Kiwa fluttered about her living room and kitchen, just as she had done before. Instead of homemade medicine, however, she was setting down stained, bent silver platters lined with various sweets and pastries, and mismatched ivory cups filled with tea. After setting the first three around her living room table, she sat at the far end with the fourth. “Okay~! Enjoy, enjoy~!”

“Thank you, Kiwako.” Masako silently took a sip of her tea, staring down at the cookies with a blank expression. Yoko had made no effort to hide her hesitation, digging into the cookies the second Kiwa sat down.

“Now”, Cecilia started, ignoring her food entirely, “Masako, you said you remained in contact with the rest of the Coven until this morning?”

“Y… Yes. They advised me as for what to do until suddenly, something happened with the twins, and now no one will answer me. So I came here, to Kiwako.”

Kiwa, oddly, showed no aversion to Masako using her full name. “Did something happen with Rio-chan and Riko-chan?”

“I’m not sure. I came here, because…”

“…Otherwise, you remained alone. And since you lost our fight, I assume they see you as something of an outsider.” Cecilia closed her eyes.

“There’s no shame in congregating to the winning side, Cecilia.”

Cecilia took a sip of her tea, then sighed. “Then provide me the answers I require so that this may truly be the ‘winning side’.”

“Hey!” Yoko finally swallowed her mouthful of cookies in a hurry, coughing a bit. “Masako, you don’t gotta explain a thing to this outsider!”

Masako shook her head. “No, Yoko. This is actually the best way forward, for all of us. But Cecilia, I cannot give you the answers you want just yet. You could easily, at this point, make your way through the rest of our Doppels, save the twins. But what would that solve? Kiwako brought you here for a reason.”

“To stop you, to prevent this… ideal world you are trying to form.”

“And you could do that. But you would not know why, why we do or did what we sought to do, nor the mysteries surrounding this city, and you would lose a chance to find yourself. Make yourself whole.”

“…Are you all privy to my past as an ‘Angel’?”

“Yes. We know all about you. About your past, where you were, and what you did. You’re not here to stop the Coven. Have you not wondered why there are only six of us?”

“You mean to say… unless I can attune to my Witch half, summon my Doppel… and reconcile my past as an Angel, I will only see the tip of the iceberg?”

“If you want to stop us, by all means. I will tell you where Kotone will lie in wait for you. But if you want the answers you seek, where you go from here is obvious.” Masako turned her head towards Kiwako, who was sitting quietly in her seat, nibbling a cookie and kicking her legs in boredom. “I will remain here, in any case.”

“You were always good at keeping everyone else in line, Masako-chan!” She bounded up from her chair as she finished her tea. “Alright, Cece-chan! We’re going out. This time, we’re gonna get your Witch figured out!”

Cecilia sighed. “As if I had a choice…”