Anisa: Look out for each other, okay? Maybe… the city as it is, also provides an opportunity. To build something different than the mess I made.

Yui: Heh. If this works, an’ we get through it all, I’m kinda paintin’ myself to take that spot you tried to. Not that I want the fuckin’ job or anything. But someone’s gotta keep these girls in shape. Tomatsu made a mess, Aoi tried to take advantage of it, but I’ll be damned if I just let ’em fall to the wayside. I’ll whip ’em into shape an’ help ’em survive out there.

Toi: … I think she was talking about larger society, but sure enough.

Anisa: In any case, you’re not wrong about the whole looking out for you girls, either. If anything, I got that idea from Shou and Alice’s dream way back when.

Yui: The Conductors might’ve sucked at what they wanted to do, but the mission statement was pure enough. I’m takin’ the good from them, from Alice ‘n’ Yuzu four years ago too. But also, I’m followin’ my own path. Our life sucks, even moreso with what we all became. But I can’t let that stop me from doin’ the best I can, y’know?

Anisa: You… (she looks slyly at Yui, then smiles) I’m sure you’ll do a better job without me there ruining everything. Third time’s the charm.

Yui: Heh. Maaaybe I took a lil’ bit from what you intended too, Boss. An’ hey, even if it’s from the shadows, you still got a role to play. (she glances at Toi) You too, I bet… Actually yeah. Those high schoolers still trust you, right?

Toi: (she furrows her brow in an exaggerated expression of doubt) Prrrretty sure Koharu never trusted me once.

Yui: She trusts Hanako, Midori, and probably Shinju by now? Otherwise, she doesn’t trust a goddamn soul. And honestly? I don’t blame her. She’s been fightin’ uphill her whole fuckin’ life. And she’s a goddamn badass for not only makin’ it this far in one piece, but keepin’ her head above water, in our fuckin’ world. Honestly? She’s a goddamn role model.

Toi: (she claps her hands together) You should do my job!

Yui: I have a hard time not saying the fuck word. I’d get fired in half a day.

Anisa: Am I going to have to look for a real job now?

Yui: I know a small gym lookin’ for some part time help… (smug smirk)

Anisa: (she chuckles nervously, looking at Toi) I-I was never the jock in school. I was like, the opposite.

Yui: Heh. Is it embarrassing stories aboutAnisa Nobunagatime? I’m down!

Anisa: I was an outcast. The weird artistic kid with the alternative clothes and the strange name and the parents who’d fallen victim to an apocalypse cult? Who threw up if a boy talked to her?

Toi: You were kinda cool… In your own way.

Anisa: My parents were… extraordinary people, to say the least. They didn’t feel at home in this city, in this… society, I’d say. They didn’t care about their careers, about the latest trends or about contemporary politics. They were interested in other cultures, in faraway countries. That’s why they called me “Anisa”. It’s the Arabic word for “good friend”. They had friends all over the world, people who shared their… search for a higher meaning. They were into esoteric stuff, alternative medicine, reconnecting with nature, all that. No wonder they ended up in the clutches of that cult. By the time I was nine, they had already sealed their fates. When I was eleven, we moved out of the city to go live in one of the cult’s self-sustaining communes. I hardly ever saw my parents during that time. They were always working the cult’s crop fields, or attending the guru’s seminars, or praying. Us kids were supposed to be free and unburdened. Aside from our lessons, we were told to play without a worry in the world, but I… Perhaps I had been in the, err, “real world” for too long. I wanted to know what my parents were doing, what kind of higher truth they were pursuing. You know what happened next… I was the only survivor, and I was desperate more than ever to know why my parents had chosen this path. Eventually, they didn’t find anything better to do with me than to let me live with my aunt and uncle, back in Mitakihara. I was… never going to fit in. I didn’t know how to behave in school, amongst others. I dressed weirdly, I acted weirdly. I was the strange granola girl who read books on spirituality and had outspoken opinions on things middle schoolers were not supposed to question. Everyone knew what I had gone through, so no one wanted to talk to me. By high school, I was a pariah. All I did was talk to Toi, my only friend, and hang out in the art room, making committing meaningless violence to canvases in some kind of desperate attempt to express what I felt. I didn’t even join the art club. All I cared about was avoiding going down the same way my parents did, and in doing so, I became exactly like them. Always the outsider. Always looking for meaning, for a role to play. For that singular truth behind everything, that would answer all my questions. That was probably the Witch sleeping inside of me, now that I think about it…I…didn’t realize how deep the scars the cult had left on me were. Whenever my peers would talk about relationships or sex, I became nauseous. After a while, they started doing it around me on purpose. Shou… was the only boy who wasn’t repulsed by me… I didn’t know any better than to assume that meant I was in love with him. He was the only person, aside from Toi, I trusted. He was everything I wasn’t. Free and unburdened. I didn’t care that he was… my cousin. I felt rejected by society, like my parents had been, so I would reject its rules. It was my way of revenge to allow these feelings inside of me, no matter how wrong they were. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. But I hurt him. I hurt him so much. When my aunt and uncle found out, they… I had never seen them like that. They wondered where I’d gone wrong. They… I was afraid they wanted to lock me up, or worse. That I would lose what little I had. Even Toi didn’t want anything to do with me anymore. It wasn’t until much later that I realized her parents had forbidden her from talking to me. So I… Well, you’re intimately familiar with how the rest of the story goes.

Yui: … Man… I wish I’d known all this four years ago. You’re better at the punk life than I am, shit. … Creepy stuff aside, not that I’m judgin’, but like… well, I dunno what I could’ve done to help, ‘specially since your Witch was in the driver’s seat, but… fuck. That’s a lot. But hey! I know now, right? An’ I didn’t throw up all over this, uh… finely crafted cabin floor or anything.All I got? Shit you knew already. Fightin’ at 12, pulled into Conductor bullshit at 16, then again a year or so ago, and torn between not wanting to follow in Vel’s footsteps and doing exactly that. S’why I took my third option after Kae was taken out, an’ while I was recoverin’ from the brink. It’s not too late for you, y’know. Hierarchy be damned. Stick with me long enough, you’ll know what it’s like to just… go with the flow.

Anisa: (she chuckles) I apologize, I didn’t mean to turn this into some kind of competition.

Toi: I, err, had to take care of flowers when I was a child, you know. Big trauma.

Yui: Heh… Nah man, my point was more, like… we’re not that different, I guess.

Anisa: I don’t think people with normal backgrounds end up becoming Puella Malefica.

Yui: Cecilia was relatively normal, I think.

Toi: She’s Italian.

Yui: And still normal compared to me, Kae and Anisa!

Anisa: Let’s not go there. I didn’t intend to make any general statements.

Yui: Right, right. Well, Yuzu’s gonna fuckin’ kill me for sayin’ this, but… ugh. I think we’re cool now. But only ’cause Alice was so okay with it. Just so we’re clear!

Anisa: … Miss Tokai is free to make her own decisions.

Yui: Said decisions involve trying to kick your ass.

Anisa: She’s welcome to try.

Yui: About that. Don’t kill her, okay?

Anisa: Why on earth would I do that?

Yui: ‘Cause you’re really fuckin’ strong.

Anisa: I can control myself.

Yui: S-Still… Yuzu had the hardest time out of all of us that were around five years ago uh… with your presence, I guess.

Anisa: I’m not just going to go out and antagonize her, I know better than that. But I’m just as confident Miss Tokai is mature enough to understand what is going on once she learns the truth.

Yui: You miiiight be underestimating just how much Yuzu went through. She’s made of stone, sure, but doesn’t mean she’s completely unfeeling, y’know? She bottles it all up. Probably.

Anisa: … I don’t doubt it. But I trust her to be reasonable enough to understand. In the end.

Yui: For sure, yeah. But just be ready for it? Gonna be puttin’ out a looot of fires once it’s out that we’re cool.

Anisa: I’ll deal with it when I have to, Yui.

Yui: I’m the one puttin’ out fires!