheel turned. Suddenly, Madoka could see motes of light inside all the people here. 

“Whoa your eyes are super weird!” Kugisaki-san said.

“What do you mean?”

Homura-chan pulled a hand mirror out of her shield and showed Madoka her reflection. Her eyes were suffused with interlaced light blue squares. They were all at different angles and surrounded her pupils in her iris. 

“I have no idea what this one does.” Madoka said sheepishly.

“Well I guess you can’t win all of them, but five out of six is pretty good.” Yuji said with a smile, he held up a hand at her. Madoka gave him a high-five. As their hands touched, Madoka got a deeper look at the light within Yuji. Beneath all that shimmering pink light was something… Darker. Blood red light, more intense than anything Madoka had ever seen, enveloped her and suddenly Madoka was drowning in an ocean of blood.

Madoka found herself in an ancient Japanese shrine. She was wearing peasant clothing and prostrating before a table. She raised her head and saw an immaculate feast spread before her. Before Madoka got a better look, the person next to her grabbed her by the head and slammed it against the floor. 

“Ryomen Sukuna-sama is coming. Keep your head down and we may get to live.” He whispered urgently. Madoka’s heart jumped into her throat. Then came the footsteps, it felt like impending doom. Finally, something sat on the ground in front of them. Madoka could already tell who this was, his presence threatened to crush her outright. Then came the sounds of eating. The King of Curses gorged himself on the feast that was set out, taking his sweet time savoring each dish. Madoka trembled in her place, silently hoping he wouldn’t notice her.

Finally, he seemed to stop eating, Madoka could practically feel his eyes rake over the assembled crowd. Finally, he spoke.

“Raise your heads, all of you.” His voice was laced with both malice and boredom. They all did, reluctantly. Madoka noticed someone standing at the King’s side. They were dressed in a white kimono, with stark white hair that had a red spot on the sides. Then Madoka took in the King of Curses himself. Sukuna had pink hair like Yuji’s. One side of his face was strange, like a mask made of flesh, with two large bulbous eyes peeking out of it. The other side was normal, but still had two eyes, in the same pattern they took on Yuji’s face. He wore a black cloak but had no shirt on. Pitch black tattoos dotted his muscular body. The four arms, the unfathomable presence, it was like Madoka was looking at a god. Ryomen Sukuna silently looked over the mass, taking in the details one at a time. 

Then their eyes met. At that moment, Madoka well and truly believed she was going to die. It was horrid, like meeting the eyes of a god she didn’t believe in and having to explain why . 

Afterwards came the laughter. The King of Curses laughed heartily for some unknown reason. Then he gestured lightly with one of his arms and everyone except for her was instantaneously bisected, they didn’t even have time to scream.

“Kaname Madoka…” He began, Madoka shivered under his gaze. “A Technique that allows one to connect to other souls… How fascinating . You even got a peek at my memories. You just get more and more interesting to me as time goes on. However, you have touched my soul… Such an audacious crime deserves punishment…”

Madoka couldn’t even look away from his eyes, couldn’t even breathe. Her hands gripped her robes, deathly pale. Tears spilled from her eyes.

“How about we call this a test.” He said, extending one hand outward while crossing his other with his lower arm.

The next thing Madoka knew, she was back in reality, no time had passed at all. The next thing Madoka knew, she was sliced from shoulder to hip and blasted off her feet.

Chapter Text

Yuji didn’t even have time to blink as he was splattered with his cousin’s blood. Sukuna’s vile laughter echoed through his head as the pink haired girl flew away, flung by the slash like a rag doll. 

“MA-KANAME-SAN!” Akemi’s voice rang through the junkyard, knocking everyone else out of their shock. She teleported from her position into Madoka’s path, catching her. As soon as the two made contact, Madoka was shrouded in purple, healing flames. Akemi gently, almost tenderly, laid Madoka on the ground. In the next moment, Yuji’s rage met its peak.

“SUKUNA!” he growled, feeling his cheekbone peel open. As Sukuna made his presence known, Yuji was instantly bound in Tomoe’s yellow ribbons. Sukuna laughed all the way. Kugisaki drew her hammer and nails while Fushiguro took on a strange pose, both hands outstretched in front of him. He dropped it, probably when he noticed that Sukuna wasn’t actually free. In a flash of blue light, Miki was holding a pair of sabers.

“What’s the matter, brat ? She touched my soul, I thought we established what the punishment for that was with the patchface Curse.” The King of Curses said with a sarcastic lilt.

“Touched your soul!? What the hell are you talking about!?” Yuji snarled. A moment of silence spread throughout the junkyard, nobody knowing what to do next. All they could hear was Madoka’s raspy, labored breathing. Suddenly, Akemi broke the silence like a glass pane.

“You two! Miki, Tomoe, get over here and help me! ” She yelled urgently, looking up from Madoka’s wounded body. Both girls snapped out of their stupor and rushed towards Madoka. However, before they could lend their assistance, a wave of Madoka’s cursed energy flooded the junkyard. Madoka’s wound began to rapidly knit itself together as she used Reverse Cursed Technique. The pink haired girl coughed painfully, crimson fluid spilling from her bloodsoaked lungs.

“Are you okay!?” Akemi practically yelled, face distraught. She seemed like the aloof type to Yuji, so he was surprised at her reaction. Had they really bonded that much in the short time they’d known each other? Maybe they just clicked, like how he and Kugisaki immediately got on each other’s wavelengths.

“Y-yeah…” The sound of Madoka’s voice soothed Yuji a little bit, somewhat muddied by all the blood she was coughing up. She tried to crawl to her feet but she was shaking too much. Her uniform was thoroughly soaked in scarlet blood, a slash bisecting it diagonally. Madoka finally managed to catch her breath, having ejected all the blood suffusing her lungs.

“You..! How dare you hurt Madoka! I’ll drag you out of Yuji and cut you to bits!” Miki screamed at the demon in Yuji’s body, swords shaking from her trembling hands. Yuji felt Sukuna’s eye shift to Miki, a horrific presence overtaking the junkyard.

And then-

Sukuna-

Laughed.

“You’ll ‘cut me to bits!?’ A weakling like you!? I suppose you are good for a laugh or two!” Sukuna said between peels of biting laughter, “If you want me dead I suppose you could just kill the brat, but all of you are too cowardly to do that.”

“Using Yuji as a shield… You’re the cowardly one here!” Miki yelled, pointing her sword at Yuji. Sukuna just laughed even harder.

“Either way, I was right about you, Kaname Madoka!” Sukuna’s attention turned to Yuji’s cousin. Yuji would’ve shut Sukuna up with his hands if he wasn’t bound by Tomoe. Madoka looked up at Yuji with wide, shaking eyes. She looked almost like a deer in headlights, it was painful to see that look directed at him, even by proxy. Sukuna continued, “That Dismantle should’ve cut you clean in half! You instinctually reinforced your body with cursed energy, didn’t you!”

All Madoka could do was tremble, Akemi placed herself protectively between Madoka and Yuji.

Yuji could feel Sukuna pull his cheek into a grin, “I look forward to our future bout, Kaname Madoka!” His laughs echoed through the junkyard as he returned to his prison in Yuji’s body. Akemi’s gaze shifted to Yuji, a fire burning in her eyes.

“What was that!? ” She hissed, eyes narrowed.

“I-I don’t know!” Yuji said honestly, he had no idea what just happened!

“That’s a great question, what did just happen?” Fushiguro’s voice cut into the conversation, “Itadori, is Sukuna still sealed in your body?”

“Absolutely, I know what losing control feels like and I didn’t feel it at any point.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that Kaname-san just got hurt by Sukuna while he was sealed .” Tomoe said, voice suspicious, “Can we be sure you’re safe to be around?”

“Y-You’ve gotta believe me!” Yuji could feel their distrust and it hurt.

“He’s… Right.” Madoka tried to drag herself to her feet, Akemi acting as a support.

“Kaname-chan is the one who was slashed, she has to know something about what just happened.” Kugisaki offered her opinion.

“Kaname-san, you shouldn’t push yourself.” Akemi said with a worried tone.

“It’s nice to see that you care, Homura-chan.” Madoka spoke with a smile. Akemi’s face turned red as she looked away.

“Anyway,” Madoka continued, clearing her throat, “Apparently I connected with Sukuna’s soul using my Technique. I got sucked into one of his memories, a feast offered by a village back in the Heian era. He noticed me and then slashed me as punishment for ‘touching his soul.’ Yuji’s control didn’t slip at all, it was essentially my fault.”

“...I see.” Tomoe looked back and forth between Madoka and Yuji before she flicked a hand and the ribbons binding Yuji dissolved, “My apologies, Itadori-san, I was just worried for our safety.”

“Don’t worry about it!” Yuji said, giving a thumbs up. It still hurt a little bit seeing their distrust, but he understood considering how dangerous Sukuna was.

“Sukuna mentioned a ‘patchface Curse,’ what’s the deal with that?” Miki chimed in with a question. Yuji’s face soured, thoughts turning towards that damned Curse. Yuji took a few moments to compose himself before he responded.

“There’s this Special Grade cursed spirit with stitches on his face that I fought before. His Cursed Technique let him manipulate the souls of people who he touched, and therefore, manipulate their bodies. He tried to use it on me but because he touched Sukuna’s soul by proxy he was punished with a slash.” He spoke swiftly, anger leaking into his voice. Unbidden, Yuji’s thoughts turned towards that fateful night. He remembered the way Junpei’s flesh twisted and writhed under Mahito’s command, the miserable thing he’d become. He remembered Sukuna and Mahito’s sickening laughter as they mocked him at his lowest point. His fist curled at the thought of those words that had come from deeper inside him than he even knew existed.

“Okay…” Miki seemed to pick up on his emotions and didn’t press further, he was thankful.

“So… Where do we go from here?” Kugisaki added in, “It’s not like Kaname-chan can go back home as is, what with all the blood and damage on her uniform.”

Akemi raised her hand, “I can go and grab one of Kaname-san’s extra uniforms for her to change into.”

“That would work.” Madoka replied.

“By the way, this isn’t really that important but…” Yuji cut in, “What are we gonna call your Technique, Madoka?”

Madoka seemed to space out for a few moments, staring at her hands. It almost reminded him of how other people said he acted when he was talking with Sukuna?

“It’s called Chakravarti…” Was all she said, hands clenched into fists. Everyone digested that for a few moments.

“The Chakravarti Technique. Sounds very… Auspicious.” Fushiguro seemed lost in thought.

“I don’t know what to say, that’s just what it’s called.” Madoka replied.

“Tomoe,” Akemi said to the blond Magical Girl, “Would you like to join me on a Witch Hunt later today?”

“Oh oh, can I join!?” Miki asked, bouncing on her feet.

Tomoe smiled awkwardly, “I’d prefer it if you had a little more training before sending you after a Witch.” Miki pouted but didn’t argue.

Akemi’s shield turned and she vanished. Seconds later, she reappeared with the Mitakihara Middle School shirt and blazer folded over an arm, almost like a butler. A dressing screen from Akemi’s shield and a little bit of time later, Madoka’s clothes were good as new. As if nothing had even happened, as if she hadn’t been almost cut in half less than ten minutes ago. Madoka let out a sigh of relief. After that, the meeting wound down, with everyone dispersing out into Mitakihara.

Yuji, Kugisaki and Fushiguro went off to find something to eat. As they walked, Yuji’s mind whirled around one fact. Once again, Madoka had almost died and once again, it was his fault.

Four brothers sat around a picnic table, a red and white tablecloth covering it. Plates of spaghetti were laid out in front of each brother, a nice family meal on a beautiful sunny day. The rest of their brothers, trapped in their cursed object flesh, were situated in the center of the table, so they could enjoy the family time even while unconscious. 

The second youngest brother, Kechizu, was happily chewing on a bite of the pasta, a giddy smile gracing his lower mouth. The third youngest brother, Eso, had a graceful smile on his face as he fed Kechizu more noodles.

Then there was the youngest brother. He spun spaghetti on a fork, picked it up and started moving it towards Choso. His pink hair caught the sunlight, shining brightly. He cheerfully raised the fork to Choso.

“Ni-chan, say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.” said Itadori Yuji.

Choso complied, and just as the fork entered his mouth…

Choso awoke with tears streaming down his face, underneath a bridge in Mitakihara. He pulled himself to his feet, wiped his eyes, and started walking. He needed to think, needed to process that… vision… he’d just had. Choso thought back to his deadly duel with Itadori Yuji, to the connection he’d felt with him as he lay dying in the rain.

Choso had a direct spiritual connection to his blood brothers. He’d felt it when both of them died fighting Itadori Yuji and Kugisaki Nobara. Choso had felt Itadori Yuji’s oncoming death as if the reaper’s scythe was caressing his neck. That could only mean one thing…

Itadori Yuji was his blood related brother.

Choso stumbled away, finding himself at a bus stop. A fact that Choso couldn’t deny kept running through his mind, Choso had tried to kill his own brother. The shame felt like sour milk in his gut, making him feel sick. Part of Choso wanted to go and find Itadori, to tell him of their connection and try to right his wrongs. However… he just couldn’t do that.

A bus arrived at the stop, the doors slid open with a hiss. Choso climbed in, paid the bus fare, and slumped into one of the seats. Choso didn’t think he could bring himself to look Itadori in the eye after what he’d done. He needed to be away, so he could recenter himself, put himself back together. An automated message played throughout the bus.

“Next stop: Shinsei ward, Kamihama!”

Choso nodded to himself. Kamihama would do.

Madoka was walking home from her training session alone. Homura-chan had gone with Mami-san to hunt a Witch, Sayaka-chan had just gone home and the Sorcerers had gone out to eat somewhere. Her chest still ached with phantom pains from where Sukuna had slashed her. Her breath caught in her throat at just the thought of Sukuna, his cruel gaze lingered in her mind. Madoka stopped, steadied her breathing and continued walking.

She passed by a large group of people, all walking in the same direction. Her eye caught on a Mitakihara Middle School uniform amongst them. Taking a closer look, she saw the girl’s long wavy green hair.

“Hitomi-chan? Aren’t you missing your lessons?” Madoka asked, concerned.

“I’m going somewhere far, far away…” Hitomi-chan’s voice was different than usual. Suddenly, Madoka sensed the threads of cursed energy attached to the base of her neck. It was a Witch’s kiss! Hitomi-chan kept speaking, “Would you like to come with us, Madoka-san?”

“I…” 

Before Madoka could formulate an answer, Hitomi-chan ushered her off into the distance. Just now, Madoka noticed that she was surrounded by other people, other victims of the Witch. As she was guided to what was probably a death trap, Madoka tapped into the Magical Girl telepathy network.

Mami-san! Sayaka-chan! Homura-chan! I’ve found a bunch of people who got kissed by a Witch, including Hitomi-chan! Madoka’s message was urgent and to the point.

Oh no!

Tch! Right now Tomoe and I are in a labyrinth, it will be a while before we can move to assist you. Homura-chan said, a hint of self-deprecation in her tone.

Sit tight Kaname-san! We’ll be there as soon as we can! Mami-san sent back.

I’m completely free right now, I can go! Sayaka-chan said, eagerness filling her voice.

We don’t have any other options right now, go for it! 

Madoka told Sayaka-chan her current location, I’ll tell you where the Witch is when we get there.

Got it!

Madoka and the Witch’s victims ended up in a dilapidated factory in the industrial district. After telling Sayaka-chan her location, she followed the black mass into the building. The shutters closed with a metallic sound, the crowd was eerily silent. A man at the front was babbling about his failures running the factory and how there wasn’t a place for him in the world. Madoka saw someone hauling around a bucket full of some liquid, it smelled like… detergent?

Suddenly, a memory of something her mother had said flashed through her mind. She explained to Madoka how combining chlorine based bleaches with other detergents would create a deadly gas. Her eyes caught on someone holding a bottle full of detergent, the label saying to not mix it with chlorine based detergents.

Madoka tried to rush forward and stop them, but Hitomi-chan stopped her.

“Don’t interrupt, this is a holy ceremony that will send us to a wonderful place!” She said in a sickly sweet voice. Madoka’s mind raced for an answer, but the group had moved to block her from getting to the bucket!

Are you an idiot? You have power, so use it… A familiar voice echoed through her mind. Madoka decided to shelve the fact that she was literally hearing voices in her head for later. She almost facepalmed when she realized her mistake. Madoka pulled on the cursed energy in her brain and the great wheel of her Technique manifested.

“Chakravarti: Naraka.” She murmured, with a loud ga-chunk, the wheel turned to the hellish landscape. A veritable forest of pitch black doll arms shot from the ground and surrounding surfaces, binding every one of the Witch’s victims. The pink haired girl, empowered by her cursed energy, ran forward faster than she knew she could. She grabbed the bucket of bleach and threw it out a nearby window, foiling the mass suicide attempt in a single motion.

The black mass would’ve turned to attack her at that point if not for Madoka’s bindings. She let out a sigh of relief. It was immediately followed by the world falling apart around her. Madoka fell into a sky blue sea of imaginary water. The area was populated by carousels and doll-like angels. Up near the top of the labyrinth, a large CRT TV floated, carried by its angel familiars. On the TV, a silhouette of a girl with long twintails appeared, strange runes dotting the screen.

The blue sea flashed green and the TV was covered in static. Then it began flashing through images, very familiar images. Mami-san getting her arm bitten off, Madoka getting bullied in elementary school, Mami-san’s arm being healed, Yuji’s limp body bleeding out in the rain, Sukuna’s eye looking at her on the first day the Sorcerers had come to Mitakihara, her entire experience with Sukuna earlier that day, Mitakihara being destroyed with that strange doll thing floating over it, Homura-chan screaming her name as she fell, all these things and more appeared on the screen. Madoka’s breathing picked up as she was surrounded by tiny angel dolls. Ga-chunk, the wheel turned at Madoka’s command.

“Asura!” She shouted, manifesting a bow strung of pure light into her hand. The familiars backed off in terror at her immense power, even the Witch quivered in fear. Madoka drew back the bow and aimed at the Witch, but she found she couldn’t release the arrow. There was this lingering terror deadening her limbs, the thought that she’d be confining herself to a life of violence if she killed this Witch, proved her power. Was she doomed to a fate of combat? Did she even have a choice? More than anything though, Sukuna’s expectations loomed over her like an ever present shadow. Madoka’s limbs began to shake as she thought about it. Maybe… just maybe… if she was disappointing Sukuna would leave her alone? It was a dull, empty hope, but a hope nonetheless.

Madoka had never and would never feel weaker than she did in that moment, debating whether or not to save her own life out of fear of the King of Curses. She was torn from her rumination by someone’s shout. A set of sabers flew from behind her, impaling various familiars. Madoka caught sight of Sayaka-chan’s heroic smile as she flew through the imaginary sea, cutting familiars to pieces all the way. She finally reached the Witch, and with a flipping slash, cleaved the abomination in two. With an awful screech and a cracking of sparks, the labyrinth imploded.

The Witch’s followers were left collapsed on the ground, released from the monster’s grip. Sayaka-chan grinned, one of her swords resting on her shoulder.

“Come on Madoka, let’s get out of here.” She said lightly.

The pink haired girl let out an uneasy sigh. In the end, all she could do was clench her fists and curse her own weakness.

The tension bled from Mami’s body when she got the telepathic message from Kaname-san and Miki-san. All the Witch’s victims had survived and Miki-san had proven herself as a capable Magical Girl. Now all that was left was for Mami and Akemi-san to finish off the Witch they were hunting and then go home.

Both Magical Girl’s heels clacked against the harsh metal floors. Steam leaked from pipes above them, hissing out into the darkness of the great tanker that was the Witch’s labyrinth. Mechanical sailors with hamster wheels embedded in their chests, wielding clockwork submachine guns, stood in their way of getting deeper into the labyrinth. The report of Mami’s rifles sounded out alongside the staccato bursts from Akemi-san’s large machine gun. A real machine gun, not something created by magic or a Magical Girl weapon.

The two found a relatively safe spot and stopped for a small break.

“Where do you get your firearms, Akemi-san?” Mami asked.

“I steal most of my weapons from the Yakuza, my magic makes it easy to leave no evidence.” She replied, idly reloading the large gun in her hands.

“Most?”

“Fighting Walpurgisnacht takes much heavier firepower, I take more dangerous weapons from JSDF and American military bases when I get the chance.” Was all she said. Mami didn’t exactly like that she was stealing from the military, but the threat of Walpurgisnacht was enough to make it understandable. Mami leaned against one of the ship’s walls.

“It’s great that Kaname-san and Miki-san got away from that Witch safely.”

Akemi-san grit her teeth, “I should have walked her home before going on this hunt.”

“It’s not like you directed the Witch to attack her, you couldn’t have known better.”

Akemi-san looked down, seeming to blame herself anyway. All this led Mami’s thoughts to a singular conclusion. She didn’t understand Akemi Homura. The other Magical Girl seemed riddled with contradictions. She wanted to destroy Walpurgisnacht at any cost, but didn’t want Kaname-san to contract. She acted aloof and distant but it wasn’t hard to see the cracks in that facade. There was something Mami couldn’t see, some context she didn’t have, that would ‘solve’ Akemi Homura for her. Mami just didn’t have it.

“Let’s get going,” Mami said, summoning a pair of muskets into her hands. Akemi-san nodded, readying her machine gun. Gun fire announced their presence within the labyrinth, tearing through familiars until they reached a massive door with a valve handle. The valve turned without any input and the two were sucked into a revolving corridor, steel walls and steaming pipes gave way to a huge dining room. Robotic technicians, whose heads were brains in jars, did maintenance work on the Witch. The Witch itself was shaped like the top half of a humanoid figure. Steam hoses and clockwork machinery made up the Witch’s body. Its head was a giant singular searchlight, behind which was a glass dome with a massive mechanical computer acting as a brain. The room was filled with the ticking of clocks and the whirring of machinery.

“Have you ever seen this Witch before?” Mami asked, scoping out their opponent.

“Never…” Akemi-san squinted at the thing skeptically, as if she could make it disappear or change just by looking at it. 

“I’ve seen a Witch with similar themes, but never this one specifically.” And the less Mami said about that Witch the better.

“Either way, let’s make this quick.” Akemi-san said resolutely, swinging her shield arm to the side. As she did, about 3 rocket propelled grenade launchers manifested, sitting upright on the ground. Mami was flabbergasted, Akemi-san had a hint of a smile on her face, “I did say I steal from American military bases.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for me to just use Tiro Finale?”

“I haven’t been finding as many Witches as I expected, I’d rather save us the magic. Hold it in place while I hit it with the grenades.” 

Mami waved her hand and a torrent of ribbons held the Witch and its familiars in place. Akemi fired each weapon one after the other, blowing the Witch to smithereens. The labyrinth shuddered and dissolved, leaving them in a warehouse on Mitakihara’s docks. Mami sighed and undid her transformation, leaving her in her uniform.

“That was a good hunt.” Mami said, looking over at Akemi-san.

“Yes… I should go meet up with the Kanames for dinner.” Was all the other Magical Girl said in response. Her shield clicked and she disappeared, leaving Mami in the warehouse. Even surrounded by allies, Mami still found herself alone.

Mami was busying herself making tea later that night after the hunt. Kyubey wasn’t around, he hadn’t been around much lately in the first place, so Mami didn’t have much to do after she finished her homework. Mami was surprised by a knock on the door, far louder than anyone usually knocked. When Mami opened the door, she gasped in surprise.

A girl with long red hair, tied into a ponytail by a black ribbon, stood in front of her. Her eyes, heavy and exhausted, were a similar red. She was wearing a blood red and light blue sweater and jean shorts. Nice brown leather boots adorned her feet. A pang went through Mami’s heart as she realized who she was looking at.

“K-Kyoko!?” Mami breathed out, blinking tears from her eyes. She never expected to see her ever again.

“Ma… mi…” Was all she said before she leaned forward and fell into Mami. Mami caught her, she was slick to the touch. Mami pulled back one of her hands and found it painted red. Kyoko’s sweater wasn’t red, she was soaked in her own blood .

“KYOKO!” 

Chapter Text

Iroha stared at her room, trying to make sense of it all. One half was fully decorated, pink carpets and blinds, a desk with a lamp on it, a small nightstand, a white framed bed with pink blankets and shelves holding books and photos above said bed.

The other side was completely blank. Nothing, not even a carpet. Just hardwood flooring and lifeless, gray walls. The stark contrast unsettled Iroha, it was inexplicable. Iroha’s parents had said she wanted her room like that when she asked but Iroha had no memory of that. Beyond that, she also couldn’t bring herself to add anything to that side of the room, as if she’d be betraying something or someone by doing so.

Iroha could tell that something was wrong, something was missing. There was this hole in the core of her being that she couldn’t fill, no matter what she did. 

Then there was the girl. She would appear in Iroha’s dreams, speaking without voice. She was definitely younger than Iroha, with the same pink hair and eyes. They were always in a hospital Iroha didn’t recognize, the girl sitting up in a medical bed. Everything else about her appearance was blurry, as if some film laid between her and Iroha. Iroha would awake with tears streaming down her face, a scream caught in her throat.

Iroha knew that girl was important but not how or why. She had no memory of her but that didn’t stop her from plaguing Iroha’s thoughts. It was driving Iroha insane. Iroha did have a lead however. Those dreams had started when she’d wandered into Kamihama the other day. That encounter with the tiny Kyubey might’ve had something to do with it. Maybe if she went back, she’d find something out.

Iroha had gotten on a bus to Kamihama after school had ended. Takarazaki passed by, its skyscrapers littered with greenery flew by. As the bus drove, Iroha thought back on a rumor she’d heard about. It was about Watanabe-san. Iroha didn’t know Watanabe-san personally but she did know of her. She was one of the older Magical Girls in the Takarazaki area, when she was alive.

There were rumors going around about a new Magical Girl serial killer, apparently Watanabe-san was her latest victim. She’d heard about the Ripper who operated out near Hohzuki or the Arsonist who nobody had heard from for a while. This new “Butcher” had already slain 11 Magical Girls in about a month. That was terrifying, especially since she was probably near Takarazaki at this moment. If someone as strong as Watanabe-san had been slaughtered without a fight, Iroha stood no chance.

Iroha was broken from her rumination when she heard the bus’s doors slide open. They admitted a tall man in white robes with extremely pale skin. His hair was pulled into two messy buns and he had a strange tattoo on his face, a thick black line across the bridge of his nose. The robed man slumped into one of the seats, looking defeated.

“Next stop: Shinsei ward, Kamihama!”

Ah, it was nice to know she was close to her destination. Her attention was drawn to the robed man once again. This strange negativity seemed to cling to his presence, let alone how miserable he looked. Honestly, it seemed like he might’ve been kissed by a Witch. Iroha, erring on the side of caution, decided to go and check on him.

“Excuse me sir, are you alright?” She asked, standing in front of him. He finally seemed to notice her presence. When she saw his neck, she didn’t see any mark. Strange… was he cursed in some other way?

“Why do you ask?” The man said suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

“You just seemed really sad so…” Iroha trailed off, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea… 

The man sighed, “I just… found out that something I staked my life on wasn’t what I thought it was.” 

“Oh?”

“Imagine if some goal very important to you ended up being based on a lie, or something similar. That’s what happened to me.”

“…I’m sorry that happened to you.” Iroha barely knew how to respond to that. Iroha realized something, “I haven’t even introduced myself! I’m Tamaki Iroha.”

The robed man paused for a few moments, “Call me Choso.”

“Well then, Choso-san, where are you headed?” Maybe if Iroha made smalltalk this would be less awkward.

“Kamihama.”

“Oh, me too! I’m going to look for someone.” After Iroha said that, the bus arrived at Shinsei ward. Both of them walked off the bus. Choso-san turned to her.

“I hope you find whoever you’re looking for, just be careful, you never know where your search might lead you.” He turned away and wandered off into the large city. Iroha couldn’t explain why, but she felt slightly uneasy.

Iroha’s aimless movement brought her to a Witch’s labyrinth. The labyrinth was a massive sandbox, bordered by large, skyward steel girders. Various sand castles dotted the landscape and strange, metal triangles on top of poles jutted from the ground. Multi colored tires and shovels were strewn about, sunken into the surreal sand. 

Iroha triggered her own transformation and ran forward, swathed in her white and pink cloak, her Soul Gem forming the cloak’s clasp. She noticed the presence of another Magical Girl and rushed into the depths of the labyrinth. The girl had red hair done up in short twin tails with feathers threaded into them. She wore a red shawl over a red long coat, with brown shorts above brown shoes. Hanging off her neck by a strap, a massive brown witch’s hat sat on her shoulders. At the very tip of the hat, her Soul Gem was embedded, shining red. In her hands, a large wooden staff, clearly her weapon, flew into the body of one of the Witch’s familiars.

Iroha leapt into the air and launched bolts from her arm mounted crossbow. They hit the familiars but did way less damage than Iroha was expecting. Iroha landed next to the other Magical Girl, watching her back. The red haired Magical Girl raised an eyebrow at Iroha.

“Are you new in Kamihama?” She asked, batting away another familiar.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Iroha shot back, ducking under an attempt at a tackle.

“We’ll worry about it after we finish off these familiars!”

The resulting fight was actually pretty difficult for Iroha. The familiars were way stronger than she was used to, most familiars died to a single bolt, but these ones took more than five! The other Magical Girl didn’t seem to be having the same problem, her staff strikes dissolved the familiars after one or two blows.

It was just a familiar labyrinth, so once they finished off the last of the little caterpillar things the space collapsed in on itself, leaving the two of them in a Kamihama alleyway. The other Magical Girl walked up to Iroha.

“Thank you for helping me out, but if you’re new here you’ve gotta be careful. The Witches here are way stronger than they are in other places, if you’re not powerful enough they’ll tear you apart!”

“W-well… I’m here looking for something. Have you seen a small Kyubey?”

“A small Kyubey?”

“It’s a little silly I know…”

“No, I actually have seen it, it’s been the only Kyubey in town recently.”

“Really!?” 

“Yeah, I saw it in that Witch’s labyrinth.”

Iroha started to run after the Witch, “Thanks for the information!”

The red haired Magical Girl called back, “Wait! That Witch is too strong for you!”

Iroha kept running, she couldn’t bring herself to care. She had a lead and she needed to follow through.

Iroha’s encounter with the Sandbox Witch was disastrous. She could barely deal with the Witch’s minions, let alone the massive Witch itself. She did see the tiny Kyubey in the labyrinth, but that hardly mattered as she was battered by the Witch. All she could remember as she fell unconscious was a dark haired Magical Girl telling her that she was too weak for Kamihama.

Iroha woke up on a bench, body aching. A Magical Girl with blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail and brown eyes sat on the bench beside her. She had a red, blue and white school uniform on and she was certainly older than Iroha. This was definitely not the girl she’d seen before she passed out.

“Ah, you’re awake.” The blonde said.

“Wha… What happened?” Iroha replied.

“Jeez, you’re still out of it? Better pull yourself together before you get jumped by someone like me.” Her voice had a comedic lilt to it.

“Eh?”

“Just kidding! Lighten up a bit, you survived!”

“I’m sorry for any trouble.” Iroha got into a sitting position on the bench. Now that Iroha had more of her faculties in order, she realized it was pretty dark out. How long had she been unconscious?

“Don’t worry about it! Saving someone like you is all in a day’s work for me. Still, it’s not great to get beaten by familiars that badly.”

Iroha couldn’t respond.

“Because of that, to make sure you don’t get messed up by any more familiars in the future, we’re going to the Coordinator!” She held up a finger.

“The… Coordinator?” 

The girl explained the concept of a Coordinator to Iroha. Essentially, she was a Magical Girl who could enhance the magic of other Magical Girls, but couldn’t fight on her own. Therefore, she’d render her services in exchange for Grief Seeds. She also had connections and could introduce you to other Magical Girls in Kamihama.

“That sounds way too good to be true!” Iroha chimed in once the blonde’s explanation was finished.

“You’ll see once you meet her.” 

“But I don’t have any Grief Seeds on me…” Iroha trailed off.

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay.” The girl waved away her concerns.

“Y-you really don’t have to go through all this trouble for me!”

“Nonsense! You’re here for a reason, I can see it in your eyes. We wouldn’t want that to go to waste cause you’re too weak to survive around here.” The girl said, a wry grin on her face.

“Oh… I just realized we never introduced ourselves! My name’s Tamaki Iroha!” Iroha bowed slightly.

“Mine is Togame Momoko, you can just call me Momoko!”

The two Magical Girls set off into the night.

Momoko-san brought Iroha to an office deeper into Shinsei ward. The two entered the building and Iroha was stunned by what she was. It was a strange room, almost similar to a therapist’s office. The back wall was a massive stained glass art piece, various lamps and what Iroha could only describe as modernist sculptures dotted the room.

Then there was the Coordinator herself, or at least who Iroha assumed was the Coordinator. She had long silver hair done up into a bun ponytail, she also looked to be the same age or slightly older than Momoko-san. Her Soul Gem was an X shaped ornament tied up with her hair. She wore a costume that looked like a combination of a tail coat and a maid’s uniform, with ruffled shoulders and long coat tails. Her costume was colored a combination of blue, white and black, with small gold aspects littered throughout.

“Hey, Coordinator!” Momoko-san called out.

A warm smile graced the Coordinator’s face, “Ah, Momoko, it’s been a while,” Her voice took on a pleading tone, “I missed you.”

Momoko-san’s smile grew slightly awkward, “Yeah right, with all the customers you’ve been getting lately there’s no way you’d have time to think about me.”

“That’s not true.” The Coordinator pouted slightly, then turned to see Iroha, “I see you’ve brought a new friend.”

“That’s right, I’m not here for myself, I came to introduce a new customer.”

“She’s… the Coordinator, right?” Iroha asked.

“That’s me! My name is Yakumo Mitama. Feel free to come anytime!” Yakumo-san introduced herself.

Iroha bowed, “I’m Tamaki Iroha. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The Coordinator’s smile grew slightly wider.

“Now then, Coordinator, I’d like you to align Iroha-chan’s Soul Gem.” Momoko-san cut in.

“Now, now, I’m not going to do my job for free just because you’re cute Momoko. I’m assuming you have payment?”

Momoko-san’s face turned a bit pink, “I do.”

“By the way, what does “aligning” my Soul Gem mean?” Iroha was curious, she wanted to make sure nothing sketchy would happen to the source of her powers.

“Basically, I’ll be bringing out more of your latent magical potential. Most Magical Girls aren’t capable of using 100% of their Soul Gem’s power, they use closer to 50 or 60%. When I align a Soul Gem, I unlock more of that unrealized power. It’ll allow you to use more magic and go longer without needing a Grief Seed, and because you have more magic you can hit harder than you could before.” Yakumo-san explained succinctly.

“I see…” 

Yakumo-san’s smile grew even wider, “Now then, we should get on with the alignment. Please take off your clothes and lay on that couch.”

“Got it... Eh!? You want me to strip!?” Iroha practically screamed.

“That’s right, just put your clothes in the basket.” Her expression was unreadable.

“...Alright!” Iroha mustered her meager resolve and grabbed her school blazer at the bottom.

“Wait!” Momoko-san called out. “She’s just messing with you, you don’t actually have to strip.” She scratched her head, “The Coordinator’s the mischievous type, it’s hard to tell when she’s being serious.”

Yakumo-san giggled, “That’s right!” 

Iroha released her blazer and decided not to fight her on it. She laid down on the couch, her Soul Gem in its egg form sitting atop her heart. Yakumo-san placed a finger on the tip of her Soul Gem, and Iroha was dunked into pitch darkness.

Iroha found herself in that hospital room again, face to face with the girl who haunted her dreams. The girl smiled serenely, adoration plainly visible on her face.

“What do you mean to me?”

However-

“Why do I feel this nostalgia when I see you?”

There-

“Why do I feel so much affection when I see you!?”

Was-

“What’s our connection!?”

Nothing-

“I need to know!”

But-

“PLEASE!”

Silence.

Iroha found herself back on the couch in the Coordinator’s office, face streaked with tears.

“Whoa… That’s not the normal reaction to an alignment.” Momoko-san said, concern woven into her voice.

“Are you alright, Iroha-chan?” Yakumo-san asked, face strangely neutral.

“Yeah… I just had a really troubling dream.” Was all Iroha said. She rolled her shoulder, she felt way better than she did before, this Coordinator thing really worked!

“I see… Iroha-chan, there’s something I need to ask you about.” The Coordinator asked. Iroha nodded, Yakumo-san continued, “When I align a girl’s Soul Gem, I get to see into her memories. I promise I won’t say anything about what I’ve seen, client confidentiality and all. But I noticed something in your memories. Iroha-chan… What did you wish for?”

What did Iroha wish for? That was easy, it was…

Iroha’s mind screeched to a halt as she realized that she didn’t know . Her wish, the reason she was a Magical Girl in the first place, the reason she had to fight and she didn’t know it. Iroha’s breathing picked up as she stewed on the fact that she didn’t even know her own wish. She wrapped her arms around herself as the world began to spin.

Momoko-san’s hand landed on Iroha’s shoulder, “Hey, Hey, it’s okay, just calm down and breathe.”

The blonde’s voice soothed Iroha, bringing her out of her doom spiral. Iroha shuddered, she hadn’t even noticed that she’d forgotten her own wish. She could’ve gone her entire life without knowing the thing she’d deemed so important that she risked her life for. The thought was horrifying in an existential way.

“T-thank you, Momoko-san…” Iroha stood up from the couch and began to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“That little Kyubey has the answers, I need to find it!”

“Iroha-chan, wait!”

Iroha ran out of the Coordinator’s office into the darkness of the night, to search for the Sandbox Witch once more.

Iroha slid to a halt when she finally found the Sandbox Witch’s labyrinth again. She took a few moments to catch her breath when she heard footsteps behind her.

“Iroha-chan!” Momoko-san had followed her, “If you think I’m just gonna let you do this by yourself you’re crazy!”

“I’m stronger now, I’ll be fine right!?”

“You’re still not strong enough to be taking on Kamihama Witches on your own. I’ll back you up okay?”

“Alright!” Iroha triggered her transformation, walking forward when-

A halberd impacted the ground in front of Iroha, sending spiderweb cracks throughout the concrete. Iroha suddenly felt a presence above her, on one of the rooftops of the alleyway they were in. The person landed with a rush of displaced air and Iroha suddenly found it very difficult to breathe.

The first thing Iroha noticed was her power. Her magic was immense, greater than any Magical Girl Iroha had ever met and it wasn’t even close. It was like Iroha was drowning in the deepest fathoms of the ocean, being crushed by the pressure of the water above her. Iroha knew, deep in her bones, that if this woman wanted her dead there would be nothing she could do about it.

Then there was the woman herself. She was very pretty, in an intimidating sort of way. If anything, Iroha almost thought she recognized her from somewhere. She was also very old for a Magical Girl, in so far as she was an adult, that almost never happened as far as Iroha knew. Her eyes were dark blue, the same shade as her free flowing back length hair. Her costume was elegant yet powerful. A headdress adorned her head, a set of strings with blue beads on the end dangled from it. She wore a black bodysuit underneath a blue sleeveless dress with golden stars glittering near the bottom of the dress. She wore a silver breastplate with gold trimming over her chest. Her dark blue Soul Gem was a crescent moon pendant hanging around her neck.

This woman was power incarnate. This woman, Iroha had to imagine, was the strongest Magical Girl alive.

The woman wrenched the halberd out of the ground and planted its butt on the concrete floor, “I thought I told you that you couldn’t survive around here.” 

Iroha shuddered at the sound of her voice. She was shoved backwards as Momoko-san got between her and the woman, transforming in a flash of yellow light. Her costume was lightly armored, with ribbons falling from her waist. The outfit was colored yellow, white and a shade reminiscent of green tea. A massive weapon, like a meat cleaver with a semi-circle taken out of the front, manifested in her hands.

“I’m not just gonna let you chase her out of town, Yachiyo-san!”

“Chase me out of town..?” Iroha trailed off, she was certainly missing something.

“I’m only going to ask you once. Leave this town before you get hurt.” The woman, Yachiyo-san, said with a dead serious tone to her voice.

“I’m sorry but I can’t do that!” Iroha bowed slightly, “Please let me through! I got my Soul Gem aligned by the Coordinator!”

“Even so you are still very weak, I cannot just allow you to go and get yourself killed.” Yachiyo-san hefted the halberd and started to walk towards her. Iroha pushed past Momoko-san to face the older woman head on.

“I can’t leave Kamihama just yet, I’ll leave once I find what I need!” Iroha promised.

“I am serious. If you won’t leave on your own I will break all your limbs and throw you out of the city limits myself.”

Something akin to resolve but far darker crystalized in Iroha’s chest, “Then do it.”

“Oi, Iroha-chan…” Momoko-san said carefully, trying to warn her. Yachiyo-san raised an eyebrow.

“You’re strong enough to the point that anything Momoko-san or I do doesn’t matter. If you wanted to hurt me, you could just hurt me with zero consequences.” The woman had a troubled look on her face, she seemed uncomfortable with that. Iroha continued, “If you’re going to hurt me then just get it over with, but I’m not leaving on my own. I need to find that small Kyubey. I’d rather die than leave here without finding it.”

After a moment of tense silence, Yachiyo-san spoke, “Small Kyubey?”

“Yes, I saw it in the Sandbox Witch’s labyrinth!”

Yachiyo-san contemplated for a little while before answering, “If you believe yourself to be strong enough to survive here in Kamihama, prove it to me. Defeat that Witch within 30 minutes. If you can, I’ll allow you to remain in the city.”

“Hold the phone!” Momoko-san cut in, “You can’t expect her to take on a whole Witch by herself! The other way to survive in Kamihama besides just being strong enough is to team up with other Magical Girls. I’ll help out.”

“Very well.” Was all Yachiyo-san said.

Iroha smiled, “Thank you, Momoko-san!” She steeled herself and walked into the labyrinth.

“Mo’kyu!”

Iroha’s eyes were drawn to the small Kyubey perched on a girder in the Sandbox Witch’s labyrinth. Her and Momoko-san had been fighting through the extra-dimensional space and Iroha had been doing way better than last time! It took three bolts to destroy a familiar instead of five! Iroha couldn’t quite understand the small Kyubey, but…

“You want us to follow you?”

The little creature nodded and darted off into the labyrinth, Iroha and Momoko-san followed after it. With its guidance, they tore through the labyrinth with a speed that would’ve been impossible for them otherwise. The battle with the Witch itself was difficult, more so than any Witch Iroha had faced before. With Momoko-san’s assistance and her own power increased by Yakumo-san, the Witch fell before long. The labyrinth collapsed, leaving the two Magical Girls in the alleyway. Yachiyo-san looked up from her phone at their arrival.

“Twenty four minutes… Well done.” She said dryly, “I will allow you to stay.”

“I’m surprised. I thought you wanted to keep any new Magical Girls from sticking around. More Grief Seeds for you that way, right?” Momoko-san’s tone was harsh.

Yachiyo-san sighed, “I’m tired of being misinterpreted by you.”

“Thank you for allowing me to stay in Kamihama!” Iroha bowed.

“It’s alright. I was sure you would be fine anyway.” Yachiyo-san’s words surprised her.

Momoko-san cocked an eyebrow, “What’s the point of the test then?”

“I needed to draw out that small Kyubey.”

What?

“It’s been the only Kyubey in town for a while now. A potential threat I need to deal with.” The woman hefted one of her halberds and Iroha only had a few moments to react. There was only one response she had in the first place. Iroha leapt and grabbed the small Kyubey in her arms. Her vision went black at the edges as the halberd pierced her gut, sending sickeningly crimson blood all over the pavement.

“Wh… IROHA-CHAN!!” Iroha could barely hear Momoko-san’s scream over the pain.

“What the hell were you thinking!?” Yachiyo-san hissed, losing her composure for the first time since they’d met.

As her vision went dark, her mind swirled with contact with the small Kyubey. Memories churned as they returned to her. Iroha’s mother letting her hold her after she was born. Celebrating birthdays with her. Sleeping in the same room, walking her to school, eating dinner with the family. That image of her room, the other side returned to its original shape. Tears spilled from her eyes as she finally, finally, remembered.

“Ui…”

Blood spilled from smiling lips

“My beloved little sister… Ui!”

That hole in her heart filled up, if only a little.

Chapter Text

Madoka stared at the ceiling of her room, eyes wide open. Her hand traced the path of Sukuna’s slash on her chest. The skin was unblemished, as if nothing even happened. Madoka breathed in sharply, she just couldn’t get to sleep. Her mind kept circling the Sukuna incident and her own failures with that Witch.

The pink haired girl sighed and pulled herself out of bed, there was no way she could sleep with all that in her head. Madoka quietly walked down the stairs, being careful not to wake anyone up. She entered the kitchen to find her mother sitting at the table, silently sipping on a drink.

“Mama,” Madoka called out. Her mother turned and cocked an eyebrow.

“What are you still doing up?” She asked.

“I’ve just… Had a lot of things on my mind. I couldn’t sleep.” Was all Madoka said, not meeting her Mama’s eyes.

The woman ushered her forward, “Come here, we can talk about it.”

Madoka took a seat across from her mother.

“What’s wrong?” Her Mama asked, concern leaking into her expression.

“It’s kind of complicated… Basically, I’ve been told that I have a lot of potential in something, but I don’t feel ready for that kind of… Responsibility, I guess? I had the chance to like, show what I could do in regards to that something but I was too scared and I fumbled it. It feels like there’s a lot of expectations on me that I don’t think I can meet.” Madoka let her feelings out, making sure to edit out anything related to magic or curses. Her mother hummed, placing a finger on her chin in thought.

“I assume there’s a reason you're not being specific?” Mama saw straight through Madoka. 

“Wehihihi…” Madoka laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head.

“Anyways, expectations are a funny thing,” Her mother smiled slightly, “They can either lift you up or make you want to run far, far away.”

In Madoka’s case, Sukuna’s expectations were utterly horrifying. They made her want to simultaneously freeze in place and sprint away as fast as possible.

“There is one thing I know, if someone is seeing potential in you, that means an opportunity has opened for you. You need to take your time, figure out if that opportunity is something you want to take, but it’s generally better to try something and back out when you find out it’s not for you than to never do it in the first place.”

Madoka saw where her mother was coming from. Maybe in the end she’d actually like fighting if she became a Sorcerer or a Magical Girl? Madoka doubted it, but it was possible. Still, she got the feeling her mother would have different opinions if she knew Madoka was talking about supernatural combat.

“It’s just that… I feel like taking that path would make my life much more difficult, and I don’t know if I want that.” Madoka replied.

“Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. The path I took wasn’t exactly easy, but look where it got me. A beautiful family, enough money for a lifetime and more happiness than I know what to do with.” Mama smiled with nostalgia, memories dancing behind closed eyelids. Madoka couldn’t help but smile alongside her.

The pink haired girl turned her mother’s words over in her mind. Really, becoming a Sorcerer and fighting to protect people should be everything she could ever want. The same went with becoming a Magical Girl, but for some reason, she felt like she’d need a really good reason to make a contract.

Still, her fear anchored her heart, stopping her from committing to any path. The terror Sukuna had branded onto her soul and the memories of what happened to Mami-san were the things holding her back.

“I don’t think I can make a decision just yet.” Was all Madoka said, looking over at her mother.

“That’s fine. You’re young, Madoka, you have all the time in the world to mull over your choices until you come to something that’s right for you.” Mama ruffled Madoka’s hair.

“Thank you, Mama!”

Her mother’s face split with a slight grin, “Y’know, you’re not the only person up this late.”

“Huh?”

“I saw Akemi-chan walk out into the backyard about half an hour ago.”

“Oh, maybe I should go talk to her.” 

Mama’s smile grew wider, “Maybe you should, besides, a moonlit chat is pretty romantic.”

“Mama!” Madoka whisper-shouted in embarrassment, face burning red. Her mother just giggled a little and took a swig of her drink. Madoka excused herself, each step carrying her out towards the backyard. Before she could leave however, Mama called out to her.

“Just know that no matter what you do in life, I’ll be proud of you, Madoka.”

Madoka wasn’t expecting what she saw as she walked out into the backyard. Homura-chan, in her costume, had set up a practice dummy and was hitting it with one of those foam swords. Every time she struck, she took some time to focus, the feeling of her magic changing with each blow. The blows themselves, however, had no magic behind them. Before Madoka could even say something, Homura-chan had turned around to look at her.

“Kaname-san, you’re still up?” She asked, foam sword resting on her shoulder.

“Y-yeah… How did you know I was here?”

“I set up a barrier to detect if people were coming, in case your mother came by to see me practicing. I’ve been meaning to ask about it, but I could set up a couple barriers to protect the house against Witches and hostile Magical Girls.”

“Won’t that cost a lot of magic maintaining them? I don’t know that much about barriers.”

“I can make barriers that will maintain themselves for months without a recharge, so it will not be a problem. Your family has been very kind to me. Keeping them safe is a way to repay you all, even if your parents can’t know. It is worth it to me.” Homura-chan didn’t meet her eyes during the entirety of that statement, the darkness made it hard to see how pink her cheeks were.

“I see… What training are you doing?” Madoka changed the subject.

“I’m trying to figure out how to wield dark magic. I can feel the curses festering in my Soul Gem, but I cannot bring them to bear.”

Wasn’t that bad? Madoka replied, “Didn’t you hear what Kyubey said, about it searing your Soul Gem or making you turn evil?”

Homura-chan’s eyes narrowed, “I do not trust a word out of that thing’s mouth and you should not either. Besides, I am skeptical of the potential for dark magic to ‘turn me evil,’ Itadori-san wields cursed energy and he is still quite kind.”

“That’s a good point.”

“Beyond that, I have a theory regarding dark magic. Assuming I am right, it would certainly explain why Kyubey is so against it.” The second part of Homura-chan’s statement was quiet, like she was thinking out loud.

“What problems are you running into?”

“There’s something off about dark magic in contrast to regular magic. It just slips from my grasp everytime I try to control it.”

“Oh, I had that problem when I first tried manipulating cursed energy as well. Cursed energy, or maybe negative energy, is slippery, like it’s covered in mucus. Unlike positive energy, which you control by gripping it tightly, you have to let negative energy flow around your body.” Madoka’s hand ignited with her pink cursed energy, the drifting motes blowing away like flower petals, “Sorta like this.”

Homura-chan examined the flow of her cursed energy rigorously. The scrutiny almost made Madoka blush. She turned and stood across from her training dummy. Madoka actually felt the curse, miniscule as it was, travel into the foam sword. However, by the time Homura-chan struck the dummy, the dark magic receded back into her Soul Gem. Homura-chan sighed and slid the sword back into her shield.

“I am nowhere near as talented as you are, Kaname-san. It will take much more practice until I figure it out.” Homura-chan turned and somehow the dummy was stuffed back into the gap between her arm and her shield. Homura-chan’s powers really were fascinating.

“You can fit things that are bigger than your shield into it?”

“I can. There also isn’t a limit to how much I can carry, nor do I feel any of its weight.” Homura-chan allayed Madoka’s curiosity. Madoka’s eyes caught on the moon above them, gleaming and beautiful.

“Say, Homura-chan, can you pull some chairs out of your shield? We can sit down and keep talking.”

“Shouldn’t you be getting to sleep?”

“I think I’ll be able to sleep easier after we have a conversation.”

“...Very well.” Homura-chan swung her arm and two folding chairs appeared on the grass in the backyard. A few moments of setup later and the two girls were sitting, looking up at the sky. There weren’t many stars, what with all the light pollution, but the moon itself was very pretty.

“So… I’ve been thinking of becoming a Sorcerer or a Magical Girl-”

“Do not.” Came Homura-chan’s stern reply.

Madoka laughed awkwardly, “B-but I wanted to hear what it’s like for you before I make any decisions.”

Homura-chan sighed, “This life is not one I would recommend to anyone else. You would certainly have an easier go of it, what with your unrivaled power, but that is no excuse to throw your life away.”

“I understand what you mean, but apparently I have so much potential. People die from curses and Witches all the time, right? Wouldn’t it be wrong for me to do nothing?”

“It is not wrong to be selfish sometimes, just as it is okay to run away if you need to. You have a wonderful family and people who care about you. You should think about everyone who would be distraught if you got yourself killed.”

‘Because I’m one of them,’ went unsaid, Madoka was almost certain of it. The connection she felt with Homura-chan but couldn’t confirm still ate at Madoka’s thoughts. Her attention went back to the sky. Suddenly, Madoka realized something. The great wheel of her Cursed Technique manifested behind her, whirling to the animal landscape. As she curled the proverbial finger, her senses sharpened and the night sky, in all of its glory, revealed itself to her.

Madoka marveled at its beauty, however, something she hadn’t considered quickly became apparent. Animal enhanced all of her senses, not just her vision. The sound of Homura-chan's breathing, her heartbeat pulled Madoka away from the sky. It wasn’t just that, she also caught the scent of shampoo off of the Magical Girl’s black hair.

“Is something wrong, Kaname-san? You activated your Technique.” Homura-chan asked, a little urgently. The two girl’s eyes met and silence spread over the backyard. That moment carried for what felt like forever. Just Madoka and Homura-chan, staring into each other’s eyes. Madoka blushed bright red and wrenched her eyes back to the sky.

With an awkward laugh, Madoka answered the question, “I-I just thought that I would be able to see the night sky better if I activated my Technique!”

“I-Is that so… I suppose that is a good enough use for it,” Homura-chan replied, a hint of pink on her cheeks.

“Y-yeah…” Madoka deactivated her Technique. That was… something else, for sure! Madoka took a few moments to calm down before she continued the conversation, “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about.”

“Yes?”

“After Yuji’s fight with the blood guy, Kyubey said he was busy and couldn’t show up for a wish. However, I caught sight of him leaving the scene on a nearby rooftop after the fact. Why would Kyubey say he was busy when he was there?”

Homura-chan grit her teeth, “That damn vulture…”

“It’s just, he said that he really wants to make a contract with me. Why would he not show up when I was ready to make a contract?”

Homura-chan paused for a moment, seemingly collecting her thoughts, before speaking, “I imagine it was waiting for Itadori-san to die.”

Madoka jumped in her seat, “Why!?”

“There is a veritable ocean between the amount of potential it takes to heal a person who is about to die and the amount of potential it takes to bring someone back to life. If it had come when Itadori-san was dying, but not dead, then Miki-san could have made a contract to fix him. However, if it had simply waited a few moments longer, until Itadori-san died…”

“Then the only one with enough potential to save him would’ve been me.” An ugly feeling curled in the bottom of Madoka’s chest. 

“It was attempting to secure a contract with you specifically, using Itadori-san’s life as leverage.”

It made perfect sense, but Madoka didn’t want to believe that someone she thought was her friend would be so… Duplicitous.

“But Kyubey said he was busy, he can’t lie right?””

Homura-chan sighed, “As far as I know, Kyubey cannot directly lie, but that doesn’t mean it has to tell the truth. It can lie by omission, selectively telling the truth to achieve its ends. Perhaps it was engaged in some other activity so it could say it was busy when you asked.”

“But… Mami-san trusts Kyubey, and I trust Mami-san, so…” Madoka wanted to believe the best in people, she really, really did.

“Kyubey intentionally keeps Tomoe-san in the dark so it can make use of her. She makes the Magical Girl life look glamorous with her skills and lofty ideals. I imagine it acts as an excellent recruitment tool, it certainly worked on Miki-san.”

“I…”

“Something you need to understand about Kyubey is that it does not care about anything beyond making contracts, that is the sole purpose behind that creature’s existence. It would go to any length, stoop to any low, if it meant making a contract with you.”

Madoka contemplated for a while. She wanted to trust Homura-chan, but that didn’t mean she wanted to distrust Kyubey.

“I think… The next chance I get, I’ll ask Kyubey about it myself. It’s not that I don’t trust you, Homura-chan, it’s just that I want to be sure for myself.”

Homura-chan nodded solemnly, “Very well. A word of advice, when speaking with Kyubey, pay attention to both what it does and does not say.”

Madoka smiled lightly, “Thank you, I’ll keep it in mind.

All that remained for the two girls was the light of the moon and the silence of the night.

(So enraptured, both of them were, that neither one noticed the white shape watching them from the shadows. Beady, unblinking red eyes never leaving their forms.)

The Incubator’s tail swished back and forth as it waited in Tomoe Mami’s living room. The blonde herself was busy treating Sakura Kyoko’s wounds. This result was evident based on Tomoe Mami’s existing emotional connection to Sakura Kyoko. It was around then that the individual thought partition currently residing in Tomoe Mami’s home gained the information logged to the database by Incubator Terminal #57,436-EARTH. This information was immediately designated as high impact and therefore the thought partition, otherwise known as an Incubator Terminal, was allocated to process that information, alongside many other Terminals.

Processing…

Based on Akemi Homura’s hostility, her knowledge regarding the way the Incubator bent the truth and her consistent usage of the pronoun, ‘it,’ the Incubator inferred that Akemi Homura was aware of its true nature. This risked a potential leak regarding the true extent of the Magical Girl system to Kaname Madoka and the three Sorcerers. That leak would lead to Jujutsu Society learning of its operation, which could potentially be disastrous for its margins. Japan was the only place on earth that consistently produced high quality stock, due to Tengen’s barriers. The Incubator could not subvert those barriers thanks to its Binding Vow with Tengen so if the Sorcerers of Japan moved to minimize the amount of contracts it could complete, that would be a major hit.

Such an outcome was unacceptable.

It also needed to find a way to spin its presence at the scene of Sukuna’s vessel’s battle in a way that portrayed it positively to Kaname Madoka. How unfortunate that her Technique had allowed her to catch sight of it. Very, very unfortunate.

The thought partition’s attention turned as Tomoe Mami exited her room, likely having left Sakura Kyoko on her bed.

“Ah, Kyubey, you’re here.” Tomoe Mami said with a warm smile on her face.

Indeed. How is Sakura Kyoko doing? Feigning sympathy would fit Tomoe Mami’s perception of it.

“She’s stable now. It’s strange though, all her wounds are so… Different.”

What do you mean?

“Magical Girls only have one weapon, and Witches tend to stick to one or two methods of attacking. Kyoko has bruises, cuts and puncture wounds, it’s too varied for either of those…” Tomoe Mami voiced her thoughts.

There is a residual curse that clings to her wounds, perhaps it was a Sorcerer who attacked her. Fushiguro Megumi carries enough weapons to make those varied wounds, correct?

“There’s no way Fushiguro-san attacked Kyoko! What possible motive could he even have?” Tomoe Mami had a skeptical look on her face. It seems it had misspoke.

I was just using Fushiguro as an example, it could also be a cursed spirit or a Witch. The Incubator Terminal course corrected. It seems the Incubator had missed its chance to make Tomoe Mami distrustful of the Sorcerer trio that had taken up residence in Mitakihara. It had been too busy focusing on contracting with more targets to make up for all the Magical Girls that had died recently.

“I see… Say Kyubey, what can you tell me about Walpurgisnacht?"

The Queen of the Witches? Why do you ask?

“We’re going to be fighting it in less than a month, do you have any tips?”

If you value your life, I would recommend against fighting that thing. It is extraordinarily powerful, the fusion of tens of thousands of Witches. The only being on this planet that exceeds it in raw power is Kaname Madoka. 

“Even more powerful than the King of Curses?”

In terms of raw cursed energy, Walpurgisnacht eclipses Ryomen Sukuna by leaps and bounds. However, Walpurgisnacht lacks the skill, technique and cruel cunning that the King of Curses wields. I am unsure which of them would prevail in a battle.

“As a protector of the city, I can’t just abandon it in its hour of need! Besides, we’ll have the Sorcerer’s teacher on our side. They told me that Gojo Satoru would even be able to beat Sukuna!”

The Incubator had not logged the full extent of Gojo Satoru’s power, so it could neither confirm nor deny such a hypothesis. Ryomen Sukuna was simultaneously a curse and a blessing for its operation. On one hand, Sukuna hated the Incubator and would do things like deliberately kill high potential marks before a contract could be completed. On the other hand, the tragedies left in his wake made for good contract fodder. The same went for Walpurgisnacht.

Speaking of Gojo Satoru, the Incubator would need to contrive a reason to be absent while he was in Mitakihara. The Incubator was 99.99% sure that humanity had no way of damaging the Incubator itself at their current level of technology, but it would still be potentially disastrous to be directly observed by the Six Eyes. There was a reason the Incubator had declined to approach Amanai Riko in the leadup to her assimilation with Tengen.

Around then, Tomoe Mami began settling in to go to sleep. She set up her couch, pulling a spare blanket and pillows out of a closet. She laid down on her side and looked at the thought partition.

“You know… I haven’t said it much recently but I really appreciate you, Kyubey. You’ve been the only consistent friend I’ve had since the accident. Thank you.” She had a soft smile on her face.

Of course, Mami. It is only right considering your contribution to my cause. Keeping Tomoe Mami’s cooperation for as long as possible was one of the Incubator’s goals. She had been instrumental in securing a contract with fifteen other targets thus far. She was in the top 0.001% of Magical Girls when it came to contributing to its prime directive. Were the Incubator capable of frivolity, it would remember Tomoe Mami for the rest of eternity.

The blonde drifted off the sleep as the thought partition watched. When it confirmed she was well and truly asleep, it hopped out a window and left. With the Witches all converging on Kamihama and four Magical Girls in Mitakihara, Tomoe Mami would have a chance of starving. It needed to contract more fodder.

“So, are we gonna talk about it?” Kugisaki asked, the early morning sun sending beams of light through the windows. Megumi was putting breakfast together after they woke up, fairly early in the morning. Megumi would bet that Kaname-san and her friends weren’t even in school yet.

“Talk about what, Kugisaki?” Itadori replied, eyes utterly focused on the floor.

“What happened yesterday, with Kaname-chan and Sukuna. I want to make sure you’re holding up okay.”

Itadori sighed as Megumi set breakfast on the table, hanging his head in his hands, “Why does this mission have to suck so much?”

“Are you legitimately asking or are you just complaining?” 

Itadori ran his hands over his face, looking up at Kugisaki, “I just wish Madoka had nothing to do with this.”

Megumi decided now was a good time to cut in, “What’s done is done, Itadori, now we have to figure out what to do moving forward.”

“What do we do next? It’s not like we have a proper goal here. We can’t contact Gojo-sensei and the only time limit we have is weeks away.” Kugisaki chimed in.

“I think…” Broaching this topic with Itadori was not going to be fun, “We should teach Kaname-san how to fight.”

“Huh!?” Itadori sputtered.

“I… Can’t disagree with that.” Kugisaki agreed with Megumi.

Itadori spun to face Kugisaki, an outraged look on his face.

“I understand how you feel, Itadori. Trust me, I do. However, with Sukuna taking such an interest in your cousin I think it would be in our best interests for Kaname-san to be able to defend herself.” Megumi would never want his sister to become a Sorcerer, but if it was between that and her being helpless when a monster like Sukuna was coming after her… 

“Beyond that, it’s not like Sukuna is the only danger. She stumbled into a Witch on her own yesterday and those unregistered Special Grades we keep running into are probably searching for the source of the emanation as well. We can’t always be there to protect her.” Kugisaki added in, refusing to meet Itadori’s eyes. The pink haired boy stared at the table, face scrunched in thought. He sighed, leaning back in his chair.

“I can’t refute any of that.”

“So then..?”

“If Madoka comes to us and asks to learn how to fight, I won’t refuse to teach her. But we are not forcing her hand on this. She shouldn’t have to fight if she doesn’t want to.” Itadori’s eyes were resolute, there would be no further discussion on this point. Still, this went better than Megumi was expecting.

“Not gonna fight harder to keep your cousin uninvolved?” Kugisaki voiced Megumi’s thoughts.

“I was accepting of it when Madoka was going to make a contract with Kyubey before Tomoe lost her arm. This is just an extension of that. If it’s her decision, I have no right to stop her.”

Kugisaki hummed while she picked at her breakfast. They were just finishing up with Megumi’s phone buzzed. All three Sorcerers pulled out their phones in perfect sync. It was a message from the chat room.

Tomoe Mami: @everyone Come over to my apartment after school today.

Tomoe Mami: There’s something we need to talk about.

Chapter Text

Kyoko awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling and biting pain. Less pain than she’d expected though, considering how badly that patch faced freak had fucked her up. She gave herself a pat down and found that most of her smaller cuts and bruises had healed, while the bigger ones were bandaged. Had someone found her and patched her up? Who the hell would help a random homeless teenager? 

Kyoko’s eyes went to a clock on a bed stand. 4:15pm, on the dot. It was pretty late in the afternoon, but Kyoko didn’t know how long she was asleep. If it had been for any longer than a day, she’d probably be in the hospital, so that narrowed it down a little. Kyoko pulled herself up from the bed, silently hissing from the pain. Suddenly, Kyoko caught a nostalgic smell, some cake being baked, or something like that. A dreadful feeling overtook the red haired girl as she realized that the ‘unfamiliar’ ceiling was, in fact, very familiar.

Holy shit, was this Mami’s apartment!? Why the fuck had her pain-addled brain decided to take her here of all places!?

(Kyoko would probably never admit it, but she felt safe for the first time in a while.)

Kyoko tried to get to her feet, so she could leave as soon as physically possible, but the pain sent her straight to the ground. A half-aborted scream tore itself from her throat as the fall aggravated her wounds. Even wracked with pain, Kyoko could hear the sound of footsteps approaching her position. The door slammed open and admitted Mami, worry carved onto her face. Kyoko had never expected to see her again, it was almost surreal looking at her.

“Kyoko!” She cried, running forward, “Are you okay!?”

“Oh gee, I’m feeling just fine! What the fuck does it look like!?” Kyoko spat venomously.

“I’ve got you, don’t worry.” Mami said as she helped Kyoko up, completely ignoring her barb.

“Che!” Kyoko refused to meet Mami’s eyes as she walked her into the living room. The red haired girl was stunned by the sheer volume of people situated around the room. Last she’d heard Mami was completely alone in Mitakihara. The fuck had happened in the month or so since she’d last caught wind of rumors. First in Kyoko’s eyes were the two Magical Girls she felt, a girl with long black hair and a girl with short blue hair. Next was the girl with truly monstrous potential sitting next to the black haired girl. Then there was the three, two boys and a girl, who felt…

“What the fuck, is this some kind of set-up!?” Kyoko yelled, paranoia coloring her mind.

“What are you talking about?” Mami replied, a little desperately. Seemed she wanted this, whatever it was, to go well.

Kyoko pointed at the three on one of the couches, “Those three feel like the guy who attacked me!”

The one with pink spiky hair, who Kyoko mentally dubbed ‘Hedgehog,’ immediately sputtered, “Huh?”

His black haired friend, who was now known as “Sea Urchin,” said, “So it was a cursed spirit or Curse user who attacked you.”

“Cursed spirit? Curse user? The hell are you guys talking about?” Kyoko asked, not liking being out of the loop. Everyone in the room ran her through an explanation over the next ten minutes or so. Cursed energy and all of its subordinate concepts like Sorcerers, cursed spirits and Curse users. Seems the world was a lot bigger than Kyoko had initially thought. She almost didn’t believe them until Sea Urchin’s hand ignited with a potent curse, crackling cyan energy.

“The guy felt more like a Witch than any of you guys, so he was probably one of those ‘cursed spirits.’” Kyoko explained, seated in one of Mami’s chairs. The pain from her wounds was slightly better, but Kyoko would still have to heal herself using her magic later.

“What did he look like?” The brown haired one asked. Kyoko didn’t exactly have much to go on by her appearance alone, so she’d need to come up with a nickname later.

“He was kinda tall and had long, light blue hair-”

“With a stitch pattern on his face?” Hedgehog asked gravely. Suddenly, Kyoko saw a couple of the faces around the room pale considerably.

“Yeah… You familiar with that freak?”

Hedgehog’s hands curled into fists, tightly gripping his pants. He trembled with rage, Kyoko could even feel it in his cursed energy.

The pink haired boy met her eyes, “Did he touch you with his palms!?”

“No, he seemed to be gunning for that, so I did my best to dodge or block with my spear or barriers.”

Hedgehog sighed in relief, “Patch face’s Technique lets him manipulate the souls, and therefore the bodies, of anyone he touches with the palms of his hands. He’s also a Special Grade cursed spirit, strong enough that even a carpet bombing might not be able to kill him. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Ah, so that was why everyone was so pale. A power like that was existentially terrifying. If that freak got her, would she meet God looking like something out of a horror movie? Suddenly, Kyoko remembered those strange monsters the cursed spirit had thrown at her. Had those things she’d killed been… People?

Welp, just another reason Kyoko was going to hell.

“So I happened to run into a super freak? Just my luck…”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Kyoko.” Mami said, genuine relief in her voice.

“Yeah, I’m sure you are.” sarcasm dripped from Kyoko’s words. The blue haired one, who Kyoko dubbed ‘Blueberry,’ narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t explain why the hell she was being so hostile. Seeing Mami act like they were still friends or something just made Kyoko sick to her stomach.

(Had Mami spent all this time hung up on Kyoko of all people?)

“Mami-san saved your life, you shouldn’t speak to her like that.” Blueberry cut in. She spoke with the kind of self-righteousness that tended to piss Kyoko off. 

“I didn’t ask for her to save shit!” Kyoko yelled.

“What was she supposed to do, leave you to die!?” Blueberry screamed back.

“I would’ve! Or if she insisted on being a goody two shoes she could’ve, I don’t fucking know, called an ambulance !” Kyoko turned and pointed at the blonde, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing Mami! I’m not your goddamn dog, I’m not gonna come back just because you show me a scrap of kindness!”

Mami said nothing, not even bothering to meet her eyes. Why the hell wasn’t she defending herself!? 

Blueberry got up and slammed her hands on the table, “I just said you shouldn’t speak to Mami-san that way! What the hell is your problem!?”

“You don’t need to white knight for her, if she wants to defend herself, she can defend herself! Mami, who the hell is this girl!?”

“This is Miki Sayaka, she’s my latest pupil.” 

“...Ah, I see.” Something ugly curled in Kyoko’s chest. So Mami had finally replaced her…

“You don’t need to act like such a jerk! Who the hell treats their friends like that!” Blueberry spat.

“Sayaka-chan…” the pink haired girl with twin tails, who was now ‘Pinky,’ said with a combination of nervousness and warning.

”Come on Blueberry, you’re not gonna win any brownie points like that! Try a little harder!” A grin split Kyoko’s face, egging this girl on was pretty fun! 

“B-Blueberry!?” The girl in question seethed, hands trembling against Mami’s glass table.

Suddenly, something clicked in Kyoko’s mind, “I’m sorry, friends!? ” She, for the first time, met Mami’s eyes, “Have you been telling these jackasses we’re friends!? ”

“I said we used to be friends.” Was Mami’s response.

“At least you’re not that delusional.” Kyoko said, letting a hint of false relief enter her voice. Mami flinched and it took every fiber of Kyoko’s being not to flinch in response.

“This is going about as well as I expected.” The black haired girl, now known as ‘Murderface,’ half murmured.

Kyoko turned to face her, “You know precisely fuck all about me! Where do you get off saying shit like that!?”

“I do not know you personally, but I have heard many of the rumors about you. I have heard that you are abrasive, that you chase other Magical Girls out of your territory and that you farm Familiars.” Murderface spoke succinctly.

“What the hell am I supposed to do, let some upstart steal my territory!?”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘farm Familiars?’” Pinky asked. There was a moment of silence, Mami seemed unwilling to speak.

“Familiar farming is a practice in which Magical Girls will intentionally let Familiars feed on human souls, allowing them to become full Witches, all so they can harvest their Grief Seeds.” Murderface explained without judgment. Brown Hair and Sea Urchin looked neutral, Hedgehog and Pinky looked disturbed, Mami looked resigned and Blueberry looked utterly aghast.

Oh boy, here it comes.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?” Blueberry screamed.

The self-righteous drivel.

“What am I supposed to do, waste my magic and risk my life to protect some randos? Do you think this is Precure or something!?” Kyoko spat back, a sneer on her face.

“You just… Let people die? What kind of Magical Girl doesn’t protect people!?”

“A realistic one. This whole Magical Girl gig isn’t a game! Not everyone gets to have fertile territory and be one of the strongest Magical Girls in Japan! Magical Girls like me and you can’t keep up with Mami’s heroic bullshit!”

Blueberry leapt to her feet, face scrunched up in fury. A cascade of blue light marked the girl’s transformation. Mami hung her head in her hands.

“What, you wanna fucking fight!?” Kyoko peeled herself off the chair, transforming in a flash of red light, “Cause I’ll put a newbie like you in the goddamn hospital!”

“You monster!” The two girls rushed forward and both were caught short. A giant wheel manifested behind Pinky’s head and pitch black doll arms held Blueberry in place. Mami threw her hand out and ribbons tied Kyoko up.

“Sayaka-chan!/Stop Kyoko!” Mami and Pinky yelled at the same time. Sea Urchin and Brown Hair got up, cursed energy surging from them. The tension in the room threatened to boil over into a full on brawl when-

“EVERYBODY! CALM DOWN!” Hedgehog yelled, shocking everyone into silence. The doll arms and the ribbons faded away. After a few moments, he sighed and continued, “We came here to have a proper conversation. If everyone is done screaming and swearing and trying to fight, we can get to it. Okay?”

Kyoko tsked as her costume dissolved, falling back into the chair with a pained gasp. Blueberry sat down, shame leaking into her expression.

Hedgehog turned to Kyoko, “I just realized we never introduced ourselves. I’m Itadori Yuji.” 

Sea Urchin followed suit, “Fushiguro Megumi.” 

“Mine is Kugisaki Nobara,” Brown Hair said confidently. Wild Rose..? Kyoko could work with that.

Pinky stuttered, “K-Kaname Madoka.”

“Akemi Homura,” Murderface looked slightly bored.

Finally, Blueberry spoke after a few moments of silence, “Miki Sayaka.”

“Alright, now that we’re all introduced, we can get this conversation started.” Hedgehog said. 

“I would like to discuss the details of Kyoko’s stay in Mitakihara, assuming she wants to.” Mami’s voice carried a hint of apprehension.

“You want me to stay!? Why the hell would I do that?”

“I just thought… Because you came here on your own, you would want to stay?” Mami sounded like she barely believed in her own words.

“The only reason I came here was that I knew you would be soft enough to heal me.” Kyoko lied. She got up from her chair and began to walk out the front door, “I should be getting back to my own territory before some dipshit tries to steal it.”

“Kyoko wai-”

“So you are just going to go back to the place you were attacked?” Kyoko froze in place as Murderface spoke.

“The hell are you talking about.”

“For all you know, this patch face curse is still in Kazamino. It would be unwise to return and potentially be attacked again. Especially seeing as you were lucky to escape with your life the first time.”

Kyoko narrowed her eyes, “You strike me as the practical type. What do you get out of me staying here?”

“Walpurgisnacht is coming to Mitakihara. I would hope to have your assistance alongside everyone else in this room. With this many Magical Girls and Sorcerers, we should be able to defeat it without much difficulty.” 

Kyoko was suddenly reminded of the old days, back when she was Mami’s partner. When she said that the two of them together might even be able to beat Walpurgisnacht.

“You’d want me to fight something that dangerous for free?”

“I was originally planning on giving you my apartment.” Murderface said, dead serious.

“For real!?” Kyoko wasn’t expecting that.

“But it was burned to the ground recently, so I cannot.” There was a story behind that, Kyoko was sure of it.

“Homura-chan! Where would you stay if you gave her your apartment?” Pinky chimed in, worried.

“I am not planning on staying in Mitakihara after Walpurgisnacht is defeated.”

“WHAT!?” Pinky turned to look at the black haired girl. She blushed bright red after a few moments.

“I will not have to impose on your family any longer once Walpurgisnacht is dead.”

“I… See…” Pinky seemed distraught.

“If you can’t pay up I’m not going to do shit.” Kyoko spat out.

“That is your prerogative. Either way, can you see the merit in sticking around?” 

Kyoko thought long and hard, but frustratingly the girl was right. She had no way of knowing if she’d be attacked once she left. It would be safer to be in a place with other people who could fight. That cursed spirit guy had been a nightmare to fight and Kyoko wasn’t sure if she’d survive a second encounter.

“Fine! I’ll stay until, and only until we’re sure that patch face freak isn’t around anymore!” Kyoko yelled, pointing at the group.

“You’re welcome to sleep on my couch if you need to. I’d prefer it if you didn’t sleep on the streets.”

Kyoko weighed her options. On one hand, she could probably just bust an ATM and stay in a hotel, however in that scenario she would still have to pay for her food. Mami would almost certainly feed her if she stayed with her, but that would mean having to be around Mami for a significant portion of the day.

“I’ll think about it.” Was her response.

Mami had a slightly hopeful look on her face, it was disgusting.

“There is one more thing we should talk about.” Murderface spoke, leaning forward in her chair.

“What’s up?” Kyoko asked, just about done with this conversation.

“With four Magical Girls in Mitakihara, we need to talk about the potential of us being starved for Grief Seeds.”

Oh shit, Kyoko hadn’t even thought of that!

“Will that really be a problem? With three Magical Girls it seemed to be fine.” Hedgehog asked, looking confused.

“Miki-san has not been a Magical Girl long enough to need a Grief Seed. Beyond that, Mitakihara is particularly fertile territory. Under normal circumstances, it might even be able to support four Magical Girls. However, I have not been finding as many Witches as should be expected.” Murderface explained.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard about it yet, Mami, but I’ve heard tons of rumors about a ‘Witch shortage.’ My territory has also been drying up recently.” Kyoko cut in.

“I haven’t… It’s been a while since I spoke with any traveling Magical Girls.” Mami said.

“If anything, according to the rumors it’s less of a ‘Witch shortage’ and more of a ‘Witch migration.’” Kyoko spoke.

“What do you mean?” Sea Urchin asked.

“Apparently the Witches are gathering in Kamihama. They aren’t having the same issues and people have seen Witches moving there.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you ditch your territory and go to Kamihama?” Brown Hair said.

“That place is completely insane. The Witches are super strong and there’s like, a hundred Magical Girls in just that city.” Stunned faces followed Kyoko’s words, “For context, there would normally be about 4-5 Magical Girls in a city of that size.”

“How is that sustainable?” Pinky asked.

“There’s just a fuckload of Witches there, from what I can tell. Maybe the entire city is just cursed or something.”

“Could this be a side-effect of the fact that Walpurgisnacht is coming? It is the ‘Queen of Witches.’” Hedgehog cut in.

“I have never observed such a phenomenon myself. If that were the case however, I would expect the Witches to be drawn to Mitakihara.” Murderface answered.

“Okay, so there aren’t as many Witches as usual. What do we do about it?” Blueberry asked. Kyoko was a little surprised, she’d expected the girl to sulk for the rest of the conversation.

“Worst case scenario, we can just bring one of you four along to search for the Witches and then have us three Sorcerers actually defeat it.” Sea Urchin said, the idea wasn’t half bad either. Getting a Grief Seed without having to do any work would always be a plus in Kyoko’s books.

“Is that all? If so I’m going to go hit up an arcade,” Kyoko said, walking out the front door. She turned to Mami, “I’ll see you at dinner, if I feel like it.”

Mami-san hung her head in her hands and sighed just as Sakura-san left, “I’m so sorry. I was not expecting her to be that hostile.”

Madoka’s head was still spinning from just how intense the room had gotten. She realized her Technique was still up and deactivated it

“What the hell is her problem!?” Sayaka-chan shouted. Madoka had never seen her friend so upset before.

“Kyoko has been through… A series of tragedies that inform her behavior. I won’t try to justify her actions, because they can’t be justified, but I understand why she’s like this.” Mami-san explained. 

“I just..!” Sayaka-chan hmmphed, turned away and crossed her arms, pouting.

“Are you sure keeping her around is a good idea, Tomoe?” Kugisaki asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Whether or not it’s a good idea hardly matters. I’m not just going to leave Kyoko to die.” For the first time since they’d arrived at her apartment, Mami-san seemed sure of herself. Just because Sakura-san did bad things doesn’t mean she deserved to die. Besides, Madoka got the feeling that a lot of her behavior was a front.

After that, the meeting came to a halt. Madoka tried to comfort Sayaka-chan as she left, but ended up rebuffed. The three Sorcerers mentioned something about more training before they walked off. In the end, Madoka found herself going home with Homura-chan, the sky murky with clouds.

“Say… Are you really going to leave Mitakihara once Walpurgisnacht is defeated?” Madoka asked, a hint of worry entering her tone.

“Aside from my treatment, the only reason I came to Mitakihara was to face the Queen of Witches.”

“Treatment?”

“I had open heart surgery about a week before I enrolled in Mitakihara Middle.” Homura-chan said that like it was totally normal.

“W-What!? Doesn’t that take a long time to recover from!? Isn’t physical activity dangerous after a surgery like that!?” Madoka fretted over her newest friend.

Homura-chan smiled lightly, “There is no need to worry. The reinforcement of my body as a result of the contract has made my heart problems into a non-issue. I appreciate the concern however.”

“O-Okay…” Madoka suddenly felt a little silly, “Still, you’re sure about leaving?”

Homura-chan hesitated for a moment but nonetheless replied, “I am. This is not my territory. It would be wrong to impose any longer than I have.”

“...If you’re sure…” Madoka couldn’t help but feel an emptiness fill her at the idea. It was strange now that she was thinking about it, but Madoka had ascribed a permanence to Homura-chan’s presence in Mitakihara. It was like she’d always been here and always would, in her mind. Therefore, the thought of Homura-chan leaving just felt… Wrong in a fundamental way.

“Do you have living arrangements and schooling sorted out in another city or something?” Madoka inquired.

“No.”

“But then… Won’t you be homeless? And without school… Homura-chan, what about your future!?”

“My future… Is of no concern.” A palpable darkness suffused Homura-chan’s eyes with that statement. Madoka was struck with the utterly horrifying thought that maybe…

Homura-chan wasn’t planning on living past Walpurgisnacht.

Madoka and Homura-chan walked in awkward silence for a while after, Madoka having no idea how to respond and Homura-chan unwilling to break the silence. Words were about to leave the pink haired girl’s mouth when, suddenly, Homura-chan’s head jerked around, scanning the nearby rooftops.

“Is something wrong?” She asked, nervous.

“Someone or some thing was watching us. I am sure of it.” Homura-chan hissed quietly.

“Animal!” Madoka manifested her wheel and activated her Technique. Her senses expanded until she caught the slight sound of footsteps across a nearby rooftop. Footsteps that realistically shouldn’t be there.

“There was definitely someone there…” Madoka trailed off.

“I only suggested it the other day, but now I am insisting. With this Special Grade cursed spirit running around the area, we should absolutely set up barriers around your family’s home.”

“I agree. Shouldn’t we also protect Sayaka-chan, Mami-san and the Sorcerer’s places?” Madoka added

“I can take you around after dinner. Please send everyone a message about it.”

Once Madoka was done informing their friends, another uncomfortable silence filled the street they were walking down. This time, Madoka had something to say.

“Even though you plan on leaving, it’s not like we’ll never see each other again. I still have your phone number and I could text you whenever.”

“...Why?” Homura-chan’s face was beyond confused.

“Because we’re friends!” Madoka said with a smile. She grabbed Homura-chan by the hand and started dragging her back to the house, “Let’s get home quick! I think Papa’s making katsu tonight!”

Homura-chan just stared, like she wasn’t sure how to react. The ghost of a smile graced her face as she went along with Madoka. It was probably selfish but Madoka wanted Homura-chan to stay. Maybe if she was a good enough friend, she could convince Homura-chan to not leave.

Kyoko, after much painful deliberation, decided to stay with Mami for her time in Mitakihara. As she entered the blonde’s apartment, the smell of tomato sauce hit her.

“Ah, Kyoko! Come in, I made enough pasta for two!” Mami said, her voice carrying out from her kitchen.

“Did you seriously just assume I’d be coming?” Kyoko bit back.

“If you didn’t show, it would just be more leftovers for me.” Mami came in, balancing two plates of spaghetti on her hands.

“...Fair enough.” Kyoko took a seat on the other end of the table, as far away from Mami as possible. Mami laid the pasta in front of her and walked over to her seat, a cautious smile on her face. Dinner from there was an awkward affair, just glances and aborted attempts at small talk. Kyoko suppressed her instincts to eat quickly and savored every bite. It had been so long since she last ate Mami’s food. If she was being honest, that nostalgia was probably a big part of her coming to Mami’s.

Kyoko finished eating and helped with the dishes, she wasn’t so crass that she’d leave all the cleanup to her host. Just as Kyoko went to rest on the couch, Mami called out to her.

“Kyoko… I know we have our differences, but I’m glad I got to share a meal with you, like old times.” She said, a soft smile on her face.

Kyoko sneered, “Are you really stupid enough to think that things can ever go back-”

“Kyoko,” Mami interrupted with eyes like steel, “You aren’t going to make me stop caring about you by being cruel.”

Kyoko stepped back as if she’d been physically struck. Without saying a word, she walked back to the living room and slumped back against the couch. Mami had seen through her completely. This cocktail of regret, anger, jealousy and shame churned in her gut like a wretched soup.

“Goddamnit.” She murmured, hanging her head in her hands.

Chapter Text

“Damn… You’re kinda freaky looking.” The man said, eyeing Choso up and down.

“What?” He asked, putting the customer’s items into a plastic bag.

“I mean, you’ve got that face tattoo. I’m surprised you were hired.” The man continued, “And what’s with that name? ‘Kamo Choso’? A little strange if you ask me.”

Choso’s eye twitched, irritation bubbling up to the surface. It was twofold, on one hand, the man was just being plain rude. On the other hand, wearing the Kamo name was frustratingly necessary for him. 

Choso was struck by just how easy it would be to kill this man. It would barely take a thought.

“...Will that be all, sir?” He said instead, trying to be as diplomatic as possible.

“Oh yeah.” The man slid a card into the card reader, tapped buttons for a few moments and, apparently, paid for his goods. Choso still didn’t fully understand how such things worked.

Choso spoke a textbook, “Thank you for your patronage,” as the man left the store. With no one else in the store, he sighed and then relaxed. Geto had set him up with paperwork so that he could use services like hotels, unlike his former comrades, he needed to eat and sleep. What Choso hadn’t expected was that he’d get a job. The money Geto gave him wouldn’t last forever though, so it was necessary.

“Ah, Choso-kun.” Choso’s head turned to see his boss, Nakajima-san, walking out from the back of the store. He was an older man with well groomed black hair and a bit of a gut. The white and blue stripes of the Lawson uniform, the same uniform Choso was wearing, covered his body. Nakajima-san continued, “Your shift is over, feel free to head home.”

“Thank you, sir.” Choso said with a slight bow. He knew that Nakajima-san was generous to hire him in the first place, so best to be respectful. 

“Honestly, considering it’s your first day on the job, you’re doing really well!” Nakajima-san said with a thumbs up and a smile.

“...I’m a fast learner.” Was Choso’s response.

His job was only part-time, as Choso walked out the student from a nearby highschool who worked the shift after him entered. With a polite nod, Choso exited the convenience store out into the city.

His shift ended a little after dinner time, so he was feeling pretty hungry. A quick trip to a nearby western fast food place remedied that. The food wasn’t what Choso would call ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ but it was filling and that’s all he needed. Choso didn’t exactly have much to do after he finished his shift, so he spent the time wandering the city, trying to get a grasp on what ‘normal people’ did.

Choso hadn’t been very interested in the lives of humans before his fight with Itadori Yuji, but now that his only remaining brother was on the side of the humans… It wasn’t as if he could continue supporting Geto and his crew of curses, right?

It was during that people watching trip that Choso bumped into someone he knew, literally. The stack of papers she was holding flew all over the street.

“My apologies.” He said as he helped pick them up. 

“Thank you so… Choso-san!?” The girl yelped in surprise once she saw his face.

“Tamaki-san?” If Choso was being honest, he wasn’t expecting to see the pink haired girl again. Kamihama was a big city after all. Tamaki-san looked him up and down.

“You got a job in the city?” She asked, shuffling the papers he’d handed her around.

“I’ll be staying for a while, so I had to.” Choso explained.

“I see… How have you been?”

“As well as I can be.”

“That’s good!” Tamaki-san smiled

Choso knew it had only been a day but… “Have you found who you were looking for?”

Tamaki-san brightened up, “Kind of. I haven’t found where she is exactly, but I know who she is now!”

“Who?”

“My younger sister, Tamaki Ui. She’s missing and I have to find her.” Tamaki-san’s face hardened with resolve. 

Choso raised an eyebrow, “You forgot your own sister was missing?”

Tamaki-san laughed awkwardly, “It’s more like… Someone made me forget, I think?”

Choso nodded, “I see, either way I understand, there’s nothing more important than family.”

“You have family, Choso-san?” Tamaki-san asked, leaning in slightly.

“I’m the oldest of nine… seven… no, eight brothers.” When Tamaki-san’s face betrayed her confusion, Choso continued, “I very recently lost two of my younger brothers, and found out about a brother I’d never met before.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry for asking!” Tamaki-san said, bowing slightly.

“Don’t worry, the wound is…” Saying it wasn’t fresh would be wrong but, “It hasn’t hurt as much lately.”

“Ah…” A moment of silence carried between the two, the awkwardness of the situation allowing neither to speak.

Suddenly, Choso put two and two together about the posters Tamaki-san was carrying, “Are you setting up missing persons posters?”

“Yeah… Oh! I should ask!” Tamaki-san grabbed one of her posters and showed it to Choso. Instead of seeing a child who looked like the pink haired girl, he saw someone else entirely. A girl with blue eyes and sky blue hair done up into twin tails with pink clips.

“Have you seen this girl?”

The words on the poster revealed the girl’s name to Choso.

MINAMI RENA

MISSING

“Not Tamaki Ui?”

“For reasons I can’t explain, we don’t have any pictures of Ui. Anyways, it’s kind of a long story…”

“I’ve got plenty of time.” Choso said.

“Well basically… I ran into this girl who I met a little after I got off the bus, her name is Akino Kaede. She’s friends with this other girl who helped me out later that day named Togame Momoko. Kaede-chan hasn’t seen her friend, Minami Rena-”

“The missing girl?”

“The missing girl,” Tamaki-san confirmed, “Anyways, Kaede-chan hasn’t seen her friend since yesterday. She didn’t come to school and when she talked to Rena-chan’s parents, they said they hadn’t seen her since the previous day. Apparently, the last time Rena-chan and Kaede-chan spoke, they had a fight, and with the Butcher running around…”

“The Butcher?” Choso asked.

“There’s this serial killer running around murdering Magi- teenage girls. She’s claimed eleven victims thus far.” Tamaki-san answered. That actually sounded pretty familiar to Choso. He remembered the ten Soul Gems that had been delivered to Mahito and realized…

Tamaki-san was talking about Aradia.

“Well… With this serial killer running around, there’s a good chance that Rena-chan might be…” Tamaki-san trailed off.

“Dead.” Choso spoke bluntly.

“Yeah. And since the last time they saw each other, they had a fight…”

“This Akino-san doesn’t want the last memories she has of her friend to be of a fight.” Choso filled in the blanks.

“That’s pretty much it. So we have to find Rena-chan as soon as possible!”

“Alright…” An idea crossed Choso’s mind, “Mind if I help out?” Assisting their friends and acquaintances was something that normal humans did, right?

“Really!?” Tamaki-san sputtered, papers shuffling lightly in her arms as she jumped slightly.

“I was just planning on wandering the city anyway, might as well do something productive with that time.”

Tamaki-san handed Choso half of her posters and the two wandered off into the city.

Choso felt her before he saw her. A massive wave of power, clearly courtesy of a Magical Girl due to its positive charge, blanketed Choso and Tamaki-san. The pink haired girl didn’t seem to notice, maybe she was less sensitive to such things, seeing as she was also a Magical Girl. Choso’s eyes wandered warily until they landed on a woman with long dark blue hair. The woman approached the two of them.

“Tamaki-san, are you well?” A hint of worry entered her tone, “Are you sure you should be up and about so soon?”

“You and Momoko-san patched me up just fine, don’t worry!” Tamaki-san said with a smile on her face, idly patting one side of her abdomen.

“Very well… Who is this?”

“Ah, I should introduce you two. Yachiyo-san, this is Choso-san, I met him the same day I met you. Choso-san, this is Nanami Yachiyo-san.” Tamaki-san gestured at the two.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nanami-san.” Choso spoke politely, with a slight bow.

“Likewise…” Her eyes fell to the name tag on his chest, “Kamo-san?”

“I prefer to go by Choso.”

“Alright… Wait,” Nanami-san turned to face Tamaki-san, “You just met him yesterday? Are you sure he can be trusted?” Her gaze narrowed suspiciously.

“I met you yesterday and I trust you.” Was Tamaki-san’s simple reply.

“And I literally impaled you,” Nanami-san sighed that so quietly that Choso almost didn’t catch it, her hands covering her eyes in exasperation, “You need to be more careful, Tamaki-san.”

Did Tamaki-san and Nanami-san have a fight? Geto had told him that Magical Girls tended to fight over territory. Even so, considering how powerful Nanami-san was, he was surprised that Tamaki-san was still alive.

The pink haired girl laughed awkwardly, “I’ll be fine, nothing I can’t handle.”

Choso hummed thoughtfully, “I suppose it would be easy for a Magical Girl to fight off the average human being.”

“Yea-” Both of them turned to look at him, eyes wide. A moment of silence carried between them.

“How do you know that?” Nanami-san asked, body tense with anticipation.

Oh right, the average human being wasn’t supposed to know about Magical Girls!

“I uh… Met one in my village back in the countryside.” Choso lied, the excuse sounding flimsy even to his ears.

“If that were the case, you would use the term ‘Diviner,’ not the term ‘Magical Girl.’” The blue haired woman said matter of factly.

“Choso-san, are you a Magical… Boy? Man?” Tamaki-san stumbled over the term. Nanami-san raised an eyebrow at him. Choso looked around to see that they were relatively free of eavesdroppers and began to tell a version of the truth.

“It’s a long story, but I’m what’s called a Sorcerer. This means I can use the cursed energy intrinsic to all human beings to wield supernatural powers.” He raised a hand and conjured an orb of blood. Both of them blinked in blank-faced surprise.

“That’s…” Nanami-san kept her cool but Choso could tell her view of the world had been shaken. The woman shook her head, “Anyways, what are you two doing?”

Tamaki-san gave Nanami-san the same explanation she gave Choso.

“One of Momoko’s teammates disappeared after having a fight with a friend? Sounds like a rumor I’ve heard about.” Nanami-san said, a finger on her chin, lost in thought.

“A rumor?” Choso asked. Nanami-san took up a pose like a teacher and began to explain.

“Hey, have you heard?” 

Two figures, their shadows cast against a nearby wall, stood across from each other.

“Have I heard about what?”

They seemed to be school girls based on their silhouettes. One had long hair done up in a ponytail, while the other had short, messy hair.

“About the rumor taking the kids of Kamihama by storm!”

Both ‘girls’ sang in unison, “The Rule of Ending Friendships!”

“If you say something like,” Short Hair took on a pose, leaning forward with both hands parallel to her waist, “‘I hate you! We’re through!’ Make sure that you mean it!”

Ponytail held both arms close to her chest, “If you apologize-”

“I’m sorry, let’s be friends again!” Short Hair got on her hands and knees, apologizing heartfully.

“-you’ll be carried off to clean the stairs for the rest of your life!” Ponytail shrieked. The shadow of a staircase appeared behind Short Hair. Chains wrapped around her and dragged her off as she screamed in terror.

Ponytail bowed, “And that’s the rumor of the Rule of Ending Friendships!”

A clockwork girl sat on a set of threads strung between buildings, legs crossed, watching it all unfold with rapt attention.

A tinny voice echoed throughout the empty space, causing the remaining shadow to freeze in place, “How fascinating…”

Were her mechanical face capable of such a thing, it would’ve split into a malicious grin.

“Now this could be fun!”

Choso and Tamaki-san digested what Nanami-san just told them. A rumor regarding disappearances amongst friends who fight? It sounded far-fetched, but…

“So, are you saying that a Witch is responsible?” Tamaki-san asked.

“Maybe not a Witch specifically, but some kind of hostile magical entity.”

Choso decided now would be a good time to pitch in, “It could be a cursed spirit.”

When both of them raised an eyebrow at him, Choso gave a basic explanation of what cursed spirits were, “Alongside all of that, cursed spirits do often form based on rumors and urban legends in a city.”

“I have no reason to doubt you…” Nanami-san mused aloud.

“Does this mean we have a lead on Rena-chan?” Tamaki-san asked, looking between the two adults.

“It’s flimsy, but if we can recreate the scenario in which people are taken…”

“We might gain access to this cursed spirit.” Choso finished Nanami-san’s sentence. There was something off about this whole line of reasoning, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“I’ll call Momoko-san!” Tamaki-san pulled out her phone. While she got to that, Choso and Nanami-san spoke.

“I’m surprised you told us about Sorcery so freely. I would’ve expected that such a thing was a big secret.”

Choso scoffed, “You both are Magical Girls, you’re already privy to the supernatural secrets of this world. Beyond that, I don’t really care about keeping Sorcery a secret, the only reason I try is so that Jujutsu Society doesn’t hunt me down.”

“There’s an organization of Sorcerers? Similar groups of Magical Girls tend not to last long.” Nanami-san asked.

“Unlike Magical Girls, who need to compete for limited resources, Sorcerers have no limitations on their power beyond what they are born with. This allows them to gather for a common purpose far easier than Magical Girls.”

“Why do Magical Girls as a whole not know about Sorcery?”

“A… Former ally told me that the Incubator intentionally keeps the worlds of Sorcery and magic separate. This is supported by a high-ranking Sorcerer elder, the immortal Tengen, who does their best to keep Sorcerers away from areas where Magical Girls frequent. That’s why, for example, there are barely any Magical Girls in Tokyo and Kyoto, the two pillars of the Jujutsu world.” Choso simply parroted what Geto had told him. The Special Grade Sorcerer had done a lot of info-dumping about Magical Girls as a whole, he liked to go on tangents like that.

“Incubator?”

“You would know it as Kyubey.” Choso said. Nanami-san’s face darkened with that.

“So that thing even lied about its name…” Her grip tightened into fists. Her magic sloshed with her fury.

“Yachiyo-san, are you okay?” Tamaki-san called out, holding the phone down, away from her mouth.

“I’m fine, Tamaki-san, don’t worry.” A thin smile graced Nanami-san’s face, the rage that suffused her magic was snuffed out in an instant. The blue haired woman had excellent control over her emotions, she would’ve made a fine Sorcerer.

“Anyways, Momoko-san wasn’t happy about it, but she agreed to meet up.” 

“Did you mention me?” Nanami-san asked.

“I mentioned you and the rumor.” Tamaki-san said.

Nanami-san sighed, “That explains it. Momoko and I had a falling out a year ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I’ve come to terms with it.” Was all Nanami-san said.

“Still, Momoko-san and Kaede-chan are going to meet up at that burger place in Shinsei in about an hour.”

“Very well,” Choso handed his cell phone number (he had an old flip phone) out to Tamaki-san and Nanami-san, “I’ll head back to my apartment for now.”

“How come?” Tamaki-san asked.

Choso raised an eyebrow, “We’re probably going to have to fight this thing. I can’t do that in my work uniform.”

“So you think Rena-chan was taken by this… Rumor monster?” Togame-san asked skeptically.

“I mean, it makes perfect sense, right? Rena-chan and I fought and now she’s missing… It has to be this cursed spirit thing!” Akino-san was twitchy, nervous. It seemed she was taking her friend's disappearance even worse than Choso would’ve expected. Not that Choso could blame her, if it was one of his brothers in Minami-san’s place…

Well Choso would know if he was alive or dead, but that hardly made things better, did it? Still, there was something bothering Choso…

Togame-san narrowed her eyes at Choso and he looked back. He’d given both of them the ‘Sorcery Talk’ and showed them his Technique, so they had no reason to disbelieve him.

“There has been an increase in disappearances among the youth of Kamihama. Specifically in Shinsei ward.” Nanami-san pointed out.

“Of course you believe that.” Togame-san scoffed.

“Think of it this way, you have nothing to lose by trying our plan.” Nanami-san said. Togame-san looked conflicted for a few moments before finally giving in.

“Fine! We’ll try it out!” The blonde threw her arms up in the air in exasperation.

All of them gathered on the rooftop of a building in Shinsei ward. The Kamihama skyline looked gorgeous in the setting sun. Togame-san and Nanami-san stood across from each other, clad in their costumes, the same as Tamaki-san and Akino-san. Choso was back in his robe, easy to move in and durable enough for combat.

“Yachiyo-san, let's not be friends anymore.” Togame-san’s voice was monotone. Nanami-san’s face was impassive, brokering nothing about her emotions.

“I’m sorry. Let’s be friends again.” Nothing happened for a few moments. Choso’s eyes widened when he saw the distortion start to form behind Togame-san. In an instant, everyone besides the blonde was ready, weapons drawn and blood orbs compressed. In the next moment, Togame-san turned, massive cleaver in hand, and slashed apart the series of chains that came for her.

“Wha-”

“We don’t have time! Go!” Nanami-san rushed forward through the distortion, and the rest of the group followed her. Once through the gate all of them stopped and stared at the endless expanse of orange sunset sky. Staircases made of some crystalline substance shot into the sky. People, wrapped in chains, were cleaning the chairs with rags. At the apex of the various staircases, a creature stood.

Calling it a creature implied it looked like a living thing. It was a massive surreal bell, looking very similar to the Witches Geto had shown him via his Technique. The bell was hung up on an arch made of a black, undulating material. A stylized sun was embossed on the sky behind the bell. Past that, floating in the air, was a pattern of repeating golden lines with circles around its circumference.

So this was it, the Rule of Ending Friendships. Looking at it, Choso noticed something.

“It’s not a cursed spirit, it’s not even a Witch. It’s made of positive energy.” Choso mused aloud.

“So that means…” Nanami-san started.

“It was probably created by a Magical Girl.” Choso confirmed.

“Why are we just standing around!? RENA-CHAN!” Akino-san called out as she ran up the stairs. Togame-san took off after her teammate.

“It would be easier to kill the… Rumor? Rather than to try and find Minami-san amongst the captured.” Choso said. Both Nanami-san and Tamaki-san nodded and they were off.

The resulting fight wasn’t that difficult, on account of having someone as strong as Nanami-san on their side. They had to tear through these strange padlock creatures on their way up the stairs. Choso used circular blades of blood while Tamaki-san provided covering fire using her crossbow. It ended with one of Nanami-san’s halberds piercing the bell. The thing’s domain shuddered and collapsed, leaving the four Magical Girls and Choso in an empty city center surrounded by people. Akino-san immediately started searching the assembled crowd for Minami-san.

“Dissolve your costumes. Normal people can see Magical Girl costumes, so when they start to wake up…” Togame-san still seemed stunned. With four flashes of light, the girls were back in their normal clothes.

“I’ll call the police. They’ll send someone to help all these people.” Tamaki-san said.

Nanami-san hummed in response. She turned to look at Choso, “Are you sure that creature was made by a Magical Girl?”

“Humans don’t leak positive energy, so it couldn’t be similar to a cursed spirit. The only thing that makes sense is if it was the creation of a Magical Girl.” Choso answered.

“If that’s the case, what possible motive could they have?”

“I couldn’t tell you. Something this complex would have to be Wish Magic, so maybe it was related to her wish?”

Before the conversation could continue, Akino-san rushed back to the group, “I can’t find Rena-chan!”

Suddenly, Choso realized what was wrong about their plan.

“...I just realized,” All of them turned to face him, “The Rule of Ending Friendships doesn’t take people who fight with their friends. It takes people who try to apologize after fighting with their friends. Minami-san disappeared before Akino-san saw her again. If she never had a chance to apologize…”

An awkward silence permeated the space.

“So…” Akino-san’s eyes welled with tears, “Rena-chan was never going to be here in the first place?”

After another tense silence, Akino-san burst into tears. Togame-san gave Choso a death glare before her features softened and she turned to comfort the red haired girl.

“I-I’m sorry. This was my idea so…” Tamaki-san stuttered.

“...It’s fine. You tried your best to help us.” Togame-san just sounded tired. The two Magical Girls hobbled off, probably to take Akino-san back to her parents. Choso sighed and looked up at the sky. It was even more orange than before, maybe half an hour passed while in that rumor monster’s domain.

Choso was ripped from his pondering by his phone going off. A text message from his boss?

“What’s going on Choso-san?” Tamaki-san asked him.

“My boss needs me to fill in for someone who couldn’t make it. I’ve gotta go get my uniform on.”

“Oh,” The pink haired girl looked up, “It’s getting kinda late. I’ve got to catch a bus back home!”

“Make sure your boss pays you for the overtime, Choso-san!” Nanami-san called out to him as he walked away.

A smile crossed Choso’s face, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Sorry for calling you on such short notice, Choso-kun.” Nakajima-san said as Choso arrived at the Lawson store.

“It’s fine, I finished everything I was doing today anyway.”

“I’ll pay you for the extra labor, don’t worry about that!” The older man (kinda?) laughed slightly at that. Nakajima-san continued, “Please take out the trash before you man the counter!”

“I will.” Choso made his way to the back of the store, lost in thought. The whole ‘investigation’ he participated in left a sour taste in his mouth. He’d wanted to keep a low profile in Kamihama, but it seemed such a thing wouldn’t be possible. Beyond that, the fact that they’d brokered no results just felt… Bad. It wasn’t that he really cared about Minami Rena, he didn’t know the girl, but nonetheless it felt terrible to not find her after all that effort. Choso knew Tamaki-san cared about Minami-san, despite having never met her, maybe that was it? Did Choso… Care about Tamaki-san?

Choso’s thoughts deepened as he gathered the trash bags. He got the feeling that Tamaki-san was very similar to him. ‘Older siblings exist to protect the little ones that come after them,’ that was something that Choso believed wholeheartedly, there was nothing more important than family. Had Tamaki-san’s steely resolve to find her sister no matter what endeared her to him?

Choso initially hadn’t thought much of humanity, both as a species and as a concept, but that seemed to be changing. Was having a human brother and a human friend all it took to change Choso’s entire worldview? 

Choso held the trash bags in one hand as he exited the building, around the back to where the dumpster was. Suddenly, a sound shot through the alleyway, one that reached Choso in almost an instant.

The sound of a dumpster slamming shut.

Guard raised, Choso slowly made his way to the dumpster. As he did, another sound… No, a set of sounds hit him as well. Metallic footsteps, gears and machinery whirring, wires tensing, all of it was familiar to Choso. Dread settled in his stomach and this keen sense of anticipation built as he continued walking. 

Choso found himself in front of the dumpster, hand outstretched to open it. A sharp inhale accompanied the opening of the lid, followed by the trash bags in his hand hitting the floor..

…

There was no way, right?

Choso found himself staring, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. When the hell had… He took out the trash during his first shift! And clearly nobody found it during the shifts in between those!

“Choso-kun? Is something wrong?” His boss called out, it seemed he’d taken a while with the trash.

“Nakajima-san… You need to call the police.” Choso said solemnly.

The older man walked towards him, “What’s the mat-” He screamed once he saw the dumpster’s contents. Choso couldn’t blame him, after all…

He was face to face with the dismembered, butchered remains of Minami Rena.

On one of Kamihama’s many rooftops, a mechanical girl stood, illuminated by the moon’s light. Her gaze fell to the city streets, where a number of police cars surrounded a convenience store. Choso, one of Kenjaku’s allies, spoke with an officer, though she was too far away to catch any of the conversation. With a tinny giggle, she flickered away deeper into the city.

“It really is quite sad, isn’t it?” She murmured to the object in her hand. A blue eighth note, the Soul Gem of Rena Minami.

“For you, and for all your little friends…”

“There was no way this could end, except in tragedy.” The girl laughed malevolently, tossing the Soul Gem in her hand like a tennis ball.

“While you’re not as important as our star performers… You still have your uses, Rena Minami.” The girl’s mechanical jaw opened with a series of clicks. Swiftly, without hesitation, she swallowed the Soul Gem.

Normally speaking, Rena Minami’s power wouldn’t be that useful for someone like her. It was short lived, and copying people’s abilities was hardly a problem for her.

Such things were hardly limitations for someone like Aradia.

By undertaking a simple Binding Vow, namely by removing the ability for her Wish Magic to copy powers and skills, the time limit could be removed. Seeing as she needed this power for infiltration, rather than any other uses, it was hardly a downside. Binding Vows didn’t take into account things like a person’s other abilities or the context surrounding the Vow, making it easy for someone savvy enough to game the system.

Aradia, with a theatrical flourish, snapped her fingers. In an instant she was wrapped in flowing mirrors until finally, she was bathed in light. What emerged from the magic wasn’t the clockwork girl, but a young woman with chin length white hair. Her eyes were a pale, undulating rainbow and she wore a Takarazaki school uniform.

It was Yukiko Watanabe’s face, cute enough for Aradia’s standards, but unknown enough in the wider Magical Girl world to be able to pass undetected by the Magius. With another flourish, she was clad in that same Magical Girl’s costume. She pinned the Soul Gem Mahito had engineered for her onto her coat’s breast.

Aradia’s face twisted into a malignant grin, having actual facial features was a nice feeling, in complete contrast to her original body. Mother had decided that the Magius was a potential threat, so Aradia was working with Kenjaku to eliminate them. If she was being honest, she thought her Mother was overreacting, but orders were orders.

Now all she needed was a fake name… Sabrina, perhaps?

No. That was too European, Yukiko Watanabe looked fully Japanese.

She would think about that later. As she turned to leave, however, a solemn look crossed her face.

“Don’t worry, Rena Minami…” She spoke to the Soul that was now part of her being, “You will get your catharsis one day. All Magical Girls will.”

Chapter Text

Mahito eyed the Kaname residence with barely restrained malice. The moon shone high in the sky, cutting through the darkness of the night. Once he found out that Itadori Yuji had living family, he knew he needed a closer look. The thought of the pink haired Sorcerer’s face once he saw the transfigured bodies of his aunt, uncle and cousins…

It would be priceless, Mahito was sure of it.

There were two problems with that plan however. The first was Aradia, she had been clear with him. Mahito was under no circumstances to kill any of her ‘Star Performers,’ on pain of death. That mainly applied to a pink haired girl with twin tails and a girl with long black hair. Mahito now knew they were Kaname Madoka and Akemi Homura from his own investigation. It also probably included the other three Magical Girls in Mitakihara.

The second issue was the barrier surrounding the house. It was subtle, Mahito almost hadn’t noticed it when he’d approached. It was positively charged, so it was probably made by Akemi Homura. It wasn’t just one either, it was several barriers layered together. He went to examine the barrier when…

Oh?

Oh!

The barrier was encrypted. An extremely high level barrier technique to make it extraordinarily difficult to divine the purpose of the barrier. If Mahito had to guess however…

The outermost barrier was likely an alert system, specifically for people with malicious intent. The innermost barriers were therefore the ones that actually denied entry, either based on malicious intent or an ID system. The various barriers inside were likely for redundancy, so that someone trying to force their way in would have to contend with multiple layers. Meaning by the time anyone even got close the people inside the barrier would be ready for them.

Still, this was advanced barrier work! The only person Mahito knew who could encrypt a barrier was Geto! It was enough to pique his interest, no wonder Aradia was so obsessed with this girl…

While tripping the barrier could lead to a pretty fun fight, it would also directly alert everyone in the city that he was here. Mahito was sure he could individually kill every Sorcerer or Magical Girl in Mitakihara, but if they all fought him at the same time… 

Well he could probably just use his domain, but Itadori Yuji would make that far more difficult.

“Whatever.” Mahito sighed, turning away from the family home. He’d wait for his chance, and then he’d see how much fun he could have!

With a malevolent giggle, Mahito skulked off into the night.

The following morning, Kyoko was sitting on Mami’s couch, idly munching on a bag of chips. The news was turned on, just something for Kyoko to zone out and watch. Mami was busy getting ready for school, probably doing her hair with magic, assuming she kept up that wasteful habit. Suddenly a little pissed, Kyoko ate another handful of chips.

Mami came in a few moments after that, blonde hair in her signature drills. She looked Kyoko up and down, caught sight of Kyoko’s chips and narrowed her eyes.

“Those aren’t mine, so am I to assume you stole them?” She asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Hey! I’ll have you know I walked into the store and paid for these the proper way!” Kyoko hadn’t had much to do the previous day, so she’d just wandered Mitakihara, topped the leaderboards in various arcades and, as mentioned, bought some snacks from a nearby grocery store.

“With stolen money?” Mami asked once again, the ghost of a smile on her lips.

“...With stolen money…” Kyoko’s face heated up, having been caught in her lie. It honestly felt like facing her father when she’d done something wrong-

And Kyoko nipped that thought in the bud before it could blossom.

“Well… I suppose it’s better than flat out theft. I’d prefer it if you didn’t steal in my territory.” Mami huffed. The previous day, Mami had been walking on eggshells with Kyoko, careful not to upset her. Now that it was clear that Kyoko wasn’t going to cut tail and run, she was more comfortable talking back. If Kyoko was being honest, she liked Mami more this way.

(It made it feel less like she was heaping abuse on someone who couldn’t fight back.)

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. I’m not spiteful enough to drag the cops to your doorstep.” Kyoko waved her off, returning her attention to the TV.

“Breaking News! The dismembered body of Kamihama teenager Minami Rena was discovered late last night. This marks the twelfth victim of the serial killer that has been terrorizing Japan since September. Remember to keep track of your young girls, parents of japan!”

The broadcast continued, but Kyoko wasn’t interested.

“Oh, that’s right…” Mami pulled out her phone and started tapping away at the screen.

“What’s up?” Kyoko asked.

“I just remembered that I needed to tell everyone about this. Kyubey told me, apparently the serial killer only targets Magical Girls.”

“Yeah..? You're not keeping up with the rumors?” It was the hottest thing going around nowadays. Magical Girl serial killers tended to turn heads.

“Info brokers don’t tend to go to Mitakihara, Kamihama is close and much more likely to get them business.” Mami said offhandedly, quickly whipping up breakfast. It was simple, just bread and butter. Mami continued, “By the way Kyoko, can I trust you to go on a Witch hunt in about an hour?”

“Huh?”

“The Sorcerers need to report back to their headquarters, they’ll leave around noon. Our plan to minimize the amount of Grief Seeds we use needs them to do the fighting, so for today we’ll have to hunt before noon. However, every Magical Girl in town except for you will be at school around then, therefore…”

“I’ll have to be the walking Witch detector.” Kyoko summarized.

“Essentially.” Mami replied.

“Will I have to waste my magic killing Familiars?”

“Technically speaking, I’m not asking you to do any fighting whatsoever. The three Sorcerers don’t have the same limited magic we have.”

“Oh?” Kyoko cracked a grin, “Free Grief Seeds then?”

“I thought you were the self-sufficient type, was I wrong?” Mami smiled slyly.

“Nah. As nice as it would be to get a Grief Seed for free, I need to pull my weight.” Kyoko sighed.

“Alright, remember the junkyard where we used to train?” Mami said a little wistfully.

“How could I forget?” Kyoko rolled her eyes, of course she fucking remembered.

“Meet up with Itadori-san, Kugisaki-san and Fushiguro-san there in about half an hour.” Mami got up from her seat, “I’ve got to get to school. Can’t ruin my perfect attendance!”

“Of course that’s what you’re worried about.” Kyoko spat. As Mami walked out the door, Kyoko sighed. Her hostility from two days ago was a result of her unfamiliar circumstances. Now that she was living with Mami it wasn’t like she could be an asshole all the time. Kyoko’s hand hit the bottom of the now empty bag. She scowled, crumpled the bag up and tossed it into a nearby trash bin.

The TV wasn’t interesting anymore and there was nothing else to do at Mami’s place. Kyoko decided that now was a good time to head out.

“Just to be clear, I’m not fighting any Familiars we find. Call it a religious exemption or something.” Kyoko said half-sarcastically, one hand behind her head and the other holding her Soul Gem. She and the three Sorcerers were on the search for Witches already, with Mami and her friends at school. They’d decided to head to the mall first, for reasons Kyoko couldn’t fathom. Hedgehog walked up front, Brown Hair strode beside her and Sea Urchin took up the rear, looking at his phone.

“You part of some Magical Girl cult or something?” Brown Hair asked.

“It was a joke, dumbass.”

“What about any Witches we find?” Sea Urchin asked from behind her.

“I’ll pitch in for those.” Was all Kyoko said.

Hedgehog sighed, “I don’t like it but I’m not about to impugn you. If Sorcerers aren’t heroes then why would Magical Girls be either? I’m not naive enough to think this is all outta Precure.”

“Yea… Wait, Itadori, you’ve watched Precure?” Brown Hair asked, surprised.

“Not until recently, Todo actually introduced it to me.”

“That gorilla!?” Brown Hair sputtered. Kyoko really needed a better nickname for her…

“Yeah, apparently his teacher Tsukumo Yuki-san likes it, they watched it together back when Todo was younger, so he got in the habit of watching it.” Hedgehog explained, gesturing with his hands. The pink haired boy continued, “It’s fun, but honestly I prefer Super Sentai.”

“Of course you would.” Brown Hair snorted derisively.

“What, I prefer live-action! The craftsmanship behind the suits and monster costumes immerses you into the world and the mediocre CGI is charming!”

“Have you seen Precure’s animation!? It’s incredible!”

“It’s inconsistent, at least Super Sentai usually maintains the same level of visual quality!”

“Wha-” Brown Hair practically choked in pure disbelief, she turned to look at Sea Urchin, “Fushiguro! Tell this idiot that Precure is better than Super Sentai!”

The black haired youth looked up from his phone, annoyed, “What are you guys talking about? Kamen Rider is obviously better than both of those shows.”

A moment of silence was swiftly broken by both Hedgehog and Brown Hair exploding.

Loudly.

In a public place.

Kyoko suddenly wanted to be associated with these jackasses as little as humanly possible. What followed was all three of them having a passionate argument about TV shows made to sell kids plastic toys. Kyoko was secretly hoping her Soul Gem would start glowing to save her from this embarrassing bullshit, but sadly, it didn’t happen.

“Are you seriously trying to tell me that Zi-O is better than Hugtto! or even Lupinranger!? ” Brown Hair spat venomously.

“We’re not even 10 episodes into Zi-O, maybe it’ll get better!” Sea Urchin hissed, looking around at all the people staring. He continued, “Besides, Build was excellent!”

“That is true…” Hedgehog said offhandedly, looking up at the sky.

“It’s dishonest to compare a new show to an established show, Kugisaki.” Sea Urchin huffed.

“Even so, Hugtto! still clears.” Brown Hair crossed her arms, she would not be moved on this position. Suddenly, the answer came to Kyoko’s mind.

“I just figured it out!” She yelled, all three of the Sorcerers turned to look at her. Kyoko pointed at the lone girl amongst the Sorcerers.

“Prickles.”

“Huh?” Prickles had a little heat in her voice.

Kyoko pointed at the two boys, “Pink hair is Hedgehog and black hair is Sea Urchin. That makes you Prickles!”

“I’ll show you Prickles!” Said girl tried to rush her but Hedgehog held her back.

“You’re kinda proving her point, Kugisaki!” Hedgehog said, voice strained.

Kyoko snickered, “Looking a little prickly there, huh?” 

The brown haired girl snarled in response.

“My my, you four are looking lively this morning.” A new voice interrupted their little shindig. Kyoko saw a tall man with short brown hair and glasses. He had multiple shopping bags in his hands and around his arms. Her eyes caught on the young child walking next to him, he had the same general coloration as his father.

“Tomohisa-san!” Hedgehog yelped, letting go of Prickles. The girl in question seemed to calm down, giving Kyoko a death glare but not actively trying to attack her.

“How are you doing, Yuji-kun?” The man asked. 

“Yu-gee!” The toddler yelled, reaching out at Hedgehog with both hands.

“I’m alright, how about you?” Hedgehog said, crouching down to play with his… Cousin? Kyoko wasn’t entirely sure.

“Just getting some shopping done, thought it would be a good opportunity for Tatsuya to get some fresh air.” The man, Tomohisa, had a gentle smile on his face. Hedgehog grinned brightly as the toddler giggled. Kyoko narrowed her eyes.

It was kind of hard for her to trust paternal figures anymore.

“Sounds great!” Hedgehog got up.

“I’ve never seen you before, who’s this?” Hedgehog’s uncle asked, looking at Kyoko.

“I’m Sakura Kyoko.”

“She’s the friend of one of Madoka’s friends, she’s new in town so we’re showing her around.” Hedgehog lied better than Kyoko expected from someone that straightforward.

“Oh? Even though you three are also pretty new in town?”

“We’ve gotten the lay of the land by now!” Hedgehog huffed, his uncle laughed.

“How is your project going? I can’t imagine you’d be staying in the city for that much longer.”

This time, Sea Urchin chimed in, “It’s going well, there’s a surprising amount of local legends in the area, mostly in Kamihama, for us to research. I imagine we’ll be going back to Tokyo by the end of the month.”

“I see, we’ll have to set up another dinner soon. Maybe we can invite some of Madoka’s new friends, we’re already doing that with Akemi-chan.”

“Is Akemi doing alright? I can’t imagine it’d be fun to have your house burn down.” Hedgehog said.

“She’s a quiet girl and I can tell she’s doing her best to be unobtrusive. She seems to be adapting well. Akemi-chan gets along well with Madoka too.” Hedgehog’s uncle said with a light smile.

“You’ve picked up on Madoka’s crush too?” Hedgehog asked.

Pinky had a thing for Murderface? That certainly explained why she was so upset with her potentially leaving the city. Romance wasn’t a subject Kyoko had much knowledge or interest in, she was out for herself and no one else.

(She kinda had a crush on Mami back when they were partners, but who wouldn’t have a crush on Mami?)

“It’s fun seeing them tiptoe around each other. Madoka has had crushes before, but this is the first time I’ve seen her so invested in someone. I guess she’s growing up…” The man sighed wistfully. He continued, “Have you got anyone you’re interested in, Yuji-kun?”

“Not really, Jujutsu Tech is pretty small and the course load is large, so I don’t have time to meet people.”

“I see, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Most people don’t marry their high school sweetheart.”

“Didn’t you and Junko-san meet in high school?”

“I did say ‘most’ didn’t I?” Both of them laughed.

“Don’t we have somewhere to be?” Kyoko asked, cutting into the conversation.

“Yeah, we’ve got something we need to get done before 11:30 so…” Prickles trailed off.

“Ah, I shouldn’t take anymore of your time,” Hedgehog’s uncle began to walk away, “I hope you have a nice day!”

“See ya later, Tomohisa-san, Takkun!” Hedgehog waved. The toddler waggled his hands back at them as the two walked away.

The four decided to search somewhere else, it was on the way to a nearby graveyard that Kyoko asked.

“So you guys are going back to Tokyo today, are you leaving permanently?”

“Nope! All of our other reports have been via video call, but now they want us to report to Jujutsu Headquarters and give an in-person briefing on our findings. Eight fucking hours on the train to and from just so they can put pressure on Gojo-sensei’s students. Disgusting.” Prickles spat.

“Is this Gojo guy really that important?” Kyoko asked.

“He’s the strongest Sorcerer in the world, probably the strongest human being alive. He’s a constant thorn in the sides of the higher-ups, so they want to have as much leverage as they possibly can.” Sea Urchin explained.

“So because they can’t fuck with him, they want to fuck with you guys instead?”

“Pretty much.”

Just as that conversation petered out, Kyoko’s eye caught on her Soul Gem, now shining red.

“Looks like we got one,” Kyoko said, holding the glimmering red gem up for the others to see. Hedgehog slammed a fist into his palm and grinned.

“Lead the way, Sakura.”

All four of them wandered off closer to the graveyard.

They found the entrance to the labyrinth under a tree next to the graveyard. Kyoko’s eyes had to adjust to the sheer darkness of the labyrinth, she could barely see a couple meters in front of her. Lockers lined the walls, making this unreality resemble a school hallway. Those lockers were draped in vines, blossoming funeral flowers growing from them. Her toes curled as she realized she was ankle deep in some yellow fluid. It smelled sickly sweet and seeped into her costume’s socks. Thank god she transformed before she entered.

“Ack!” Prickles yelped, jumping slightly, “Goddamnit! Why did it have to be wet!? ”

“It should go away once the Witch is dead.” Kyoko said, walking off into the depths of the labyrinth. The three Sorcerers sloshed through the golden fluid after her. All of them were alert, weapons or fists at the ready. As they made their way through the labyrinth, however, they realized they had little to worry about.

“The hell is up with these things…” Hedgehog muttered as he stared at one of the cackling Familiars. They were strange, just school girls with a bouquet of spider lilies for a head. They pointed and laughed at them as they walked by, as if there was something hilarious about their very presence. It gave Kyoko a headache, which just pissed her off even more. Kyoko tore them to pieces with her spear, none of them resisted.

If these were the only Familiars in the labyrinth then what kind of Witch were they facing? Usually if the Familiars were weak the Witch itself would be stronger, but that wasn’t always the case. Kyoko could only hope this was a weak Witch.

“It feels kinda wrong, fighting something that doesn’t fight back.” Hedgehog said as his fist caved in one of the Familiars’ chest. The thing gurgled before it dissolved into more of that golden fluid.

“Cursed spirits are cursed spirits, don’t worry about it, Itadori.” Sea Urchin slashed the head off of another Familiar, spreading flower petals all over the hallway. 

They came to a fork in the road, the hallways branching off into each cardinal direction. 

Kyoko sighed, “Branching paths, always annoying in any labyrinth.”

“Which way do we go?” Prickles asked the crowd, peering off into the darkness.

“There’s almost never a real way to tell with labyrinths. The space isn’t internally consistent either, so you can’t just follow the left wall like with mazes. You usually just have to wander until you find the core.” Kyoko explained, leaning her spear over her shoulder.

“Do we have time for that though? This labyrinth seems designed to confuse and mislead, we might miss our train if we can’t finish in time.” Prickles rubbed her eyes.

Suddenly, Sea Urchin started to stare out into the yawning blackness of one of the hallways. His brow was furrowed, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Kyoko looked past him, but there was nothing down the hallway, except perhaps a vaguely humanoid shadow?

“Tsumiki?” He murmured.

“...Fushiguro?” Hedgehog asked, concerned.

Without any warning, Sea Urchin sprinted down the hallway as fast as he could.

“Oi, Fushiguro!” Hedgehog yelled as he ran after him.

“What the hell do you two think you’re-” Prickles called out after them, but stopped when she realized that the entrance to the hallway they’d ran down was just gone, like it never existed in the first place.

“What the fuck…”

Kyoko turned to her, “Look. We have two options here. Either we find the Witch and kill it, or those two find the Witch and kill it. Either way we end up in the same place.”

“Fine!” Prickles snarled, “Let’s get this over with!”

Both of them ran deeper into the labyrinth, destroying any of the laughing Familiars they came across. Strange shadows darted around Kyoko’s peripheral vision, heightening the Magical Girl’s frustrations. Pathways opened and closed as they ran, like the Witch was corralling them, like they were fucking dogs.

“Are you going to keep hiding, or will you come out and fight!?” Kyoko snarled to the walls, just about ready to start stabbing the lockers.

“Sakura, you need to calm down!” Prickles hissed, grabbing her by the shoulder. Kyoko shrugged her off.

“Shut up! You said it, we need to get through here as soon as-” Kyoko grumbled as she turned at a cross section.

And came face to face with her father’s corpse, hanging from the roof.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?” Kyoko screamed, stumbling backwards onto her ass. Flames licked at the corners of her vision as her chest began to heave. She could hear the rope tensing as his body swayed from side to side. Ash danced across her tongue, the scent of burning wood hit her like a dump truck. Prickles ran up to her, saying something, but Kyoko couldn’t hear her. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. She couldn’t look away she couldn’t look away she couldn’t-

The next thing Kyoko knew, a nail embedded itself in her father’s forehead. With a snap of her fingers and a muttered incantation from Prickles, the corpse’s head exploded into wisps of shadow, collapsing into the darkness. Tears welled in the corners of Kyoko’s eyes, before she forced them away with sheer fucking will. It was just an illusion, the Witch was just fucking with her head.

Prickles held out a hand to her, “You alright, Sakura?”

Kyoko smacked the hand away and got up on her own, “I’m fine. The Witch just showed me something fucked up and I wasn’t expecting it.”

Kyoko cursed her trembling hands. Goddamn Witch digging into old wounds like it had any fucking business-

“Sure… We’ll go with that.” Prickles said, taking it in stride. 

After a few more moments for Kyoko’s heart to stop racing, the two started walking again, taking their time with their exploration. 

“Say Sakura… Does that whole ‘Familiar farming’ thing actually work?” Prickles asked.

“Yeah.”

“...Mind elaborating?”

“Why? Most people just get disgusted when you explain it to them.”

“I mean, if I were a Magical Girl I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Really?” Kyoko looked back at Prickles, raising an eyebrow, “I think most people would, but not many of them would admit it.”

“I’m no saint. I don’t give a damn about the lives of randoms who I don’t know personally.”

Interesting… Kyoko raised her mental assessment of Prickles. Based on Hedgehog, the red haired Magical Girl had kinda expected that the Sorcerers would be goody two shoes types. It seemed she’d be able to get along with Prickles at the very least.

“Anyways, Familiar Farming works. I don’t feed people to Familiars directly, so I couldn’t tell you exactly how many people it takes for a Familiar to evolve into a Witch. I can tell you that Familiar-Witches aren’t quite as good as normal Witches.”

“How so?”

“Not all Grief Seeds are created equal. Some can take in more corruption than others. I can’t exactly prove it, but Grief Seeds that drop from Familiar-Witches usually take in way less corruption than the Grief Seeds of properly born Witches.”

“How are Witches ‘properly born’ anyway?” 

“Fuck if I know, I just know it’s not from a Familiar.”

A beat of silence carried through the surreal space.

“Do you think Itadori and Fushiguro are alright?” Prickles asked, a hint of worry entering her tone.

“Eh…”

“J-Junpei..?”

“They’ll be fine.” Kyoko concluded.

The two of them kept at it for maybe fifteen or twenty more minutes until they finally got a lead. They heard the sound of someone sobbing off in the distance. Following those wretched cries, they found themselves at the door to a classroom, labeled 4-4. The door slid open and the two girls were sucked into an onslaught of repeating doors until they finally landed in a classroom.

The Witch itself was simple, a school girl with a bouquet of white chrysanthemums for a head was seated at a desk in the center of the classroom. Its posture was perfect, but horrid sobs lurched from its proverbial mouth. It cried tears of what Kyoko now recognized as flower nectar from the blossoms making up its head, pooling into the ankle deep fluid they’d be trudging through the whole time. Abuses written in some eldritch language littered the Witch’s desk. The spider lily Familiars were crowded around the edges of the classroom, pointing and laughing at the Witch.

The tableau set out before them was… Miserable, to say the least. Sympathy burned in Kyoko’s chest…

Wait, sympathy!? When the fuck was the last time Kyoko felt sympathy for another person!? This cinched it, the Witch was fucking with her head! Seething with a ferocious rage, Kyoko forced her way closer to the Witch, fighting its influence with each step. With a roar her spear split into segments, carving through the air and taking the Witch’s head clean off!

The sobbing stopped, but the laughter reached a crescendo as the labyrinth collapsed. Kyoko and the three Sorcerers were unceremoniously dumped back by the tree near the graveyard. Kyoko picked the Grief Seed off the floor in an instant. Sea Urchin and Hedgehog sputtered as they saw them.

“Kugisaki, Sakura! You found the Witch?” Hedgehog said, looking a little worse for wear.

“Yeah, it was pretty weak, so it used mind games to try and defeat us.” Prickles looked over at Kyoko, a hint of something she couldn’t quite place in her eyes.

Pity, it was probably pity and that pissed Kyoko off.

Sea Urchin bowed deeply, “I don’t know what came over me, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, that thing was messing with your head.” Prickles said.

Kyoko untransformed and checked out her Soul Gem.

“Oh shit.”

All three Sorcerers turned to look at her.

“What’s wrong, Sakura?” Hedgehog asked her.

Kyoko held up her Soul Gem, about a quarter full, “My Soul Gem is way darker than it should be. That’s probably what the Familiars' laughter did.” 

The red haired Magical Girl held the Grief Seed to her Soul Gem, cleansing it. The Grief Seed was surprisingly big for such a weak Witch, that had only used maybe 35% of its capacity.

“So now that we have the Grief Seed, you can go wherever it is you go during the day, and we can head to the train station.” Sea Urchin said, looking the group over.

Hedgehog checked his phone, “Oh shit! It’s 11:00! We’ve gotta go!”

The Sorcerers ran off towards Mitakihara’s train station, leaving a slightly bewildered Kyoko in their wake.

‘Welp,’ Kyoko thought, pocketing the Grief Seed, might as well hit up an arcade or something.

After school, Madoka was at the training junkyard with the rest of the Magical Girls. Mami-san had invited Sakura-san, much to Sayaka-chan’s chagrin. Homura-chan was off in another corner, working on the dark magic training from a couple nights ago. Sayaka-chan and her had an argument about whether it would turn her evil or not, it was basically just a more heated version of the conversation Madoka and Homura-chan had.

After those two were done arguing, Sayaka-chan walked off to train with Mami-san and Sakura-san. Madoka understood why her friend didn’t like Sakura-san very much, Madoka wasn’t sure if she liked Sakura-san. However, seeing as she was Mami-san’s guest, it seemed right to be polite.

It was in the middle of Madoka watching Sayaka-chan spar with the other two Magical Girls that it happened. A sudden sense of impending doom overtook Madoka and she threw herself to one side. She felt a hand brush through one of her twin tails, and the being impacted the earth, kicking up a massive dust cloud. Every Magical Girl in the area turned to see the new intruder.

“Man, you’ve got good instincts!” The thing cried cheerfully through the dust cloud. It cleared, revealing a pale, blue haired man with patchwork markings on his skin.

The Patchface Curse! Madoka’s breathing picked up as she realized it almost touched her.

In the next instant, the Curse’s hand formed into a hand seal.

“Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.” With a short incantation, a second curtain opened over the junkyard. It closed fast, faster than anyone could react. The next moment, weapons were drawn, spears, swords, muskets and regular firearms, all pointed at the Patchface Curse. A loud ga-chunk signalled the manifestation of Madoka’s Technique.

With a malignant grin, the Curse’s hands ignited with dark purple cursed energy.

“Let’s have some fun!”

Chapter Text

Yuji was feeling pretty tired and the sounds of the train were liable to put him to sleep. He hadn’t been getting very much sleep lately and his experience with the school hallways labyrinth had sapped the strength from him.

“Alright guys, we’ve got some stuff to go over.” Kugisaki said, leaning forward in her seat. Yuji rubbed his eyes and groaned, but he did his best to pay attention anyway. Kugisaki continued, “We’re going into a meeting with the Higher-Ups, there’s some things we’ve gotta keep in mind.”

“Look alive, Itadori. You aren’t as familiar with Sorcerer culture, so this is mostly for you.” Fushiguro added in.

“Alright, what’s the deal?” Yuji did his best to focus up, exhaustion tugging at the back of his brain.

“Without Gojo-sensei as a shield, we need to be as careful as possible.” Fushiguro said, “The elders will look for any excuse to prosecute us, and god forbid we spill a word about anything related to your cousin or Magical Girls.”

“Best case scenario, they think we’re crazy. Worst case scenario, we incite a crusade against an entire population. If they find out about Kaname-chan, we’ll be fighting off assassins for the entirety of our stay in Mitakihara.” Kugisaki chimed in, idly twisting a lock of hair around her finger.

“That’s why we can’t give even the slightest hint that we’ve found anything. If we give them an inch they’ll take a mile and we can’t afford that. Not with the dicey situation regarding the scarcity of magic back in Mitakihara.” Fushiguro turned to look at Yuji, “So then, Itadori. What do we say when they ask us what we’ve found?”

“Nothing?” It was more of a question than a statement.

“Not quite, we say we’ve found nothing but basic curses.” Kugisaki answered.

Yuji hung his head in his hands, “This is going to be so goddamn stressful.”

“100%!” Kugisaki’s voice was full of false cheer.

“Just keep your cool and everything should turn out alright. Kugisaki and I will do most of the talking.” Fushiguro said.

Yuji sighed internally. Would now be a bad time to ask for like, an energy drink or something?

“Anything else I should know?” Yuji asked.

“I suppose we could talk a little bit about the politics involved…” Kugisaki trailed off.

“There are six honored elders, three are elected from the three great clans, while the rest are decorated Sorcerers who are recommended by the clans,” Fushiguro continued, “they are technically all equal, but the clan elders have significantly more political power than the non-clan elders.”

“What does that mean for us?” Yuji inquired.

“You’d think that the non-clan elders would end up being more progressive, but because they’re handpicked by the clan elders, they end up picking people who don’t challenge their ideology. The closest thing we’ll have to an ally is the Gojo clan elder, who should cover for us a little.” 

“Because he won’t want to upset Gojo-sensei?”

Fushiguro nodded, “Even though the elders of the Gojo clan don’t always agree with Gojo-sensei, they’re still on his side. Gojo-sensei’s existence as the strongest Sorcerer makes the Gojo clan higher in status than the other clans, meaning that it’s in the elder’s best interests to keep Gojo-sensei happy.”

“We can’t expect him to run defense for us too much, cause the elder will want to keep his position among the higher-ups.” Kugisaki said.

Yuji really, really hated Sorcerer politics. It all seemed… wasteful? Their job was to protect ordinary people right? Why did they have to spend so much time obstructing each other in the name of meaningless grasps for power? It was all just so frustrating.

“Anyways, here’s the gist of our story.” Fushiguro started explaining. Yuji’s head pounded as he tried to keep it all in. Today was going to really suck, wasn’t it?

Iroha shuffled a little awkwardly as she looked around the table. She was seated in a cafe alongside Yachiyo-san, Momoko-san and Choso-san. Yachiyo-san was still a little intimidating, Momoko-san was clearly in a horrible mood (not that Iroha blamed her) and Choso-san was kind of an enigma to her. Iroha still had no idea what to think of Sorcery, or anything Choso-san had explained to her. Her life was already fundamentally intertwined with one kind of supernatural world, so learning that there was another one running parallel made her head spin.

“So…” Momoko-san started, side eyeing the black haired Sorcerer, “You said you know something about the person who killed Rena-chan?” Her voice was tense, teeth practically grinding together.

It seemed that unlike Kaede-chan, who became miserable following Rena-chan’s death, Momoko-san had decided to become angry to cope. Iroha couldn’t find fault in that, it wasn’t like she’d lost anyone…

Wait, despite her lack of memories, Iroha had lost Ui, right? Her little sister had been there before, and now she wasn’t…

It wasn’t like these emotions mattered, seeing as she would find Ui. There simply wasn’t another option.

“That is correct.” Choso-san said, pulling Iroha out of her thoughts and back into reality.

“What do you know?” Yachiyo-san asked diplomatically.

“Her name is Aradia and she’s… It’s hard to describe.”

“Find the words.” Momoko-san practically spat.

“She is a paradoxical being, some combination of cursed spirit, Witch and Magical Girl. Her body is mechanical and her Technique allows her to create and control threads.” Choso-san explained neatly.

“What do you mean ‘paradoxical?’” Iroha asked.

“Positive energy, the magic you three wield, is anathema to cursed spirits. However, despite the fact that she is obviously some sort of cursed spirit, she is capable of manipulating magic.”

“How is that possible?” Yachiyo-san inquired.

“I have no idea. My best guess is that she’s a vengeful cursed spirit born of a Magical Girl.”

“Vengeful cursed spirit?” 

“A cursed spirit born from the soul of a human who died violently, in simple terms.”

Both Yachiyo-san and Momoko-san shared a thoroughly charged look that Iroha couldn’t quite parse. Was there something she didn’t know?

“She’s the Butcher right? What possible reason could she have for murdering all those girls?” Momoko-san hissed.

“The first ten were an offering for another member of the group named Mahito, a cursed spirit. She needed him to do something to one of the Soul Gems she’d collected, I think? I never really paid much attention to her.” Choso-san hummed thoughtfully, “I have no idea why she murdered Watanabe Yukiko or Minami Rena.”

“Wait just a second, how do you know all of this?” Momoko-san asked.

Choso-san looked pensive for a moment before he answered, “Aradia and I were a part of the same group for a little while.”

Momoko-san got up from her seat and slammed her hands on the table, “YOU WERE FRIENDS WITH HER!?”

Iroha cringed a little as people from all over the restaurant stared at them. Momoko-san remembered where they were and awkwardly shuffled back into her seat.

Choso-san sighed, “Considering that the first thing she did when we met was to mock me over the deaths of my brothers, friends is a strong word.”

The pink haired girl raised an eyebrow, “You don’t seem like a bad person, Choso-san. Why would you be in the same group as a monster like that?”

“You presume a great deal, Tamaki-san… The answer to that question is very complicated.” He seemed to weigh his options for a few moments, before he continued, “Although I look like any other human for the most part, I am not entirely human.”

What?

“My mother was an ordinary human, but my father was a cursed spirit. Of my brothers who have incarnated in human flesh, I am capable of passing as human. Eso and Kechizu were not. They were wonderful people, but the average human would only see them as grotesque monsters. That organization I joined had the goal of overturning humans as the dominant species on this earth in favor of cursed spirits. I believed that my brothers would be able to live a better life in such a world, so I joined them,” A look of self-loathing overtook him, “clearly, this was not the right decision.”

Yachiyo-san looked neutral, Momoko-san looked unsympathetic and Iroha… Iroha could understand where Choso-san was coming from. If she were in his place and the world rejected Ui, she would make the same choice.

“So you were part of the same group as a woman who you knew had murdered ten children in cold blood and you did nothing?” There was venom in Momoko-san’s voice, it sent shivers down Iroha’s spine. 

“Are you thinking that if I did something, Minami Rena might still be alive?” Choso-san asked. Momoko-san’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. Choso-san continued, “Trying to fight Aradia would’ve just gotten me killed. The difference between my power and hers is similar to the difference between your power and Nanami-san’s.”

“She’s that strong?” Yachiyo-san sounded surprised.

“I cannot tell you the true extent of her power, as I am sure she was holding back. She is at least as powerful as you are.” Choso-san said, looking over at Yachiyo-san.

Momoko-san trembled with rage for a few moments before she stood up, chair screeching.

“Momoko-san!?” Iroha yelled as the blonde left the store, obviously fuming.

“I imagine she wanted to deal with Aradia herself, so hearing that the monster was significantly more powerful than her must have upset her.” Yachiyo-san sounded sympathetic, “I’ve never been in that position personally, but I know how it hurts to lose someone you care about.”

“I just…” Iroha’s voice cracked a little, “Why did this have to happen? Why did Rena-chan have to die?”

“Tamaki-san… There are no answers to that question.” Yachiyo-san’s words were clearly meant to be some sort of comforting, but they just rang hollow, like she didn’t believe them herself. This Witch/Magical Girl hybrid thing had to have a motive, right? This wasn’t like a car accident or an earthquake, this was an act of violence committed by someone with thoughts, with desires, not a mindless beast. People don’t kill for no reason, even monstrous ones.

“Just a thought, but what was Minami Rena’s Wish Magic ability?” Choso-san asked.

“She could transform herself into another person she’d seen, copying their skills and abilities for a limited period of time.” Yachiyo-san answered.

“That might have something to do with it.”

“Why?” Iroha inquired.

“I can’t remember the details, as I wasn’t paying much attention at the time, but Aradia said her goal was to infiltrate a Magical Girl organization that was based in Kamihama. I can’t remember the name. She also said that the Soul Gems that she’d delivered were ‘useless’ to her. I can’t help but feel she might’ve gained something more than just twisted satisfaction from Minami Rena’s death.”

“A Magical Girl organization? I haven’t heard of anything like that in Kamihama. Is it small?” Yachiyo-san asked.

“According to Geto and Aradia, they have at least one hundred members.”

“They have to be mistaken. There’s no way a group that big could sustain itself, let alone form without anyone knowing.”

The conversation was kind of impenetrable to Iroha, she was an outsider to Kamihama and she knew nothing of the machinations that Choso-san was a part of.

“I have no way of verifying anything she said, but I’m inclined to believe her in this case.”

“U-um…” Iroha grabbed both adults' attention, “Shouldn’t we tell Momoko-san about this, and what about Kaede-chan.”

“I’ll tell Momoko later and she’ll probably tell Akino-san.” Yachiyo-san said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a sale to catch at the grocery store.”

“Are sales that important?” Choso-san asked.

“ Absolutely .” Yachiyo-san had never sounded more serious about anything else in all the time Iroha had spent with her. The blue haired woman left without any more words. Choso-san bid Iroha farewell and walked out. Iroha couldn’t help but feel that her life was just going to get more and more complicated.

Yuji, Fushiguro and Kugisaki all arrived in Tokyo at around 4:30. A fairly long walk and a bottled energy drink from a nearby vending machine carried all three of them to Jujutsu headquarters. It was a traditional building on the outskirts of the city, grandiose but nondescript at the same time. One would think it the estate of some old money family (which it probably was at some point) if they saw it. Yuji was feeling a lot better than he had earlier that day on the train, being awake for a while let him ignore the effects of his exhaustion.

“You three arrived!” He heard someone call out to them. A tall man with spiky black hair, angular features and a brown trenchcoat walked up to them.

“Kusakabe-sensei!” Kugisaki called out, waving at the man. He was Kusakabe Atsuya, the teacher of the second years at Jujutsu Tech. The man approached them and in the next instant, Yuji was locked in massive steel handcuffs.

“Wha!?” He sputtered, looking at his bound hands.

“The elders will not allow you to meet them without precautions , seeing as you are the vessel of Sukuna. You will be bound with sealing handcuffs, designed to limit your access to cursed energy and, most importantly, if the elders deem you a sufficient threat regardless, I am to behead you on the spot.” Kusakabe-sensei was extremely professional, if a little nervous.

“You can’t be serious!” Yuji yelled, handcuffs chafing against his wrists.

“Trust me, I don’t like it either. You think I want to swing a sword at Ryomen Sukuna ? Absolutely not! However, orders are orders.”

Yuji grit his teeth, but ultimately decided to let it go. Kusakabe-sensei led them down a long hallway, side-eyeing Yuji the whole way. Neither Kugisaki nor Fushiguro said much of anything, but Yuji could feel their nerves fraying. They came to a pair of sliding paper screen doors. The doors opened to a room completely shrouded in darkness. Yuji followed his two friends, the tatami mat floor crunching slightly with their footsteps. They seated themselves in seiza in a roughly triangular formation, each one of them facing a different direction. Kusakabe-sensei stood at Yuiji’s side, a hand on his sword’s hilt.

Yuji took a little while to review the guidelines the two other first years had given him. Do not speak unless prompted, keep your eyes down so as to not make eye contact even by proxy, don’t react to any of their barbs or provocations and finally let none of your emotions show on your face.

Yuji’s eyes burned as six rice paper screens, surrounding the three first years, suddenly lit up, blinding him a little. He blinked the spots out of vision as he took in the silhouettes of old men seated behind the two screens Yuji could see. The pink haired boy remembered his queue and bowed alongside his friends.

“We have come, honorable elders.” They said in unison.

“...Very well, begin your report.” One of the elders said, voice rickety and raspy. It was one of the ones facing Fushiguro. Yuji couldn’t help but laugh internally, were all these theatrics really necessary?

“After arriving in Mitakihara, we began our investigation the following day. Thus far, while we have encountered basic curses we have found nothing particularly of note.” Fushiguro said, voice even in tone.

“The following day? You did not begin your investigation immediately?” 

“We had other engagements to take care of and believed it would be difficult to make progress until we got the lay of the land.” Kugisaki said.

“Yes… we are aware that the vessel has family in the area, are we to assume your 'other engagement’ involved them?”

It took every fiber of Yuj’s being not to flinch. He needed to calm down. Clearly they knew of Madoka and her family, but that didn’t mean they knew about Madoka.

“It di-” Yuji started speaking, but was instantly cut off.

“Silence demon! You will only speak when directly prompted!” One of the elders shouted. Yuji bit his lip and nodded.

“It did,” Kugisaki finished his sentence, “We were invited to dinner.”

“I would hope you kept Sorcery a secret.”

“I am quite certain the students of Gojo Satoru are capable of keeping the most basic secrets of our world.” A different elder cut in, slightly admonishing the elder who had spoken before him.

“I see… Continue your report.”

And they did. While there was plenty of detail in the story they laid out, it all came down to one central ‘fact.’ They found nothing but basic curses during their search, stronger than usual thanks to the empowering nature of the emanation. Nothing three of the most promising Sorcerers of the next generation couldn’t handle.

Honestly, the explanation went better than expected. Because Yuji wasn’t allowed to talk, he couldn’t make mistakes in his exhaustion and mess everything up. Fushiguro and Kugisaki were good talkers and they didn’t let even a hint slip out. The worst part was the things the elders said, the little sneers and snorts, calling him a demon and the sexist comments. It was enough to make Yuji tremble with rage. As the meeting went on Yuji was reaching his breaking point. He couldn’t believe that Kugisaki was just sitting there and taking this! He turned to look at her…

And saw Kugisaki’s fist curled up in her skirt, trembling with the same rage Yuji was feeling.

“Is something wrong, vessel?” One of the elders in front of Yuji said, voice dripping with contempt. Yuji let go of a breath he was holding and bowed deeply.

“My apologies, honored elders.”

“Hmmmmm… At least you know your place.” The elder spat. The three first years finished their report without any further incident. As they made to leave, one of the elders called on Yuji.

“Just to be clear, you three found nothing of note in Mitakihara?”

“Nothing at all, honored elder.” Yuji lied without skipping a beat.

“I knew they were a bunch of assholes but I didn’t expect it to be that bad!” Nobara hissed as she kicked a trash can. All three of them were on their way back to the train station after the meeting. Itadori was rubbing his wrists gingerly, still chaffed from the massive handcuffs they’d gotten him in. Fushiguro just seemed relieved, he turned to look at her.

“So… Do you think we’ll be seeing any fallout for this?” He asked.

“Probably not, I think we got out of that essentially scot free.”

“Yeah. Beyond that, Gojo-sensei is going to tear them a new one once he catches wind of this.”

“I’d pay to see that!”

Suddenly, Nobara heard Itadori’s phone go off. It sounded like the opening from some Shonen anime she never watched.

Itadori put the phone up to his ear, “Yo, Madoka!”

Kaname-chan was calling?

Her and Fushiguro kept walking, but Itadori was rooted to his spot, face growing more and more horrified.

“Itadori?” Fushiguro asked, concern leaking into his expression.

“...Got it.” Itadori tapped his phone and cut off the call, “Guys…”

“We have to get back to Mitakihara, now !”

(As the three Sorcerers began to run towards the train station, not one of them noticed the dark haired man watching them from across the street.)

Chapter Text

Homura’s mind raced as the curtain closed around them. She could tell just by sensing its power that the patchface curse was dangerous. Homura rushed forward and placed herself between the curse and Madoka, shield raised. Said shield clicked and whirred as the curse rushed towards them, fist cocked back and ready for a strike. Time stopped, the world was drained of color…

And the punch still hit her shield.

Homura was blasted off her feet, throwing both her and Madoka about a dozen meters backwards. They fell in a heap as Homura’s head spun, how on earth had she been hit? She heard Madoka groaning in pain and felt something seethe deep in her gut.

“What’s happening!?” Sakura-san yelled, eyes darting from side to side.

“All the colors are gone!” Miki-san called out.

Homura deactivated her shield with a thought, returning time to its regular flow. She rose to her feet and pulled Madoka up with her.

“Are you okay, Homura-chan?” The pink haired girl asked.

Before Homura could respond, she caught sight of the curse running towards them, a malignant grin on his face. Homura threw up a barrier just as one of Tomoe-san’s ribbons ensnared the curse’s arm and bound him in place. The blonde in question ran up to them.

“Are both of you alright?” With a flick of the wrist, the patchface curse was trapped in even more ribbons, leaving only his head exposed. Homura, now having some time to think, examined the barrier they had been caught in. It had two main stipulations:

1. No Magical Girls may enter or exit, in exchange for allowing entry and exit to all other beings.
2. All beings within the barrier are considered to be touching its creator.

The first one made sense, the vast majority of the curse’s potential targets were Magical Girls, if it had imposed a stronger restriction, it would have had to apply something like a time limit or vastly reduce the barrier’s size. The second one was horrifying, that was the same restriction Mikuni Oriko had used to counter her time stop.

“Who told you about my magic!? Was it Mikuni Oriko!?” Homura interrogated the curse. Patchface had this infuriating smirk on its face.

“Mikuni Oriko? Never heard of her. The person who told me would probably kill me if I spoiled you.” It said, eyes boring into Homura like drills.

“Magic? Was everything becoming black and white your doing, Homura-chan?” Madoka asked.

Homura sighed, “My magical ability allows me to stop time-”

“WHAT!?” She heard Miki-san’s voice echo out from behind her.

“-and thus far, it has been countered by clever barrier use twice. I merely wanted to know who is spreading this infor-” 

“Alright, I’ve let you yap on for a little while,” The curse interrupted her dismissively, “Let’s kick this into overdrive.”

In the next instant, what was once a humanoid form became a dervish of sawblades and spikes, tearing Tomoe-san’s ribbons to shreds and kicking up a dust cloud.

“Kaname-san! Hide yourself in one of your barriers!” Tomoe-san barked, summoning muskets into her hands. Madoka squawked and complied, creating a spherical dome that completely insulated her from harm.

“All of you, create a shield around your Soul Gems!” If Homura was right, this thing would know to aim for their Soul Gems.

“Why!?” Miki called back. Homura groaned internally, that girl was beyond frustrating.

“Do you really want to lose your magic now!?”

“I-”

The curse spat out a set of fleshy things and mashed them between its palms, “Soul Multiplicity: Body Repel!”

A wave of discolored, writhing flesh erupted from the curse’s hands, mouths with human teeth slamming into every Magical Girl in an instant. Homura threw up a barrier to block the attack for just long enough for herself to get out of the way. She turned her head to see Tomoe-san leaping up into the air away from the mouth, Sakura-san propping open the jaws with her spear and Miki-san being pulled to safety by one of Tomoe-san’s ribbons. The curse’s attack wasn’t strong enough to even dent Madoka’s shield. The flesh settled over the area, making the terrain bumpy and precarious.

“Wow, you guys are a little better than I was expecting! Nothing I can’t handle though.” Patchface said, morphing his hands into a blowpipe and spitting those same little fleshy things at each of them. Mid-flight, they contorted into multi-armed homunculi, those Transfigured Humans that Itadori-san had mentioned, falling to engage each Magical Girl individually.

Homura ducked under one of the Transfigured Human’s punches, pulling a combat knife out from under her shield. The knife, engulfed in her fiery magic, sliced clean through the homunculi’s throat, leaving it as a burning corpse. The creatures weren’t as big a threat as she would’ve expected, being about the same strength as a Familiar. The biggest problem were the moral quandaries fighting them brought to the forefront. Her eyes darted to the side to see Tomoe and Miki struggling against them, neither girl wanting to strike a decisive blow. Homura almost wished Itadori-san hadn’t explained their origins to them. 

The second Transfigured Human leapt to grab at her face, Homura threw up a barrier just as the creature bloated and exploded into blood, guts and bone shards. The barrier held fast, but Homura could hear something behind her.

The sound of an engine revving.

Homura spun on her feet faster than she’d ever done before to block the patchface curse’s attack, its arm modified into a massive chainsaw. Her shield, enchanted with a barrier, held fast for a few seconds before the curse put its back into it, shattering her barrier and sending her flying.

“Y’know, these machines you humans make are really interesting!” The curse laughed. Homura saw Madoka pounding her fists against the inside of her barrier, she really hoped the girl didn’t get any ideas. Before the curse could follow-up on its previous attack, about 5 musket shots hit it, one to the chest and one for each limb. The wounds actually bled, which Homura wasn’t expecting. She remembered Itadori-san saying that in order to damage the patchface curse, you needed to know how to directly target its soul.

The powers of Magical Girls were fundamentally born of the girl’s souls. Therefore, while it was unlikely any of their attacks would be nearly as effective as Itadori-san’s…

They could damage the patchface curse!

Homura watched Sakura-san, spear coated in blood, run up behind the patchface curse. The monster blocked her spear with its chainsaw arm and morphed its other arm into a giant fist with a strange piston poking out its elbow. Patchface batted the spear away and punched Sakura-san straight in the chest, knocking her off her feet. The chainsaw gave way to a massive drill, the curse planted its boot on Sakura-san’s chest and began drilling through the barrier keeping her Soul Gem safe.

“Come on, come on! You all can do better than this, right!?” The curse cackled, red sparks flying.

Homura swapped her combat knife for a Remington pump-action shotgun. She fired flaming buckshot at Patchface, making it stumble off of Sakura-san. The redhead in question rolled to the side and jumped to her feet, breathing heavily, spear pointed at the curse. Patchface spun on its feet and slammed its drill into Miki-san, who had come up behind it and slashed at it with both sabers. The curse whirred the drill and threw its arm outwards, shattering both of Miki-sans swords. It punched Miki-san, as the fist made contact the piston fired, driving a wave of force into Miki-san’s chest.

Homura could practically hear the blue haired girl’s ribs turn to powder.

Miki-san was launched, tumbling over herself until she collided with a nearby pile of junk. Blood was ejected from her mouth, splattering all over dirt. It seemed that the girl was out of the fight.

“Miki-san!” Tomoe-san yelled, fury tinging her voice.

With a flick of Tomoe-san’s arm a wave of muskets manifested in the sky, bearing down on the junkyard like a white curtain. Homura caught sight of a group of Transfigured Humans bound in Tomoe-san’s ribbons out of the corner of her eye. So that’s how she got back into the fight.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Patchface cried, looking truly excited for the first time since the fight began.

The muskets cracked one after the other, launching musket ball after musket ball at the patchface curse. The creature bobbed and weaved, performing acrobatic maneuvers and transfiguring its body to dodge the barrage, cackling all the way.

“Kyoko!” Tomoe-san called out, shouldering one of her muskets. Sakura-san followed her queue, summoning a bevy of chains to bind the curse. Patchface’s body shifted and morphed into shapes to try and break the chains, but by the time it had gotten free, Tomoe-san had already lined up her shot.

“Tiro Finale!” The massive musket in the blonde’s arms fired, sending a massive crack through the air. Patchface finally managed to break out of Sakura-san’s chains, used its technique to transform its arm into a massive circular saw and slashed the Tiro Finale bullet clean in half. The two halves hit the curtain behind them and exploded. So even their powers couldn’t leave the curtain?

“Let’s crank this up a notch!” As patchface said that, his body began to balloon outwards. Bizarre musculature formed as four extra arms sprouted from its torso. The ends of said arms morphed into multiple different mechanical devices. A chainsaw, a circular saw, one of the piston fists, a drill, a jackhammer and an industrial cutter, all primed to do maximum damage.

Sakura-san sighed, “Well shit.”

What followed was a close range clash between Sakura-san and Patchface. It was a testament to the redhead’s skills that she wasn’t immediately overpowered by an opponent with more arms, longer reach and greater strength. Sakura-san spent most of the fight with her spear split up, dodging and blocking with the chain-linked segments. While she was keeping up, she scored far less blows on the curse than the curse landed on her, lacerations and abrasions accumulating as the fight went on. Homura and Tomoe-san covered for her, Tomoe with her muskets and Homura with a Howa assault rifle she previously pilfered from a JSDF base.

Two of Patchface’s arms were occupied with blocking Tomoe-san and Homura’s attacks, while the remaining four were free to attack Sakura-san. Patchface caught the chain connecting Sakura-san’s segmented spear with its cutter and snapped them shut, rendering the weapon useless. Sakura-san manifested another spear and held it out over her head, blocking twin overhead strikes from the chainsaw and the circular saw. The redhead pivoted to the side, letting both saws hit the ground and launched an attack on the curse’s exposed back. The piston fist met the spear and fired, shattering it to pieces.

Sakura-san, can you get it to stay in one place for about a second? Homura sent out a telepathic message.

Maybe, why?

I have something that can get him off of you.

Sakura-san vaulted over Patchface using a newly summoned spear, she broke it into segments and wrapped it around the soul manipulator’s neck. She summoned another spear, stabbed it in the curse’s back, propping it up against the ground.

“Now!” She cried. Homura replied by aiming an RPG at the creature.

“Holy sh-!” Sakura-san dived out of the way as the rocket hit the curse, exploding into a gout of violet flames.

There was a moment of silence, everyone watched the plume of smoke with bated breath.

“...Did we get it?” Tomoe-san asked.

Suddenly, the horrible sound of metal being ground up filled the junkyard. As the smoke cleared, they watched Patchface, its arm turned into this massive circular shredder, mulching a wrecked car into scrap. Its back, body returned to its regular size, was almost like a giant backpack. Was it storing the scrap metal?

“I’m feeling a little inspired , let’s try this!” Both of Patchface’s arms transformed at once, one into a massive gatling gun, and the other into some kind of cannon with a flared barrel Homura couldn’t decipher. 

“Is that a fucking gatling gun!? ” Sakura-san cried, legitimate terror coloring her voice.

The rotary cannon began to spin as everyone scattered. Shards of metal infused with cursed energy flew from the gun, accompanied by popping sounds that were far quieter than a usual machine gun. Was this thing propelling the scraps of the car using bursts of its cursed energy, while infusing the bullets themselves with cursed energy at the same time!? Had it made a mechanism using its technique that complex on the fly, or was this preplanned!?

It was then that Homura realized the true danger of the Patchface curse. It wasn’t its deadly technique or its massive amounts of cursed energy. It was its raw, unfiltered, potential.

Patchface raised the gun on its other arm at Homura. She leapt out of the way of the blast, but was still hit by the spread, it was a blunderbuss of some kind! Her pinky finger was entirely torn off, while she lost her ring finger at the first joint. Her side and upper thigh were riddled with holes, sending her crashing to the ground.

“Akemi-san!” Her injury distracted Tomoe-san long enough for Patchface to take advantage. The same blast that hit her was flying straight towards Tomoe-san, she was going to take it head on!

Homura raised her shield arm and with a click and a whirr, her shield activated. Time stopped and the scrap blast that was going to perforate Tomoe-san’s entire body froze in the air. The blonde got out of the way while Patchface stopped firing in confusion.

“Why did… Oh, I get it! I only set the curtain to count beings as touching you, not everything! Got it, next time I’ll just use Transfigured Humans.”

Homura understood something at that moment. This thing wasn’t taking them seriously in the slightest. There was no way that the chainsaws and weird gatling guns were the most optimal use of Patchface’s technique. It was just playing, trying out its new toys on an opponent that would be just formidable enough to not immediately die. It was beyond frustrating, but Homura was pretty sure that if Patchface was taking them seriously, they’d all be dead by now.

Homura threw up a barrier to stop another wave of scrap bullets from tearing into her. Unlike the curse’s physical strikes, the bullets carried very little cursed energy in comparison, allowing her to block them with her meager power. In the midst of all that chaos, Homura noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Madoka, inside her shield, hand on her chest, gasping for air.

What?

Homura understood in the next instant, Madoka’s shields seemed to block everything except for light. After all, Homura couldn’t hear the sound of the pink haired girl’s voice. Did that mean that it also blocked the air? Homura met Madoka’s eyes across the battlefield, just long enough to see her mouth one word.

Sorry.

Everything happened all at once. First, Madoka’s shield dissolved in a shower of pink light, drifting away like flower petals. The girl gasped and coughed on the ground, trying desperately to catch her breath. Second, far faster than any of the Magical Girls could react, tendrils of discolored flesh attached themselves to their ankles. All three of them were yanked towards Patchface, kicking up dust as they were dragged across the ground. Third, Patchface vomited up a glowing green Soul Gem and with a malevolent grin, flicked it into the air towards them. The Soul Gem glowed a brighter, sickly green as it flew at them. Homura barely managed to put a barrier between them and the Gem before the curse’s next words.

“Soul Singularity: Shattered Star.”

A world shattering detonation tore through the air, painting the entire junkyard a brilliant green. Homura’s barrier absorbed a decent amount of the explosion, but it still sent all of them flying. The black haired Magical Girl’s back hit a pile of junk with a painful crunch, sending her sprawling on the ground. That didn’t matter though, there was only one target Patchface would have after all of that. With a flare of painfully wasteful magic, Homura fixed her broken spine. She stumbled to her feet, just to see Patchface running towards a defenceless Madoka, hands cocked back, ready to turn her into some sort of abomination

Homura would not allow that, she refused to just watch Madoka die!

Homura’s shield clicked, something shifted inside of her and Homura ran faster than she ever had before. She threw herself between the curse and Madoka just in time for it to palm her face and tackle her to the ground. Madoka screamed her name as the curse spoke through a grin.

“Idle Transfiguration!” 

…

Nothing happened.

“Welp, I should’ve expected that,” Patchface said, rearing its hand back and transforming it into a piston fist, “Guess I’ll just crush your skull.”

Ga-chunk!

The curse was interrupted by approaching footsteps. Both Homura and Patchface looked up just as a stick made of shining pink light impacted the curse’s chest. In the next moment, the stick destabilized and exploded, sending the soul manipulator through several piles of junk until it collided with a building outside of the curtain. Madoka’s attention immediately turned to Homura.

“Are you okay!?” She cried as she crouched down to fuss over her.

“I’ll be fine, apparently it’s Technique doesn’t work on Magical Girls.”

“...Why?”

Homura didn’t respond.

“Oh, you’re bleeding!” With a flare of Madoka’s overwhelming power, all of Homura’s wounds were healed. It was still strange to Homura how Madoka could wield her power without becoming a Magical Girl. She still didn’t want Madoka to put herself in danger by fighting, but it was better than dooming herself via a contract.

“Look alive, Kaname-san, we’re not out of the clear yet.” Homura said, noticing Patchface’s cursed energy approaching them. The monster had transformed itself so it had wheels in its heels. It skirted over the wreckage, turned and screeched to a halt.

“Wow! You really are the source of that emanation! If you could hit my soul, that attack would’ve killed me!” Patchface spoke through an ear-to-ear grin, “But this is the end.”

“Why? We’re still going strong here!” Tomoe-san’s statement was probably a bluff, Homura knew that this was around the time that they’d start running low on magic. Dread pooled in Homura’s gut, what the hell did Patchface mean by that!?

The soul manipulator’s mouth opened wide, Homura saw hands forming hand seals outstretched from the inside of its cheeks. Power, unlike anything Homura had ever sensed beyond Walpurgisnacht, flooded the junkyard. Homura pulled out an AT missile launcher to interrupt the curse, but she was…

Simply.

Too.

Late.

“Domain Expansion!”

A tidal wave of hands emerged from the curse’s position, swallowing Madoka while pushing the rest of them away. The hands formed a pitch black dome, the pinnacle of Jujutsu Sorcery as described to them by Fushiguro-san.

“Domain Expansions are the absolute peak of Jujutsu. You create a barrier using cursed energy and expand your Innate Domain, a manifestation of your soul, over it, creating a personalized landscape. While inside, you gain a roughly 25% power boost but that’s not the most important part.”

“Domains are typically infused with the creator’s Cursed Technique. While within a Domain, the Technique is guaranteed to hit.”

No no no no no no!

Pure, unfiltered panic flooded Homura down to her very soul. All rational thoughts were expelled, any caution thrown to the wind.

“MADOKA!” she screamed, running towards the outside of the barrier and pounding her hands against it. Fear, pain, guilt, uncountable negative emotions suffused Homura’s very being. She reared her fist back, she needed to break this barrier!

And for the very first time, Homura understood cursed energy.