The next morning, the girl called Kiwako walks into New Eden, apparently ignoring the “Closed for Cleaning” sign hung outside. As before, she has on her usual red hood, taking off a pair of reading glasses as she enters the gym. She stays in the lobby, scanning the gym for a while. Eventually, Yui comes up from the basement from her usual clinic maintenance, coming into the lobby. 

Yui: Yo? Is someone there— …Kiwa. Of fuckin’ course…

Kiwako: Nice to see you, too, Yui-chan!

Yui: (She scans Kiwako’s form and expression with a neutral gaze) …I haven’t heard anything about Diana’s whereabouts. You know more than I do at this point, Kiwa.

Kiwako: (Swaying a bit on the spot) Couldn’t hurt to ask though, right? Cece-chan didn’t get her sight back, and Diana’s a hard one to track even through magical means. So I’ve been following trails, checking abandoned places on the edge of town, that sorta thing. I waaaaaanted to follow Niko-chan’s trail, but Shinju rescued her before I could! So I’m kinda back where I started.

Yui: (Her expression softens as she listens. It’s Kiwako’s usual cadence, but even Yui can tell she’s being serious.) Wish I could help. I mean it. Niko has the Soul Lantern, some shit went down in the Dreamscape, which I’m gonna have to check out… S’probably all connected, it always is. Had my hands full dealin’ with Yuzu and that Incubator shard livin’ in her soul. Almost feels like something’s pullin’ strings here.

Kiwako: (Her voice lowers. She’s being serious and dropping the mask.) …Yeah. I don’t like it, either. I’m not gonna stop chasing Diana Caelum, not until I put her in the ground for good. But you’re right, Yui. Someone… something is using all of this chaos.

Yui: Think it’s another Balancer, maybe? That Melati chick, or maybe Diana’s other friend, Fiora?

Kiwako: (She shakes her head) I can’t say for sure, Yui. Just, like… be careful, okay? It feels like all of this is some kinda design. I just don’t know how to operate without a script. 

After a moment of hesitation, Yui begins sweeping around the boxing ring, calmly turning away from Kiwako and giving her a minute to cool off. As before, they knew the game they played. But this time, the objective was different, the players now on the same side, rather than opposing.

Yui: Y’know how I learned to fight her? Diana, I mean. It’s uh… the same way you survived being a Witch long enough to reverse it.

Kiwako: …You’re suggesting I “stick to the script.”

It wasn’t a question.

Yui: I caught somethin’ weird the very first time Diana used that “Reroll” technique. I think she was feeling out the situation, since she showed up in person not long after. I couldn’t feel what she was doing, but I knew something was off. But because I stuck to the script, because I played her game, it let me get close enough. If I’d fought against the flow, I doubt she’d have given me the time of day. 

Kiwako: …You and I both know that this is different, Yui. Diana’s script doesn’t have room for me in it.

Yui: So work with that.

Kiwako: (Her eyes widen) …I think… I think I get what you mean. But—

In unison, both of them turn their heads in the same direction.

Kiwako: …There’s no way a Witch comes even close to this place, Yui-chan. Not one that has any design on living very long.

Yui: …This has to be the next chapter of our script.

Kiwako: And its author. Kyubey.

Yui: …Wanna tackle this one?

Kiwako: …That’s your part of the script, Yui-chan. Mine is still with her. But I think I know what to do now.

Yui: Had to ask, I guess. That’s my part of the script. …Go on, I can handle this.

Kiwako leaves New Eden and travels in one direction, away from the Witch’s barrier nearby. Yui does the same, but towards it. Inside, a Witch, seemingly made of flowing liquid metal, loosely resembling silverware, and a girl standing over it, panting heavily. Yui approached, having transformed somewhere between entering the barrier and finding the center of it.

Yui: Yo. Looks like I was a minute too late.

???: Y-You! S… Stay back!

She raises her arms, twin blades trembling in her hands. Yui just takes a step closer, calculated, hands up and empty.

Yui: Hey, chill. I dunno what that wish-granting bast— er, what the thing that gave you this power told you about Puellae Magi fighting over territory, but uh… Mitakihara’s a bit different. (Her eyes flash as she takes a lightning-fast scan of both the dead Witch and the girl who slew her.) …You’re not from around here, are ya?

???: N… No. I-I only just made my contract… My friend was watching over me, but then… 

Tears well in the girl’s eyes, only to spill in shock as Yui’s hand comes to rest on her shoulder.

Yui: I’m sorry for your loss, kid. Really, I am. …My name’s Yui. Yui Arashi. About two blocks from here’s a gym. Open to the public, ‘cept on Sundays. Sunday is where I take girls about your age and teach ‘em… “self-defense” if you catch my drift. Help girls like you learn how to navigate this messed up world of ours. You follow?

The girl nods after a bit of hesitation, and realization dawns. Yui, presenting herself as a mentor, is enough to reassure the girl. 

???: O-Okay… I think I understand. Can I, um… go and see it? You know, before this Sunday?

Yui: Sure. (She lowers her voice, not wanting the Incubator that’s inevitably waiting around a corner somewhere to overhear) Just wait for me there, okay? I’ll get you healed up and give you the tour.

???: Th… thank you, Arashi-san. I-I’ll do that. I can’t believe I fell for her lies… what kind of wish or power is worth all this? 

Her? Most people referred to Kyubey as either a male, or genderless. This was new, even if Yui didn’t have time to consider it. What was also new was that the Witch had not disappeared, nor had her Barrier. The Witch was absolutely dead, Yui could not feel a living soul within it anymore. As she stepped into the courtyard of impossible colors and geometry, she called out, sensing the new girl’s soul leaving the barrier. 

Yui: Okay, Incubator. Come on out. I fuckin’ told your sorry ass to stop makin’ contracts in my city. Leavin’ this labyrinth up means you’re accepting your ass kicking. Or that you’re too stupid to keep runnin’ from me. 

Black sparkles appear in the air one after the other, in random places around Yui. One appears directly in front of her a short distance away. In a flash, a dark fairy appears out of it, doing a somersault in the air. 

Fairy: Whenever a maiden’s sigh disturbs the flowers, whenever furrowed brows darken a walk in the rain, whenever teardrops are illuminated by a computer screen… a fairy appears! 

The fairy is about the height from Yui’s waist to her shoulders, fluttering in the air on long, thin wings. She wears some typical fairy clothing, looking like she fashioned herself a dress out of enormous black flower petals. Two curving, feathery antennae sit atop her head. She gives Yui a mischievous smile, with huge dark eyes hidden under thick lashes.  

Fairy: Well, hello there! 

Yui: . . .(She doesn’t react. Visibly.) You’re not Kyubey. 

Fairy: (She salutes) Aisha here! Yes, I’m taking over for young Kyubey for now, after he bungled it up here. 

Yui: Cool. Well, since you’re new, I’mma lay out some ground rules. Contracts are sorta illegal here in Mitakihara, since our last couple Balancer problems. Might put me in the dog house with that Melati chick, since your name was on her business card, but I’mma have to ask you to split. Or stay and fight me, but uh, Incubators from my experience choose to flee over fly. (She cracks her knuckles) Nothin’ personal.

Aisha: Oh. Yes, Kyubey mentioned that in his report, that you’re always killing his bodies. I know it’s against the rules for us to hurt people directly, but… (She makes a face of disgust) Don’t you think it’s pathetic, the way he just flops down like a hunted squirrel when you kill him? 

Yui: It’s a sympathy play, right? S’why it looks like a cat, or whatever. Never seemed too attached. Maybe it’s ‘cause I’d get a beat on its soul if it lingered in one too long, I guess.

Aisha: I don’t think it works very well for him. That stone face of his! (She tries to imitate Kyubey’s unchanging expression) It’s like he wants you to guess the twist before it happens! 

Yui: Yeah, its scripts suck. No opinion on yours, yet, though. But uh, I was serious. (A golden staff materializes in her hand) Go on. Or stay, that’s a choice, I guess.

Aisha: Well, unfortunately, I can’t leave just yet. So. (Digital screens appear around both of her hands, like the holographic display device Melati used. In her left hand, she constructs a large Japanese cavalry sword, much larger than her body. In her right, a sleek and shiny white gun with a multicolored light in the barrel, some kind of space-age plasma rifle) I’m a little bolder than Kyubey. You’ll see. 

Yui: …Credit where it’s due. Didn’t think you fuckers could actually fight. Works for me. …Sorry, Mel, but I can’t pass up a chance like this. (She lunges, spinning a bit and swinging her staff horizontally in a somewhat unconventional arc)

Aisha: (She quickly flies upward out of the way, turning her plasma rifle on and peppering the area around Yui with glowing energy projectiles. As close as she gets, though, somehow it doesn’t seem like she’s aiming right at Yui) 

Yui: (Not taking any chances, Yui continues her forward run, a little distance between them, only for a bolt of lightning to descend at Aisha’s location, a second staff having been left behind, directly under her)

Aisha: (She lets go of her sword and it hovers in space beside her, the long metal blade conducting the electricity past her. As she takes it back, she gives a smug smile like she brought the sword specifically for this purpose) 

Yui: (Yui, having turned to watch the result of her attack, seems unfazed) …Figures a Balancer’s personal Incubator would do its homework. (She conjures and immediately hurls a second staff from her left hand)

Aisha: (She swoops to the side and then down at Yui, stowing her rifle on her back to swing her sword at Yui two-handed) 

Yui: (Yui jumps back, far more than she needs to. She leaves another staff at her original position, absorbing the strike, then another between where she landed and where the fairy was now) 

Aisha: Well, I’m not going to just let you Soul Cage me! (She pulls out her plasma rifle, gunning down the staves) 

Yui: Tch… god damn homework doing fairy— (She leaps, again swinging her staff in a wide horizontal arc) —piece of shit.

Aisha: (With a grin, she raises her sword to block the staff, seemingly agreeing to a melee battle. Being small and airborne, she moves backwards quite a bit from the impact, her wings flapping furiously to stop herself) 

Yui: (The staff shatters on impact, and Yui presses the attack with a freshly summoned one in its place)

Aisha: (She boldly attacks, with a surprisingly powerful swing of her sword) 

Yui: (This staff also shatters, along with another as Yui tries to counter, flipping over the swing. A third in this barrage forms in her hand, and she swings at the side of Aisha’s head)

Aisha: (She barely ducks in time, the staff hitting the tops of her wings on its way past) 

Yui: (Yui rides the momentum of her swing, arcing down and back up, around to a vertical, upward strike)

Aisha: (With apparent excitement, she brings her sword down in an overhead smash to meet the oncoming staff) 

Yui: (This staff, too, shatters, and as Yui jumps back, a calm smile rests on her face, a large chunk of gold still in her hand) …Yeah, this’ll do.

Aisha: It’s fun, isn’t it, fighting someone you know won’t die even if you kill them! That’s what you’re all about, I hear!

Yui: You don’t know shit about me, Incubator. For all the homework you’ve done, you missed some key points about me. First of which being, I kinda hate this shit. (She holds out the broken rod of gold in her hand) Another being, I try new things out all the time. (Sparks dance from the gold in her hand, connecting to the remnants of staves on the ground around them) Third, even if I fuck up, I make it right in the end, no matter what’s in my way. (The bits of gold hover around Aisha, then begin to contract. Suddenly, Yui throws the ‘anchor’ towards the fairy, and the bits of gold all converge towards it- and Aisha- in a flash, as if magnetically drawn together) Soul Cage Forte!

Aisha: (She raises her rifle, with a short wide blast to attempt to clear some of the incoming fragments, but in so little time she can’t clear them all. She rushes forward into the opening she made, but not quite fast enough. For a moment, she’s hidden in the flash and sparkle of the imploding scraps. She emerges slowly, now with a large blackened gash over her left eye) Ow! You go right for the face, huh? 

Yui: (The metal falls to the floor on collision upon itself, then dissipates) I go for the soul. You felt that, right? Even though I can’t feel your souls in the traditional sense, I know something is there. Those sparks should still work on you lot, even if I had to water ‘em down a bit to make that move work.

Aisha: (She runs her fingers down the cut above and below her eye) Look at me and tell me how you think this feels. I didn’t mess your face up, did I? Not that it would’ve been legal anyway.  

Yui: Let’s talk about what you fuckers inflicted on me an’ mine and talk about how that makes me feel. Let’s talk about you fuckers breakin’ this city in half, killin’ people I cared about, and talk about our goddamn feelings. I don’t give a shit that you’re not Kyubey, that Melati ain’t Moonlover. You’re Balancers, runnin’ your business in my goddamn city. That’s all I need to know in order to fight.

Aisha: (She closes her eyes, occasionally nodding as she listens) Hm. A mindset Kyubey would be proud of! He thinks of everyone among all the souled species as being all the same, too. Well, you’ll be happy to know he’ll be appearing in court soon if I have anything to say about it. And if someone doesn’t go on a killing spree of everyone working towards it, too. 

Yui: Cool. Don’t give a shit. Get out of my city. Kyubey’s all over the fuckin’ place, it ain’t shown its face here since the last round of Balancers tried to Erase us. Find it there, not here. You an’ Mel got what info you needed out of us, right? So fuck off. (She conjures another staff, pointing it at Aisha) Fuck off, and let us heal in peace.

Aisha: My. Well, then. (She checks an imaginary watch on her wrist) I guess I’ve wasted enough of your time by now. Even that slowpoke Melati ought to have gotten the job done with this much time. 

Yui: The fuck does that— (Her eyes narrow, then widen) …You fucking didn’t. (Thunder rolls overhead, and she lunges with a primal yell, swinging with much more force than before)

Aisha: All for– (As Yui draws close, she nimbly flies up and away, out of easy reach) … a good cause. You’ll see! 

Yui reaches for her hip, only to find nothing there, remembering she gave her makeshift gun to Anisa to deal with Ikana. When she looks up, Aisha is gone, as is the barrier. Without a beat of hesitation, she races back to the gym. Initially, nothing seems damaged or out of place, but when Yui makes her way downstairs, she finds the clinic conspicuously empty.

Yui: … God damn it…