"Dammit, just a little more! Literally a sliver!"
Beneath a building under construction, Kyoko bent down and snatched the Grief Seed off the ground, rolling it between her fingers.
People cracking under the weight of social pressure were prime targets for Witch interference—they'd get the urge to jump, and you'd often find Witches lurking near buildings that were easy to jump from.
"We shouldn't need those anymore, should we?" Sayaka looked at the Grief Seed in Kyoko's hand, a little roughed up from the fight.
Kyoko pocketed it. "I'll sell it to Mami at a premium. That idiot's always wasting her magic on pointless things."
"You're worried about Mami-senpai's magic running out, aren't you? Unexpectedly sweet of you." Sayaka covered her mouth, wearing the kind of grin that annoyed Kyoko. "And weren't you clearing out Familiars back there too?"
She'd always said living for yourself was all that mattered. Now that they didn't even need to fight Witches for survival—
"It was just while I was at it. Before, there was no point wasting magic on Familiars when only Grief Seeds were useful to us. Draining yourself on Familiars and then having nothing left when real danger hits—that's just stupid."
Kyoko laced her fingers behind her head. "But now, letting Familiars escape and grow on their own might cause us bigger problems."
Like that time two Witches came back-to-back and nearly finished them off.
Ordinary Witches were genuinely just busywork for them at this point. In fact, just moments ago she'd been pinning Sayaka down in this deserted construction site to exact her revenge when a passerby walked by with a Witch's Kiss on their neck—so they'd killed the Witch as a side job.
Otherwise a run-of-the-mill Witch wouldn't have left Sayaka looking this roughed up.
Just a hair more and she would've had her payback. Stupid Witch, ruining everything!
Kyoko gripped the pendant around her neck. Now that she had a moment to think: "Come to think of it, a while back my Soul Gem's corruption rate spiked for some unknown reason. It happened once before too, but I wasn't paying attention back then."
That had been when her family died. She'd been so fed up with Mami's gentle act by that point—who had the headspace to worry about a Soul Gem?
"After Kyubey admitted it had been lying, I started thinking—if it could hide one truth, it could probably hide others. Why does a Magical Girl's magic consumption manifest as 'corruption'? If a Magical Girl's Soul Gem gets fully corrupted, what actually happens?"
Kyoko held up her Soul Gem. The thing was just an external battery tethered to her soul now—no longer her entire being.
Sayaka sheathed her blade and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Thinking about stuff like that doesn't even benefit you anymore, does it? You really are worrying about Mami-senpai."
"Huh? Leaning against the wall for safety, are we?" Kyoko leveled her spear at Sayaka again.
"Yes! Why do you think I haven't gone home yet this late?"
She was afraid Kyoko would follow her home, memorize the address and her room's location, then in the middle of the night while she was sleeping—
"You little—" Just as an insult was about to slip out, Kyoko saw Sayaka's expression change abruptly. She'd voluntarily dismissed her Magical Girl outfit.
That usually meant she'd spotted someone she knew.
Kyoko turned and looked behind her. A couple walked by, chatting happily—the boy on a crutch. Neither of them so much as glanced toward the construction site. Even if they had, they probably wouldn't have spotted the two girls in the pitch-dark lot.
"Someone you know?"
"I thought Hitomi's family rules didn't let her stay out this late." Sayaka didn't move from her spot against the wall.
If Hitomi was allowed out, it meant her family knew about the relationship—and approved. Made sense. They were well-matched in status.
"Hmm... that expression of yours. So the guy's the one you made your wish to heal, huh? And he's with another girl now."
Kyoko scratched her head, a little exasperated. "This is why I said you're an idiot. If you liked him, wouldn't it have been better to just make him unable to leave you?"
"I told you, I'm not like you—"
"Here." Kyoko walked over and leaned against the wall beside her.
"What?"
Kyoko stared straight ahead. "Shoulder's right here. It's narrow, but it's enough for one good cry."
Sayaka sidestepped along the wall, putting distance between them. "Being suddenly this suspiciously nice—you think I'll fall for it?"
"Even so, the second time I came looking for you was just because I figured if you started regretting your wish, things would get really bad."
Watching the couple in the distance, Kyoko—usually so contrary—was surprisingly candid. "Wishes are something you should only ever make for yourself. That's the only way you won't regret it. At least, that's what I believe."
"A long time ago I lived in a church. My dad was a pastor..."
She started telling Sayaka her story.
"Your personality and what you went through were way too similar to mine. I figured if I left you alone, you'd self-destruct sooner or later. So I went to check on you... and then you didn't even appreciate it, and on top of that you had the nerve to do that to me—"
Her teeth started grinding somewhere around the middle of that sentence.
Sayaka kept her head down. "You… thanks."
"Huh? Louder."
Sayaka didn't bicker back. She placed both hands on Kyoko's shoulders and pressed her face into one of them.
"..."
Kyoko said nothing.
"..."
"I can't even cry, okay? Don't make me out to be that fragile." Everything worth agonizing over, she'd already agonized about. She was the one who'd missed her chance—what was there left to be sad about?
But thanks to this girl, so much of the darkness in her heart had cleared. Even if their relationship was... something complicated.
What was this, exactly? Growing close over time?
Sayaka stretched her arms above her head. "All that fighting made me hungry. I know a great ramen place. How about a ceasefire—let's go eat?"
"Fine." Kyoko dismissed her transformation too.
Comforting was comforting, but Kyoko wasn't about to let sentiment erase the "grudge." The plan was simple: lower Sayaka's guard, figure out where she lived, then that night while she slept, she'd use her—
Bzzzzz...
The robot vacuum's buzz cut through her scheming.
"Ah! Yimi, you little gremlin, you dare show your face in front of me!" Sayaka crouched down and grabbed Yimi's cheeks, stretching them.
"Gib ib, bwead." Yimi shoved the bread at her through garbled speech.
"Don't think giving me bread means I forgive you. You'd better explain yourself later." Sayaka snatched the bread and took an angry bite.
It tasted okay.
But when her mood was this light, anything short of terrible would taste good.
Progress: 3/5.
"Then I saw Madoka and the Black One holding hands, then I went over and they stopped holding hands, then I gave the bread to Madoka, then Madoka took a bite, then the Black One stared at the spot where she bit it, then the Black One shooed me away with her eyes."
"Then I ran into the Blue Person, saw her and the Red Person sneaking around somewhere with nobody else, and the Blue Person put her face on the Red Person's shoulder."
Back home, Yimi shared her day with Junko.
"I thought it was just Madoka, but it turns out kids these days are all into this sort of thing?" A slightly tipsy Junko rested her chin in her hands, swaying her legs and rocking Yimi, who sat on her lap, with the motion.
"That Madoka—she might look soft, but when it counts she's probably the assertive one... I should give her more pocket money tomorrow."
Gossip was normal. It was just that Junko had had a bit to drink and lost her filter—because this entire discussion was happening right in front of Madoka.
"I-I'm going to do homework!" Madoka fled into her room and locked the door.
Sayaka too?
No wonder she'd stopped being upset about Kyosuke. Honestly, she didn't know whether to be happy for her friend or...
"Congratulations, Host! Achievement unlocked: [Matchmaker God]. Reward: portal energy +5%." The System's voice chimed in Yimi's ear just outside the door.
"Mew?"
So the achievement system was still running. It had been silent for so long that she'd assumed it was gone.
That brought her down to just two more. The Yellow Person should count as one. The last one...