The afterwork rush on Mondays is usually one of the busiest moments at New Eden — at least insofar it operates as an actual gym — with students from all over town determined to start off the week on a good foot — or looking for any new beginning they can find as a pretense to finally starting to work on themselves. As the gym’s proprietor, Yui has taken to striking up conversations with the regulars on the treadmills or exercise bikes whenever she has the chance, but an urgent hand on her shoulder tells her today is not the time for that. With a grim expression and a hushed voice, Alice is demanding her attention.

Alice: Got a visitor. Someone came in. It’s trouble, Yui. She needs healing, like, yesterday. (she moves towards the stairs leading to the basement as she continues to urge Yui) Reception desk. I’ll get the clinic ready!

Yui: (She doesn’t really react, but speaks up to her patrons without missing a beat) A’ight guys, take five. Gotta handle somethin’ real quick.

She strides over to the reception area, spotting the urgent business right away. Alice wasn’t exaggerating, the girl needed healing, and fast. She reaches out a hand, which is promptly taken. 

Yui: Rough day, kid? Don’t worry, even the best push themselves from time to time. Here, lemme get you some water an’ a spot to lie down. {Don’t focus on speaking, either out loud or telepathically. Just follow me downstairs, I’ll get you patched up. Just breathe. You’re gonna be fine.} 

She leads the girl through the amply distracted crowd, then downstairs. It’s a slow journey, but Yui is careful to keep the girl standing, up until a cot is in reach, which the girl collapses into. Yui wastes no time, pulling out a Grief Seed from a small box behind the entrance. It is the last remaining Grief Seed in said box, but Yui holds it to the girl’s Soul Gem, and as the corruption drains from it, visible relief crosses her face before she falls unconscious.

Cecilia: …Don’t tell me that was your last one…

Yui doesn’t react to the sound of Cecilia’s voice behind her, instead making sure the girl is stable— and more importantly, unconscious.

Yui: …Healing’s been kind of rough since Aoi vanished. I never realized how many of Rui’s cronies there were, or how much Aoi was takin’ on. Not like she opened up to me about it. 

Cecilia: …Yui, I—

Yui: Do it. 

Cecilia: What?

Yui: …Find her, Cecilia. Please. I’m… I’m out of options.

Cecilia: …I’ve tried already, Yui. I… cannot. No matter how hard I try to access my sight, even through the pain, I can’t. …I have done my best to be of use, even as I am now, but—

Niko: (standing in the stairwell with her arms closed, she doesn’t hesitate to make her presence known) Oh, puh-lease, you’re not fooling anyone with that wounded gazelle act. You’re not as useless as you like to say you are, Libretto. You can still scheme like the best of ‘em.

Yui: Yo, what the fu—

Cecilia: Scheming is what a Conductor does, Diva. But… am I still fit to even call myself a schemer?

Niko: Oh, stop beating yourself up, that’s so last year. You know what I’m talking about. 

Alice: (she walks back in from a storage room in the back, carrying an extra blanket for the unconscious patient) Hey is there a party going on I didn’t get an invite to or something? I step away for five seconds and all of a sudden I return to Conductor in-fighting. Blast from the fucking past.

Yui: Babe, get some popcorn.

Niko: I work like, around the corner. I-I just needed to ask Arashi something, I didn’t expect to find her here!

Alice: I don’t care. This girl needs rest. Take it upstairs.

Niko: (she lowers her voice, turning back to Cecilia) I kick Punisher — or whatever the heck we’re supposed to call her now — out for serving me up to a literal serial killer on a golden platter and now you’re trying to scoop her back up? Why? How many times does Arashi have to kick your a—butt before you decide to lie low?

Yui: Dude. You can say “ass” I promise.

Alice: (she glares) Upstairs.

Yui: Where the normal, non magical patrons are gathered right now? Niko, just keep to your inside voice, please.

Alice: The one time you actually get to use your office…

Cecilia: I won’t deny offering Liu Fei sanctuary in my domain. What surprises me more is how you did not stop me, nor take her out of it. I may be a Malefica, but I am not exactly in control of my full range of powers right now.

Yui: …I’m kinda with Niko on this one, Cecilia. She fucked up, no reason to hide her out. Let her face what she did, yeah?

Cecilia: …For what it’s worth, Niko, I am sorry. I… this is just all I have left to me. These aimless, petty schemes.

Niko: (she crosses her arms) What does that even mean, “I’m not in control of my full range of powers”? You’re not actually gonna tell me you think you’ve lost your magical sight because Arashi shot your eye out, right?

Cecilia: …She wounded my soul, Diva. A part of me that cannot access her power anymore. That was… my punishment—

Niko: Look I don’t wanna, eh, downplay what Arashi can do and stuff, but that’s not how the soul works. You can’t, like, like—I mean, you can cut off someone’s leg so they can’t walk anymore, but you can’t strip away parts of it so your powers don’t work anymore. This is why folks who had powers in life can still use ‘em in the Dreamscape, right? Your soul’s injured, but it’s not damaged. Why do I know that? Cause you’re not a Witch.

Yui: …

Cecilia: I… I don’t, I mean…

Niko: Seriously, not even a Soul Gem getting destroyed can permanently erase a soul. It just means it can’t tether itself to a body anymore to, y’know, do stuff. Why do you think I still managed to salvage our Chinese friend when that pink-haired lunatic Temple of Doom-ed her in the back? 

Yui: Oi…

Niko: Heck, why do you think you managed to come back? Your powers still worked even when your soul’d been scattered into pieces!

Cecilia looks back at Yui, who is instead watching Niko with an unreadable expression. After a tense, silent moment, she holds out the remaining, nearly spent Grief Seed towards Niko.

Yui: …Okay, now we should go upstairs. My office is soundproof after, uh… after I lost it at Hanako a few months ago. The patient needs to rest… and Cecilia’s gonna need the closed off environment to concentrate.

Cecilia: Yui?!

Yui: We’re out of time, Cecilia. And Niko’s right. Here… take this. If this goes south, there’s enough in this Seed to bring her back from the brink of becoming a Witch, but only just. But you’re right. It should be fine. 

Niko: (she shrugs) Just saying you oughta do what you can still do instead of, like, trying and failing to do the stuff you can’t do anymore. Especially when that stuff sucks.

Yui: Yeah. I agree. …You comin’, Niko? Or you wanna wait down here and hope neither of us go Witch?

Niko: Yeah, I think I’ll wait, like, as far away from here as I can get.

Yui: (She nods, then pockets the Grief Seed she had held out) We got this. And uh… if you need anything, I’m easy to find, yeah?

Niko: Uh, yeah? I mean, I found you easily, I guess.

Yui pauses, but decides not to add anything more. She and Cecilia make their way upstairs, slipping into Yui’s office. This in and of itself wasn’t odd, since on paper, Cecilia Ambrosi is an employee of New Eden, but knowing what their intentions are, the discretion is still warranted. Yui leads Cecilia to the couch in her office, sitting down at her desk.

Yui: …Focus, Cecilia. But if it gets too much, pull back, and prioritize your safety. Selfishly, you’re our only hope. Emotionally, I don’t wanna see you die for this. …But Niko was completely right. I didn’t break you. Just hurt you. …You’ve come back from worse.

Cecilia nods, then closes her eye. 

Freeze.

She takes a deep breath, and the impossible colors and shapes swirl in her mind’s eye.

Freeze.

The Libretto pushes past the blinding, swirling veil. Cecilia feels her body start to go cold, and sweat covering her face. How much time has passed, anyway?

Freeze.

No, she can do this. She has to. Yui is counting on her. New Eden, every Puella in Mitakihara…

Freeze.

She can do this. The colors part like a curtain. The stage is set. What is she seeing? The Libretto can’t make—

Freeze.

—out the shapes. What does this mean? Pure white? No, rainbow? This isn’t the cloud in her sight, is it? And… a person? Who—

Freeze.

—is that? The broken wings are all that anchor the Libretto to this vision. In time, she might come to recognize the blur beside her. 

Fre—

No. Follow it. That blur. You know her. You know who this is. This is what you are really looking for. This is what gives you answers. This is what nearly killed Yui Arashi—

Melati Nyaua. As soon as the name crosses the Oracle’s mind, the blur becomes tangible. Defined. She leaves the room. The walls of a warehouse—

Yui: Oi! That’s enough!

The office of New Eden comes into view and focus, all at once. Cecilia is shaking, drenched in sweat, and an echo lingers in her ears. She was screaming? Bloodstains dot the floor, Cecilia recognizes herself in a curled up position beside the stains, and Yui’s face is a mask of absolute panic.

But she needs to know. No matter the cost—

Yui: Christ… finally, god damn… I’ve been trying to get you out of this trance for the last ten minutes.

Her voice fails her. She can’t move, can’t speak. Even telepathy eludes her grasp. But she has to know—

Yui: Stop. I already know, okay? I was… I was following along. I saw it. 

Of course. The Forte would be one step ahead of her own plan. 

Yui: Stop, okay? Stop trying to figure it all out. Just… just rest. I saw everything. Aoi, Melati, and I got enough of that location to work with. I’ll tell Niko to bring Shinju in. We’re gonna get her out, so… so just rest, okay?

Was Cecilia dying, she wondered? Yui never had that look on her face otherwise…

Yui: No, but damn near. If you’d stayed in that vision any longer… 

Trailing off. This was far too risky. But, at the very least, it paid off.

Time begins to localize and flow normally. Cecilia’s eye closes, with a sigh. She can feel Yui relax a bit beside her. Time to leave the rest up to her, yet again.

If only…