It’s late in the afternoon and the sun is setting when Yosuke approaches a gap in the fence surrounding the rail yard adjacent to Mitakihara’s now abandoned train station. He climbs through and crosses the overgrown, rusted tracks, making his way past container units, engine houses and rows of freight cars that haven’t moved in years, before finally arriving at a row of graffiti-clad passenger cars peeking halfway out of a weathered down shed. 

Two-hundred and three people died. For Her. Yosuke briefly takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes with the base of his thumb before sighing, stuffing his chilly hands into his pockets as he approaches the train. One of its doors appears to have been forced open with a crowbar, so he climbs in, wandering down the aisle between the dirty seats, instinctively grabbing the handles adorning them as he feels the rhythmic vibrations of the train barrelling across the bridge, towards the station, then the ear-splitting noise of steel shrieking and crumpling and the car being lifted off the tracks, gravity pulling it into the gaping void—

Shiori: (she sniggers) What the fuck, man?

Blinking a few times before he manages to recognizes the puddle on the floor as the former contents of his stomach, Yosuke groans as he looks up, seeing Firestarter slouched on the seat in front of him, eyebrows raised as she sizes him up with a playful, lascivious gaze.

Shiori: Be a good boy and swallow the next time, ‘mkay?

Yosuke: (he scoffs) I-Is this your idea of a joke? … Why couldn’t we just meet up at our usual spot?

Shiori: Our usual spot? You can count yourself lucky I even agreed with this fucking meeting at all, pipsqueak. Only real Balancers get to play in the ballpit. (she leans back in her seat, resting an arm on the headrest of the seat next to her and casually revealing a distinct lack of clothing underneath her unzipped leather jacket) Guess this place’ll have to do. Lots of potential.

Yosuke: This is serious. I… T-There’s a reason why I wanted to see you all in person.

Shiori: I can think of two. (she grins)

Luca: Leave the boy alone, Firestarter. He means business. Business enough to show he has a pair when faced with certain death, at any rate. It’s his meeting. (Leaning against a door, Luca stands, holding his mask loosely in his left hand. His eyes are closed and his expression sour, as if he had not slept in weeks.) As soon as Punisher graces us with her fucking presence, that is.

Shiori: Probably too busy with that fucking game of hers. Can’t believe she was getting on my fucking case for slacking off. (she scoffs) Almost miss her having a stick so far up her ass I could spit roast her.

Luca: A visual I did not need this morning… 

Yosuke: C-Come on, man, I just threw up!

Shiori: (with a grin, she perks up out of her seat and puts an arm around Yosuke’s shoulder, like a playground bully) … I do tend to make guys lose all kinds of bodily fluids prematurely.

Yosuke: I-I’m not scared of you, okay? (he struggles to wriggle out of Shiori’s embrace) Y-You do know who to thank for the information on that hideout, right? A-And I’ve got more where that came from. E-Enough intel to ascertain our victory. (he takes a few steps back to get away from Firestarter, only to freeze up when he feels cold steel against the back of his neck)

Punisher: (holding a blade up to Yosuke’s neck, she glares at the other two Balancers) <…No one told me this one would be invited as well.>

Yosuke: Err… W-What is she saying?

Luca: <Stay your blade, Punisher. Yosuke called this meeting. Wait to hear him out first.>

Shiori: <Fuck’s sake, Candy Crush. This how you treat guests in China?>

Punisher: <He went against his orders and aided in your foolish pursuit of that wand. And he failed to communicate Moonlover’s demise. He is a liability.>

Luca: <And you aren’t, giving in to your emotions like this? Or before, at our former base of operations?>

Shiori: <Yeah, aren’t we all at this point?>

Punisher: (she clicks her tongue, lowering her blade) <Make him talk.>

Luca: Very well, Backspacer. Your meeting is underway. The floor is yours.

Yosuke: (he clears his throat) W-Well, obviously… I was able to deduce the… location of Yui Arashi’s gym by browsing through Hanako and Shinj- err, Sasaki and Hayama’s memories, right. I used that information to push their buttons… find out what it is that drives them and all that, and… I gained their trust. All of them. E-Even that girl that’s always hanging around them… who isn’t even a Puella Magi. They… (he scoffs) …told me their entire life stories. G-Guess they were really starving for attention. F-From a guy, I mean—

Shiori: Sure, dude. How about we save the jacking off for later and stick to the facts, huh?

Yosuke: (he clears his throat) … Point is, I got them to spill their whole plan. Their weaknesses. Their anxieties. The names of their loved ones, and their addresses. Where they arranged to meet up with the others when they got back to town. Where they’re planning their counteroffensive. I’ve… (he reaches for the bag on his back, causing Punisher to point her weapon at him once more as he turns to Luca) D-Dude! Tell her what I’ve just explained to you! I don’t speak Chinese!

Luca: (as accurately as he can, he translates what Yosuke said in Chinese, nearly word-for-word, minus the stuttering) <If this is true, this information is invaluable>

Yosuke: R-Right! (he turns to Luca) … Assuming you just said that what I’m about to tell you is very important.

Luca: I did. Now be about it, Backspacer. Show us you have the right to be among us after all. (he repeats this in Chinese, if for no other reason than to make her lower her weapon again, accompanied with an impatient glare towards both of them) <We all have other places we’d rather be. The second you stop pointing swords at people, the faster this will go. I will translate, as I always have.>

Punisher: Tsk.

Yosuke: R-Right… (he puts down his backpack and produces three folders, each of them filled with printouts) I wrote it all down during the trip. There’s pictures and everything… Glad my dad didn’t catch me using the printer for this. (he hands Shiori one of the folders)

Shiori: How cute of you to assume I’m reading any of that, babe. (she winks, causing Yosuke to reach for the sling bag around his torso, before awkwardly moving on to Punisher and handing her a folder as well)

Yosuke: It’s, err, I used Kazoo Translate for your folder, so it probably doesn’t make any sense, but I guess you can always ask Kyubey or Luca to tell you what it says…

Punisher: … (she snatches the folder from Yosuke’s hand, glaring at him)

Yosuke: R-Right… (he fumbles with the sling bag again) Speaking of which… (he heads down to Luca and hands him a folder as well) … Obviously I couldn’t have sent you these via e-mail. Shirahara told me one of their allies is a technopath who can pluck any information straight off of the digital ether if she knows where to look for it… This is also why I had to be discrete in my communication with Moonlover. (he adjusts the bag once more, its two zippers not quite meeting to fully close it, leaving an opening big enough to fit a single finger into) That’ll teach them for makin’ me carry all of their shit, huh? Had to buy this dumb fucking bag and everything.

Luca: (he takes the folder given to him after translating for Punisher, leafing through its contents) …So what do we make of all this, team?

Shiori: Isn’t bullying little girls more your speed? I don’t give a fuck about any of this shit, man. As long as you leave Arashi to me.

Punisher: <We will not go against Fu Hua Zhe’s orders.>

Shiori: … On second thought, this is great. Excellent plan. Ten out of ten. Let’s go with this. Love what you’re doing here, Backshooter.

Yosuke: … B-Backspacer.

Luca: Then we are agreed. Backpedal’s plan is not out of line with Kyubey’s goals, if we think about it. (his voice lowers, irritation and disdain pouring from his words, this lone sentence the one he does not translate) As for the Forte, she’s all yours. I’ve had enough of this mutual death-beating for one lifetime. (Luca’s typical demeanor returns immediately after, as does his translations) Now, let us not fuck this one up, yes? We have a viable script before us, and the ideal method with which we test Yosuke’s worth as a Balancer. If this fails, we all agree as to who gets the blame. Win-win. 

Yosuke: R-Right! Just, err, lemme know if you need anything… (as Punisher wordlessly takes her leave and the other two Balancers begin bickering, he casts his gaze towards the floor, instinctively clutching the sling bag on his chest and muttering) Do it… for her…