On the outside, Yui looked like her usual self. It helped that she was technically within the mental confines of being “at school” in some capacity, even if she was just at the Itokai dorms. It felt weird to Yui that it felt weird at all, even if she had since been “present” at home more frequently over the last few weeks. Still, visiting Yuzuki wasn’t a regular activity, and Yui figured out quickly that any semblance of pretense would be more suspicious than just getting down to business. A fact Yui lamented as a side-effect of this Conductor-like mindset. But the sense of urgency Yui felt drove her forward. This needed to get done, especially if Yui was right.

Two soft knocks on the dorm room door, then three.

Yui: Yo, Yuzu, y’home? 

Yuzuki: (She opens the door, looking a little harried and disheveled, like she might have just thrown on new clothes since someone was at the door) O-oh, Yui, it’s you. Something I can help with…? 

Yui: Business, I’m afraid. Uh, can I come in?

Yuzuki: Sure… (She opens the door and steps out of the way) Is this about Diana? … Or that Melati woman?

Yui: (She steps into Yuzuki’s dorm, and out of habit, looks around at her living space) You, actually. You uh… might wanna sit down.

Yuzuki: (With sudden alarm, not sitting down) Wh-what? Is everyone okay?

Yui: No one’s hurt or anything, there wasn’t an attack, don’t worry. I just, uh… fuck, this is gonna sound weird no matter how I ask it. But I kinda wanna take a read of your soul. Just need to, uh… make sure of something.

Yuzuki: (She crosses her arms over her chest) Th-this again? I don’t want anything to do with Venefica or anything like that… 

Yui: It’s not about that, I promise. Just need to read and find something… but uh, I don’t wanna do it without permission either.

Yuzuki: Find? Is this about.. (She hesitates to even say her name) Ikana? I haven’t heard from her in close to a year.

Yui: That long, huh? But yeah. I need to feel out what she is. Somethin’ I heard from Melati isn’t sittin’ right, and I need to find out for myself.

Yuzuki: Huh? Wh-what’d she tell you? 

Yui: I’ll talk while I’m reading, if that’s cool. …Shit, no, that’s Conductor talk. I’m bein’ cagey ‘cause I don’t wanna freak you out into sayin’ no or somethin’. But that Melati chick mentioned Incubator conduits, an’ I wanna feel out if uh… if Ikana is like a dead Incubator or somethin’.

Yuzuki: D-dead Incubator? What? H-how?? 

Yui: Incubators have these “conduits” to make their temporary bodies. Y’know, Kyubey’s li’l cat thing form? An’ why there’s infinity of it? Apparently, that’s the mechanism. Well, I got some info via the Library in the Dreamscape, and crossin’ that with what Melati told me, it seems an Incubator was put to death on the homeworld or something, but there’s a rogue conduit floatin’ around on the planet, somethin’ it’s not s’posed to do or somethin’. An’ I don’t believe in coincidences… Ikana went dormant like a year or so ago, yeah?

Yuzuki: A-about that long, yes. I never did anything to really “defeat” her, so I always thought it was odd, but… what’s one of these conduits like? 

Yui: The one Melati showed me in her little presentation looked like this weird white metal. Had some weird grooves in it, like a circuit board got shattered or something.

Yuzuki: (She turns pale suddenly, turning and walking away without a word. She picks up her phone, attempting to sort through pictures without much success) I-I have something like that, it’s… it’s been in my house since I was a kid. Oh my god… (She gives up looking for a picture of it and comes back) Y-you can tell if I’ve got something like that in me, right? 

Yui: (Her expression darkens, but she turns to face Yuzuki with a nod) I know what human souls feel like. I know what a Puella soul feels like. Malefica, Witch, Venefica, Vacua, all of it. I had to visualize it in my head to parse it, so think of it as “colors” of the soul. I get nothin’ when I try and read Kyubey, but there’s something there. Like… a clear sorta fog, if that makes sense? Point is, I’ll know the difference between an Incubator and Weird Puella Shit for Ikana. If she’s even still there.

Yuzuki: O-okay. (She sits down on the sofa dutifully, like she’s at a doctor’s office) Maybe you’d better take a look after all. I’m ready.

Yui: ‘Kay. Oh, and uh, you shouldn’t feel a thing. Same as lookin’ or talkin’ at you. (Her eyes begin to flash with violet streaks, as if lightning danced across her pupils) 

Yuzuki’s soul comes into view before Yui. Like her Soul Gem, it has a “blue” sense to it. Large and warm and spread out and soft like a dandelion puff, with a slight shivering feeling to it like it’s in a slight breeze. Like other Puella souls to Yui, there’s a bit of “density” to it, its containment in the Incubator’s Soul Gem. A little cloudy, the innermost Witch slowly churning underneath the “surface”. Perfectly ordinary for a Puella Magi. Something Yui has read countless times before. It is, as far as looking at it goes, only one soul, homogenous throughout, without division or difference.

Yuzuki: (Quietly, making a joke awkwardly a little too long after the setup) I feel a lot of things when people talk to me, honestly… 

Then, in a far back corner, as if trying not to be found, lay something else. A tiny, translucent pale sliver, curved and jagged as if it was a broken-off piece of something larger. It flickers and fades from existence, occasionally leeching some of Yuzuki’s soul to refill itself. Though immobile and dormant now, it clings, its sharp parts dug in to hold on like a parasitic mite. 

Yui: Motherfucker…

She is only reading, of course, but her reaction is a dead giveaway. On top of the storm in her eyes, another feeling. Calculation.

Yui: …I probably could…

Yuzuki: Wh-what? Did you find something? 

Yui: …I dunno how to say this except bluntly. I think I found Ikana. …It’s an Incubator. Different than Kyubey, but definitely an Incubator. (More sparks behind her eyes) …And it’s been there for a while. A long while.

Yuzuki: (She immediately shudders, running her arms up her body and hugging herself as if it was a tick on her skin she might discover and dislodge by doing so) Shit! All this time, I-I thought I was crazy, and it’s this??

Yui: “Crazy” would be easier. “Crazy” we can handle. Not that this’d make you crazy, per se. Fuck, we could deal with that shit in human ways. … (Her eyes, still stormy, then meet Yuzuki’s) …Speaking of crazy though, I might be able to… deal with it. I’m supposed to let Melati know if I find this, but… I’m not keen on trustin’ a Balancer with something like this. I dunno what the Balancer can do about Ikana. My method might backfire and hurt like a bitch. …But it’s your call, Yuzu. 

Yuzuki: (Her grip tightens on her shoulders) N-no, I want it out! You can do it with your soul powers, right! I want it out!! 

Yui: (She holds out her left hand, tiny violet sparks dancing from her palm to her wrist and back) …This might hurt.

At Yui’s first touch, the sliver of foreign soul suddenly comes to life, arching its “body” abruptly the opposite way in agony. It releases its hold on Yuzuki’s soul, skittering away like a bug.

Yuzuki: (With her hand on her chest) Wh-what was that? (An instant later, she doubles over in pain, curling up on the sofa) 

Yui: I think I got it. Just gotta—

The sliver of soul abruptly jumps out of her into nothingness. In an open space in the center of the apartment, a swirl of white goo coalesces on the floor, writhing and bubbling. Quickly, a face with no eyes rises out of it, sickly pale, a little like Yuzuki, a little like Anisa, a little like Toi, a little like Emiri. 

Ikana: (With a rattling, wet gasp for air) Alive… alive, alive! 

Yui: Oh HELL no! (She wheels around to face it) Yuzu, I can take this thing out, right? My “no killing” rule doesn’t apply to Incubators.

Yuzuki: (She struggles to sit up, staring down at Ikana in horror) I-I don’t know, it feels like– 

In its writhing, the abomination strikes its head hard against a table, popping it like a bubble. Yuzuki clutches the back of her head at the same time. 

Yuzuki: I-it’s not… separated yet…! 

Groaning in pain, still struggling to take any form, Ikana slides towards the door, starting to slip through the gap underneath. 

Yui: God damn it! (She quickly conjures and hurls a staff at the door, lightning striking it and spreading to the barely corporeal Ikana’s form) Sorry, Yuzu! Bear with this a sec, but this should cut it off from you!

The mass of protoplasm shrieks and convulses, trying again to slip under the door.

Yuzuki: (She cries out in pain and spasms) No, s-stop! I can’t…! 

Yui: (She calls off her attack the moment she hears Yuzuki’s pained voice calling out) God DAMN IT! (She shouts towards the door, and subsequently, the hallway) Anisa! Get your ass in gear NOW!

Out in the hallway, “Ikana” struggles upright, barely forming a semblance of a human’s upper body, bone white, misshapen and dripping. Its breathing is fast and labored between groans of pain. 

Anisa: Nowhere to hide, Incubator. (she steps out into the hallway, blocking the way out with a gun aimed straight at the creature’s head, its barrel cracking with streaks of purple lightning)

One of the doors leading to the hallway opens up, a prying pair of eyes peeking through the notch, yet as soon as they get an idea of what is going on, the door slams shut again.

Ikana: You… 

As it lays eyes on Anisa, a shock of blonde hair appears out of the mass, covering her face like Anisa’s used to. It rises up high in the hallway, blocking a ceiling light and casting a long shadow over Anisa.

Ikana: (Speaking with great difficulty, its throat full of fluid) T-to murder another musketeer… the ultimate crime; that tiny world, r-ruined by you!  It should have been me! Should h-h-have been me! 

Anisa: That can be arranged. (she continues to point the gun at the creature, but realizing firing it will attract even more witnesses, neglects to fire it, muttering) Where’s the Bureau when you need them…?

Ikana: Yuzu was too w-weak… thin! But you, a-always with a c-cloud over your head, even when we were k-k-kids… give it to me! (It lunges at Anisa, hands outstretched, mouth gaping impossibly wide as if to consume her)

Anisa: Shit! (she dodges out of the way, narrowly avoiding the creatures ravenous maw)

Ikana: (It crashes down like a wave, sloshing against the walls) Wh-where did you go? Where did you go that day!? (It flails around wildly, apparently not concerned with the present but something else entirely) 

Yui: (Several staves crash down, barring the liquid being in a makeshift barrier, with Anisa outside of it) You’re not gettin’ away that easy! Anisa! Shoot the cage!

Anisa: There’ll be witnesses. We’re in real trouble when they hear gunfire.

Yui: God damn it! Do we really have time when—

Ikana: (Groaning, evidently in great pain, it smashes against the walls of the cage. While it can’t break the cage, it manages to create a tiny gap, enough for a thin string to escape through. Leaving much of itself behind in the cage, it slithers away into an air vent) 

Yui: …Motherfucker, if I ever get into another fight with an Incubator, note to self… they’re all slippery little fuckers. (The staves vanish in an instant) …You alright, Anisa?

Anisa: Yes. (she sighs) I’m afraid the bullets wouldn’t have worked either way.

Yui: Yeah, I know. …Yuzu’s stabilized but she’s in a lot of pain. I fucked up. …Again.

She turns and enters Yuzuki’s room again, kneeling down by the couch where Yuzuki is sitting. Yuzuki has managed to sit up, but is still clutching her chest in pain. 

Yuzuki: Wh-what happened out there? Did it get away? 

Yui: …Yeah… sorry. I didn’t wanna keep hurtin’ ya by attacking it, but I couldn’t contain it, either. …Are you okay, Yuzu?

Yuzuki: N-no… I can feel she– it is out, but it’s– (She grunts and flinches in pain again) S-still connected somehow… 

Yui: Fuck… you might have to be the one to put it down, then. Can’t speak to Incubator soul parasite bullshit, but I survived the times I killed Sabby. And unlike my Witch, Ikana won’t “grow back” so to speak.

Yuzuki: F… fuck, man! All this time I thought I was a nutcase a-and that I had no choice, and it was just some Incubator freak inside me? 

Yui: It’s better. And worse, at the same time. …But I think… this has to be your fight, not mine. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll kill this Incubator and every other Incubator that comes our way. But this one… (She shakes her head) …Fuck, I should let that Melati chick in on this development, before she finds out on her own and it bites me in the ass.

Yuzuki: Uh, o-okay… do you have her number from that business card? 

Yui: Yep. Just sit tight, okay? Sorry about all this, I really am, man… (She pulls out her phone and calls Melati’s number)

Melati: (She picks up after a couple of rings) This is a pleasant surprise. Was there something else?

Yui: A situation, actually. Your avenue. A colleague of mine, one Anisa Nobunaga and I found what we thought was your missing conduit thingy. After some… stuff happened, it got away. …I can’t separate it from my friend’s soul safely.

Melati: You– (With barely contained shock) You found a conduit? Hold on, I’ll get my equipment and be right there. Where are you? 

Yui: Itokai. Look for a blonde woman hiding in the hallway, possibly with a gun. (beat) …It’s not Diana.

Melati: (The sound of metal rattling, her voice sounding farther from the phone) I know it’s not Diana. I’ll be there soon. 

Yui would mutter some choice words into a phone whose call had long since ended by the time Yui noticed. Once she did, all of her effort was in trying to keep Yuzuki comfortable and free from any pain, lingering or otherwise. She would try (and fail) to keep Yuzuki distracted with some small talk, but thankfully, by the time Yui had tried the third dead-end topic of conversation, a familiar enough figure entered the room.

Yui: Thank god, I was running out of shit to talk about… I’m bad at this, man.

Melati: (She steps in briskly, wasting no time.) First thing’s first, let’s get this thing separated. (She sets down a pair of small machines behind Yuzuki and to her left and right, tucking them under the couch cushions. They separate into eight, forming the corners of a cube around Yuzuki where she sits on the sofa) Pull your legs up so your whole body is inside. 

Yuzuki: (She does so, still clutching her chest in pain) 

Melati: It’s– there, that’s good.

The machine activates, enclosing Yuzuki in an iridescent cube of light. Right away, Yuzuki seems to relax. A glowing tether appears leading out of Yuzuki’s chest in one direction, striking the walls of the cube with a ripple. With a grimace, Melati pushes a button and the tether breaks in two and disappears.

Yuzuki: (With a sigh of relief, Yuzuki slumps onto the sofa, letting go of tension she’s held the entire time) God, that was horrible… 

Melati: No more pain?

Yuzuki: No…

Melati: You saw that line connecting you to it, right? I can tell it’s gotten quite far, unfortunately. Is there anything in particular in that direction that you can think of?

Yuzuki: Uh… (She stares off in the direction the line pointed) Probably… my house, where that “conduit” thing is… 

Melati: Yeah, that figures. Probably too late now to stop it from recovering its conduit. 

Yui: Fuck, what was that thing you just did? I uh… followed all of that, but that’s just standard tech for your line of work?

Melati: Not magic, just an Incubator-made tool for this. Was only issued after an Incubator caused trouble recently dropping these things. They’ve already been put to death on the home planet, but this conduit… looks like it’s the work of the same one. Still has one fragment of its soul running around, apparently…  

Yui: Well, good to know what those fuckers feel like to my sixth sense. Seventh? (she shakes her head) So it’s less standard issue and more suited for your current job, specifically. …More to the point, what happens now? Huntin’ it down? That thing got a tracker?

Melati: If we had something like that, we’d have found all the missing conduits before this happened. Perhaps if it was still connected to Tokai-san, but I’d rather not have left her to suffer the whole time while I chase this thing down. (She glances at Yui) Speaking of which, if anyone asks, you managed to fully separate it by yourself. 

Yui: No complaints here. Better than thinking I made everything worse again. Your boss might even believe I could do it, too. I like it better that way. 

Yuzuki: (She coughs) Y-you said that this Incubator was executed?

Melati: For this type of Path-following behavior, yes. I haven’t done the conversion for the exact date, but it was right around last year. 

Yuzuki: (She looks down) About when I stopped hearing from “Ikana.”

Melati: Hmm? (She tilts her head, trying to subtly prompt Yuzuki to repeat information she “shouldn’t” know in front of Yui)

Yuzuki: She told me… my wish needed to change my personality, and that she’d be my replacement…

Melati: More likely, that was just this Incubator’s cover story for taking over eventually. You must have noticed some odd things about “her.”

Yuzuki: … When Anisa kidnapped Alice, right after I made my contract… somehow I knew where to go to find her. I thought that was just a Puella power, but I was never able to track someone like that again. I guess she was the one who did that…

Yui: (She tilts her head, telepathically relaying this information to Anisa) Someday, if or when I ever figure out what makes Incubators tick… (She shakes her head again) Probably shouldn’t talk about… ambitious stuff like that in front of an active Balancer, huh?

Melati: (Packing up her machine) Let’s try not to add “slaying an Incubator” to the list of Balancing-worthy things happening in this town. 

Yui: Uh… we shouldn’t exactly let Ikana roam free, though. Slaying it feels like the best course of action.

Melati: Oh, them. If you manage to catch them, I won’t complain. I suspect my schedule’s about to be full chasing them down for the next little while. 

Yui: …Fair enough. Thanks for the help, an’ if anything else comes up, I’ll call you. I’m easy to reach if you need anything from me.

Melati: I’ll get started hunting this thing down, then. I expect by the time either of us gets there, the conduit will be gone already, but you should check on your house, too. 

Yuzuki: Y-yeah… 

Melati: Bye, then. (Despite her relaxed demeanor. she exits at a brisk pace) 

Yui: (She waits about a minute flat before calling out into the hallway) You can come in now, Anisa.

Anisa: The question is whether I should.

Yuzuki: (She stands up suddenly, even though it’s still a struggle) What is she doing here?

Anisa: Just doing what I do best — screwing up.

Yui: I let that cat out of the bag awhile ago. But yeah, Anisa gave me the tip. Y’think I was the type to read in the library? Didn’t in high school, don’t now. S’what ‘Tori’s for. Anisa gave me the tip, an’ I came runnin’.

Anisa: It’s a coincidence, really. I discovered the conduit at your house — your father’d invited me on some unrelated business — and I remembered it. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I asked Miss Ito to look into it. An unlikely twist of fate, I know.

Yuzuki: “Unlikely,” sure… was it “unlikely” that I got stuck with that thing in the first place?

Anisa: That’s… what I’m trying to find out.

Yui: I swear I heard it say the word “musketeer”… That some sorta thing y’all were into as kids or something?

Anisa: It’s something Kanamin used to play with her sister and Yuzuki, yes. I… happened to overhear them one day and tried to show off by telling them there were actually four musketeers in the original novel… That’s more than a decade ago now.

Yuzuki: You– (She shakes her head in disbelief) You remember that? 

Anisa: … Of course I do. It was the last ime in my life I was ever happy.

Yui: …Anisa, are you absolutely sure you can’t access your Malefica powers? Or like, any magic at all? ‘Cause I gotta be real with you here, this… this isn’t my fight. Don’t get me wrong, Incubators are my enemy. I see it, I erase it. But I get the feeling that I’m not the one that can track it down, and while I dunno what kinda shit this Melati chick can do, I think… (She looks back at Yuzuki) …I think the only one that can beat Ikana is one of the original “Musketeers”.

Anisa: (she sighs) The Hierarchy will only give me my powers back if it can help them further their agenda. And as far as I know, their agenda is tormenting me. If they actually cared about the fate of this… mortal world, they would’ve — I dunno. Maybe the deal I made with Miss Segawa also rid me of the powers that knowledge awakened in me.

Yui: That gun I made for you will have to do, I guess… remember, you gotta put intent behind each shot. Even without magic of your own, it kinda reads off of you. So you gotta want to stop whatever you’re pointin’ it at. And those six shots are all you got. Otherwise, yeah… Yuzu, I think this is your show now. I can’t help much, aside keepin’ Melati, Diana and any Incubators ‘side from Ikana off your back.

Yuzuki: … (Sigh) I’m not really one for violence, but it wouldn’t feel good having someone else take care of Ikana for me, after all this time… I’m gonna check my house first, but I doubt she did anything but take the conduit. She lived with me this whole time, and I’m pretty sure she, uh, loves my parents, like, vicariously through me… ugh. Weirdly, I don’t think she’d do anything to them. 

Yui: Whatever you need, Yuzu. New Eden’s doors are always open to you. I’m easy to find, one way or another. If you need anything just holler for me, okay? In the meantime, I think I’ll head back, see if any of my own eyes or ears caught Diana’s trail, yet…

Anisa: Speaking of which… Have you been able to track Diana down yet?