On an otherwise quiet Wednesday, a girl shows up at New Eden for healing after-hours on an off-day. It’s her second time this week, far sooner than most Puellae need. Aoi comes to the front door, having expected her arrival from a text message. Aoi lets her in, a relatively tall but mousy-looking girl, with thick brown hair and glasses hiding most of her face.

Aoi: Hey, Kokoro-chan. 

Kokoro: Yeah. 

Kokoro shuffles in quickly, not looking at Aoi more than necessary. The two of them go down to the basement in silence. Without being asked, Kokoro takes a seat in one of the chairs in the healing area. 

Aoi: Everything okay? It’s only been a few days. 

Kokoro: Everything’s fine. 

After a pause, Aoi produces her wings and starts the healing. Though she had cleaned Kokoro’s Soul Gem only a few days earlier, it’s already almost full. As soon as the healing is done, Kokoro jumps out of her chair and tries to leave. Aoi and her wings take up most of the space behind the dividers set up around the clinic, and Kokoro bumps into them.

Kokoro: Let me out! 

Aoi: (She winces as Kokoro bumps into her broken wing) J-just a second, I’ll put them away. 

Kokoro: (She takes a step back, folding her arms and tapping her heel impatiently on the ground) 

Aoi: Why’s it so full after only a few days? Did something happen? 

Kokoro: I don’t wanna get into it.

Aoi: … Alright. (She puts her wings away, clearing the way out) 

Kokoro: God, there you go again! 

Aoi: H-huh?

Kokoro: (She paces back and forth before continuing, as if trying and failing to hold it in) You think I like coming here? Yeah, everyone better come here and tell you all about their problem?

Aoi: (Taken aback by this sudden outburst) No, I… 

Kokoro: Because what else are we supposed to do!? Nobody wants to keep coming here after you nearly blew up the world! But we’ve got to, ‘cause you’ve got the power! And I guess I gotta tell you everything that goes on in my personal life, ‘cause who knows if you’ll kick me out if I don’t! 

Aoi: No, you don’t. I said I’d keep healing everyone and it didn’t matter what they thought of me or if they didn’t want to be around me anymore.

Kokoro: Oh, well thank God for saint Aoi! You think if you tell us that and mope around all day we’re gonna feel bad for you!?

Aoi: N-no, I… don’t think that.

Kokoro: Everyone’s gotta walk on eggshells around you! Stop trying to guilt trip us and take some responsibility for what you did! 

Aoi: … (She looks down and away at the corner)

Kokoro: You’re still doing it!! (She raises her hand and slaps Aoi hard across the face) 

Aoi: (She takes it silently, barely flinching) 

Yui: (As the girl raises her hand a second time, it’s caught in a much stronger than necessary grip, a low and menacing voice coming from behind her) I’m gonna let this hand go. If it flies where I think it’s gonna fly, I’m gonna remove it. Permanently. Like, no Puella healing will be able to restore it. Am I understood?

Kokoro: !! (She gasps and tries to twist and pull away, so hard and so desperately that she quickly falls to the ground) 

Yui: (Yui doesn’t relinquish her grasp, kneeling down beside the girl) I said. (Her eyes flash) Am. I. Understood?

Kokoro: (She tries, unsuccessfully, to crawl backwards away from Yui. She stammers like she might say something, but it catches in her throat and she just nods) 

Yui: Good. Now, I have no problem with any Puella comin’ an’ goin’ for healing any time it’s needed. Sundays, come ‘round for training, I don’t mind. But since I’m not charging for this service, you’d do well not to, at the very least, assault the staff. Else we’re gonna have a problem. Got it? (She releases the girl’s wrist and stands back up) Aoi ain’t perfect. Neither am I. But neither are you. Any bad blood you need dealt with, deal with it properly.

Kokoro: (She scrambles around on the floor for something, apparently her glasses that fell off. She puts them on, breathing hard and sniffling) 

Aoi: … If you go too hard she might not want to come back…

Yui: If I don’t go hard enough, she might hit you again. One of these outcomes is more preferable than the other. (Her eyes don’t leave the girl until Aoi’s words sink in, her body beginning to relax, and creating enough distance for the girl to no longer be cornered) Another tactic might be to stand up for yourself next time, Aoi.

Kokoro: (She scrambles away, not managing to get to her feet until she’s outside the dividers. She makes a run for the stairs) 

Aoi: (She shakes her head) What’s most important is that everybody keeps coming in… I can’t have people dying because they didn’t want to come here… 

Yui: And I can’t have you sitting there, letting these girls escalate on you. We have enough punching bags upstairs, you know. You saw the Biei girls, and what they did. You want that to happen to you, next?

Aoi: (She speaks flatly and calmly) It’s fine. I knew this would happen when I made my decision to go up there. I was prepared for it. 

Yui: …I’ve done the “I made one mistake and am gonna eat crow for like a million years” bit before. It gets old. God damn… I mean first, you don’t cleanse your Soul Gem, now you’re letting those girls attack you. …Dying isn’t gonna make anything right, Aoi. Nothing is gonna get better from some melancholy self-sacrifice. Not a goddamn thing.

Aoi: I’m not going to die. What would happen to everyone else if I did that? And I wouldn’t call it a “mistake.” I set it up and planned it out for months. I just made my peace with what would happen to me after I pulled the trigger, that’s all. 

Yui: Man, you keep saying that, but then, why let your Soul Gem get that bad? Well, I’m not lettin’ anyone take shots at you. Not with their fists. They’re big girls, let ‘em use their words. And you shouldn’t put up with it, either. Got it?

Aoi: I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get what they need. 

Yui: And if what they need happens to be to get their head out of their asses?

Aoi: Kokoro-chan’s going through something. Sadly, I don’t think she’ll listen to me trying to therapy her anymore. 

Yui: Most people get arrested for hitting their therapists.

Aoi: Well, I’m not a real therapist either… 

Yui: So you deserve to get hit?

Aoi: (She sits down on the bed, touching her cheek where she was struck)  I’m saying it can stay a thing that happened between friends. She doesn’t need to be arrested. 

Yui: And I’m not callin’ the cops. I just gave her a stern warning that I won’t tolerate that sort of thing in New Eden.

Aoi: (She nods, then pulls out her phone to text) I’ll have to put in some work to make sure she won’t be too scared to come back… 

Yui: S’why I didn’t hit her. But hey, since I’m havin’ a hard time gettin’ through, let’s try somethin’ else. Got the little dancers around?

Aoi: Dancers…? Oh, the chorus. They’re always around… more now than before. The truck service still isn’t one hundred percent, but I took care of our burnable trash problem. (She takes a pause. When it’s not clear what she’s talking about, she looks up and blows a jet of multicolored flame upward, like a smoker exhaling after a long drag) 

Yui: (At the same time, Yui’s eyes begin to glaze over with an iridescent glow) Woo, now we’re talkin’! So you did still have communion with her…

Aoi: We don’t have “communion,” she’s just like a mindless animal. It might seem like you’re talking to her, but I think she’s just making sounds in the air. 

Yui: Shows what you know! How long didja spend makin’ Witches all these years that you didn’t learn the language? Yo, Stagecraft! Ya there?

Aoi: … Yui, you shouldn’t let this thing boss you around either… 

Yui: It’s… complicated. Malefica stuff. Venefica in Puella’s doing a good job of keeping me in the driver seat, though. Staaaagecraaaft! C’mon, man, don’t leave me hangin’! …See why I’ve been tryin’ to get someone to kick my ass now?

Aoi: I don’t just let the Walpurgis Night out for no reason. You might as well load up one of those internet chatbots or listen to a mockingbird’s song than talk to a Witch… 

Yui: (She continues talking over Sabrina’s protests) She might settle for the Chorus. But like, are you okay with that thing riding around or floating around in you, or whatever?

Aoi: No, of course not. I just made my peace with it when I signed up for all this. 

Yui: …You know there’s like, probably a world where I could take care of that, right? Oh! Shit! Tag me in! C’mon, tag me in, I wanna go! …Y’know, after my storm’s passed.

Aoi: That’d probably be a good idea. Sure. Don’t know what will happen if this thing sticks around… 

Yui: …The other idea for the exact second is lettin’ Sabby talk to her. The Stagecraft Witch, I mean.

Aoi: You… (She looks away) You want me to call her up?

Yui: …If you can without like, straining yourself too heavily.

Aoi: (She stands up, waving her hand) It’s not going to kill me. Since her main body’s not around anymore, she doesn’t have that much power on me anymore. You want it right now?

Yui: (The telltale signs of Venefica in Puella take hold in full on Yui’s face, which contorts into an unnatural- for Yui at least- grin) Yeah! Right now, right now! C’mon, lemme see the Stagecraft Witch already! I only got five seconds last time!

Aoi: Well, just remember it’s my body, so don’t… forget it. (She closes her eyes and takes a few deep breaths, apparently meditating. She slowly rises off the floor, turning over in the air about halfway to the ceiling. She alights carefully on a strut between the ceiling tiles. Her eyes snap open, glowing brightly, and the calm is gone.) Ah!! Too long an intermission! Too long! You heard Kokoro! Everyone’s TIRED of moping around!

Yui: Yeah, yeah! Fuck that moping whining shit! Gotta stay in the action! She ain’t gonna let us go at it, but give it just a little longer, I’ll have the wheel before long! (Yui’s body practically bounces, the maneuver a lot of fighters do before a bout) 

Aoi: Hmm!? Have you decided to change your character too, Yui? Oh, I see. (She jumps up from the ceiling, grabbing the blanket off the bed to wrap around herself like a mantle) Haha! I usually don’t talk to my subjects! You should feel grateful! 

Sabrina: Hold up! Do I come off like a fuckin’ familiar to you, Stagecraft? I don’t care how big or strong or how many of you make you up! You’re still just a Witch! You got punched twice and fell down, and it can happen again! Someday, you an’ I are gonna go at it, just as soon as I can steal this stupid driver seat. ‘Cause Yui can’t find anyone that can beat me! So I can be a little patient. But make no mistake, I’m one tough bastard. And you’re not the first amalgamate Witch I’ve beat up.

Aoi: Ahahaha!! How boorish! Oh, the young ones are always like this. Don’t tell me Yui never told you about me? The Walpurgis Night! The Queen of Witches, Dust to Dust, Il Grido Nella Notte! It may have looked to you like love lost in the end, but since that day the world has been remade in MY image! Haven’t you noticed? 

Sabrina: You sound like Maestro did, before we killed him. Get with the times though, Stagecraft! Amalgamates like you are powerful, but we’re something entirely different! Were you ever part of a Puella Malefica? You’re maxed out on endurance and bulk, but you’re not invincible, you know! You died twice! I only managed that once! …Still, gotta admit when a fight’d be pretty tough. Yui might get her way if we came to blows now, and I can’t have that.

Aoi: You won’t be popular with the audience until you’ve died at least once! Besides, I got what I wanted…         

Sabrina: So what, you’re the second coming of Witchkind? Jesus Witch? A mangaka did that once, it was pretty popular. But I don’t care about the audience, I just want a good fight. And for right now, I just wanted to size you up. Didn’t get a good look last time, so this is good for me. ‘Sides, the drivers might get mad if we keep this going too long!

Aoi: Driver, hahaha! Oh, my little sweetling will be joining my cast soon, just like everyone else! It won’t be long now! Another tiny dancer upon my stage! 

Sabrina: Bitch, better believe I’ll be first in line to crash your play and fight the narrator. Audience can get a real show! (The darkness in Yui’s eyes begins to dim) ‘Til then, I guess.

Aoi: Oh, I’m sure! I’m predicting my sweetling will be a fine Witch before we meet again! 

Yui: Later, babe. (Yui’s body slumps a bit and relaxes, and she shakes her head before slowly looking up at Aoi) …That’s so fucking exhausting, I swear… I dunno how Kiwa or Hanako do that and fight at the same time.

Aoi: Ahahahaha!! That’s because you’re–!! Mm. Hmm? What! So short!! Feh!!! See if I let you– mmnrgh. (She slowly drifts down from the ceiling, down into a sitting position on the bed) … Was that enough for you?

Yui: Yeah. Sabby’s cooled down for a while. …Besides, that thing still fascinates me. You alright?

Aoi: Since the two of them didn’t get into a fight using my body, yeah. 

Yui: …See more why I need someone to come knock both me an’ her down a couple pegs?

Aoi: … If you think that’s the only way to fix that… 

Yui: Got any other ideas?