Pulling aside the curtain slightly, Toi takes a peek out of the window of her apartment to witness the chaos in the streets. Despite her neighborhood being a mostly residential area, with few stores to loot, trash cans have been emptied onto the concrete, windows broken, and the occasional car set alight or reduced to a wreck with a baseball bat or steel pipe. 

Like ravenous animals, people of all ages and walks of life are breaking down front doors in a fury, dragging furniture out into the streets or throwing it out of the windows, looking for those who haven’t yet joined their ranks.

Toi: We’ve seen heaven… and now we’re seeing hell.

Anisa: Don’t let them see you—(her voice is drowned out by another blast of ear-splitting propaganda echoing through the streets) God, does she ever shut up?

Toi: Guess if some of us are immune to her voice, she can always just drive us insane the old-fashioned way.

Anisa: I’m not taking any risks. Help me out here. (she places her shoulder against a large, heavy bookcase and, after Toi joins her, they push it in front of the apartment door, blocking the entrance)

Toi: (she groans after the physical effort) … And now for the long-term solutions?

Anisa: Niko needs time to consider my offer… Otherwise, I’m open to any suggestions.

Toi: … Plenty of time to think. (she turns to the two girls huddled up onto the couch in the middle of the apartment’s living room) You girls are fine staying holed up here with us?

Riko: (Neither of the fledgling birds are looking at Toi or Anisa, but Riko eventually nods after a slight nudge from her sister.) We’ve had… worse lodgings. Are you certain you do not need any help with the fortifications?

Anisa: Not sure there can be any more fortifications. We don’t exactly have grandpa’s old hunting rifle lying around.

Toi: Our best defense is probably not to attract any attention. If they think we’ve already bailed, they’re not gonna bother to come all the way up to the third floor.

???: Are you sure about that? This place is easier to get into than you might think.

Upon hearing a sudden familiar voice, both women turn to the living room table to see two red beady eyes staring back at them. Kyubey’s tail still sways from left to right, though it is now bereft of its usual playfulness, and when it speaks, its voice is calm and callous. The twins scoot a few feet away, glaring at the creature.

Toi: Wanna double check for that rifle?

Anisa: (disregarding Toi’s pithy remark, she glares at the Incubator) … How did you find this place?

Kyubey: There are eyes on you, Anisa Nobunaga. And there are eyes on the eyes on you.

Anisa: … You’re just another pawn in the Hierarchy’s game, Incubator. A game not even you can beat them in. It’s magic beyond your comprehen—

Kyubey: Don’t be foolish, Anisa. There is no magic beyond our comprehension. There is only the Path. All magic is the Path. And the Path is ours to travel, and ours alone.

Riko: The… Path?

Toi: … What the hell are you talking about?

Kyubey: Why don’t you ask the atrocity? She has all the knowledge of a God, doesn’t she?

Anisa: … You are the one who made me that atrocity.

Kyubey: Incorrect. I knew granting your wish would turn you into a Witch without too much effort. That is why I approached you in the first place. But it was never my intention for you to survive your transformation.

Anisa: I was an accident.

Kyubey: No. To be honest, what happened to you… I don’t see how that was supposed to be any concern of ours. It wasn’t worth calling for a Balancing over, if that’s what you’re wondering. You had already played your part by turning into a Witch.

Anisa: … You knew what I would become if you granted my wish?

Kyubey: Hm? Of course I did. You were hardly the first of your kind.

Toi: … Do… Do you even realize—You turned her into a monster because it was convenient?

Kyubey: Well, I suppose I should thank Anisa for saving us the effort of waiting out her Soul Gem’s eventual collapse, yes. So, if you do need to feel special, I suppose you could tell yourself your contributions to our mission were… somewhat more considerable than usual?

Anisa: (she clenches her fist) A Puella Malefica has the power… the desire… the hunger to destroy this entire planet. How does creating one of those help your goddamn “mission” at all?

Kyubey: We are trying to save the universe, Anisa. The loss of a single planet is, in the grand scheme of things, less than entirely negligible.

Rio: …You don’t honestly believe that, though.

Riko: Rio?

Rio: …We know. Not as Birds of Fujiwara, but with another source. This was not your first Balancing, yet this is by a wide margin, it is your least successful. Why do you think that is, Incubator?

Kyubey: What reason would I have to lie, little bird?

Rio: (she stands, hard gaze fixed on Kyubey) You’re avoiding the question, which adds to my theory. A Balancing never takes this long. Why is this one being handled so badly, Incubator? Or is it truly fear that drives you here?

Kyubey: I don’t see the point of this kind of theorizing at all, but let me humor you. The reason why this Balancing may appear not to be going my way from your point of view is because I waited too long to call it. I had hoped Kae would deal with you, and she nearly succeeded by turning Yui Arashi into a Witch. Afterwards, I figured you would tear yourselves apart thanks to Anisa’s deluded efforts, but I supposed you pulled through in the end. These tribulations have indeed made you the most tenacious deviants I’ve ever had to clean up, if that is what you want to hear. No wonder this Balancing isn’t going as efficiently as previous iterations have gone. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I did not account for that, though, little bird.

Anisa: This is a waste of time, Rio… You’ll never get this thing to tell you what it really thinks or wants. Though I can tell you it’s not here to gloat.

Kyubey: Yet another human impulse I fail to see the point of, indeed. Though perhaps, your grievances about the contract you made with me all those years ago do relate to what I am here to say. In fact, you’ve made conveying this message far easier for me.

Toi: Stop wasting our time.

Kyubey: Hmm. Well, since you all consider the creation of a Puella Malefica to be some kind of faux-pas, I suppose I don’t need to go into too much detail as to why what you’re planning is considerably ill-advised.

Anisa: … Why would I listen to any advice you have to offer?

Kyubey: … Because Mei Tsukuda has restored Niko Segawa’s abilities as a Puella Magi, and with them, the ability for her to turn into a Witch. And seeing as what happened the last time a Puella Magi was granted access to all the knowledge in the universe, I would be remiss not to warn you. 

Anisa: As if you give a damn.

Kyubey: I don’t, but you do. So tell me, Anisa. Will you commit the very same sin you hold against me to continue upsetting the balance? To persist in your entitlement? To delay the inevitable? I must admit, I don’t particularly understand human morality, but… Do you truly believe you will be the one in the right at the end of all this? You, who would create a Puella Malefica to allow a few insignificant souls to continue leeching off our universe?

Anisa: If we’re the parasites, what does that make you?

Kyubey: You don’t understand, do you? You are mere specks. Weeds growing in the garden we tend to. You are the only mistake we have ever made.

Rio: That, and your other failed balancing… in Kamihama.

Toi: … What the hell are you talking about?

Kyubey: If you truly wish to know, Toi Kanashimi, let me—

The creature’s head falls to the floor before it can utter another word. Beside it, a small, crystal handaxe, and where the creature once perched, a small girl, crouching with her hood firmly over her eyes.

Kiwako: Rio-chan… you talk too much. They aren’t ready to know. And the kitty isn’t ready to admit that it’s afraid. (Kiwako stands up, lowering her hood and clearing her throat)

Toi: Oh for the love of—I don’t care why Kyubey is doing this, I want to know how to stop him! Why did you chase him off right when he was about to—

Anisa: You’re that girl who was at Arashi’s. What was your name again? And what are you doing here?

Kiwako: (ignoring Toi, she speaks again, her tone remains low as she closes her eyes) Kiwako Kobayashi. From the town of Kamihama. Are you familiar with the stories, Anisa?

Anisa: Many stories I’m familiar with, though I assume you’re alluding to a specific one.

Kiwako: Erm… the stories about Kamihama. Are you okay?

Toi: I thought she meant “Little Red Riding Hood”…

Anisa: If anything, Kyubey doesn’t seem to pose much of a threat on its own. Thank you for the concern, though.

Kiwako: Hm. Well, if you’re not gonna ask about my past, that makes it better and easier for me~ (her voice returns to its chipper default) Anyway, I’m here to help! If anyone gets in or tries to, I’ll deal with ‘em! I have experience, just ask Rio-chan or Riko-chan~

Anisa: That’s not—How did you even manage to find us? We don’t intend for this place to be a safe shelter like Yui’s gym.

Rio: Ah, um… Kiwa-chan and us, we’re… we’re good friends. That’s honestly the only thing I can say about it… 

Riko: We… go way back.

Anisa: Well then… I suppose we can use all the help we can get.

Kiwako: Good! You won’t be disappointed~