(Cover Sheet/Page 0)

Dear Alice, or whoever’s picked up my book to flip through,

I’ve waited a long time, but I’m finally ready to dig through those guys’ history and put the pieces together. See, like it or not, they had a pretty heavy impact on a lot of shit I just happened to be born into, and got swept into. Pops, my dad, Maestro Velare, your uncle Naota, Sis, everything I’ve gotten into. They had a hand in it, and my desire to figure out why is starting to outweigh any fear I might have of any repercussions. If you or anyone else innocent gets dragged along, I’m really sorry.

Alice, I don’t hold anything against you if you gotta walk away while I’m like this. If you feel like sticking around, Sis’ll be there to watch over you. Play nice, okay? But hey, if nothing else, I’m finally getting some actual sleep, just like you told me. And if you’re gonna follow alongside me, I’ll protect you, just like I always have. Plus side is, you’ll get to know a hell of a lot more about that baton I gave you. Yeah, I know you’ve been using it on me. I don’t blame you at all. I got a lot of secrets I shouldn’t have kept from you. But if you wanna know, now’s the best time to stick around. Your call. I’m not gonna twist your arm about it.

Anyone else that’s somehow reading this, I’d be real careful about what you find down this rabbit hole. Something powerful doesn’t want me to know or pass on these guys’ history, and you might get dragged into something you’re not ready for. Friend or foe, be ready for one hell of a fight.

Last chance to walk away.

~Yui Arashi.

~Day 1~

Right, I forgot something. Well, since I spent too much time before trying to warn you about any backfire that might happen because of this, let me just explain what it is I *am* doing. I’m spending a lot of time in the Dreamscape (That place you ended up before you broke the Rinju curse, Alice) to dig up the past of the Conductors. Vel, Rene, Naota, and Nebbia. Probably others involved in their little story as well, like my dad, Pops, probably my mother, who knows. I’m gonna learn and document what it is they did, why they did it, their Artifacts, and their powers. I want it to be known, at least by anyone I’d fight for or beside.

Writing this in my sleep would be a nightmare, and trying to remember while awake is almost impossible, so I’m having Sis help me write this… journal? I dunno. In a way, this book will be sorta like my own Conductor’s Artifact, since I’m using a bit of magic and help to get everything down. Even with all that, I’m probably gonna mess up things here or there, since I’m going by memories and testimonials from a bunch of dead assholes. So uh… wish me luck, I guess.
~Yui

~Day 2~

Here goes. So it all started with this young brother and sister in Italy. Together, they wanted to see the world. Well, the girl took the easy way out of that and made a wish. Yeah, that kinda wish. Turns out, it was granted in the most literal sense of the word. It fucked her up pretty bad; she wasn’t really ready for that sorta thing. Like most of us who make those wishes without being ready, she paid the ultimate price and lost her life. Her brother didn’t take it very well.

Over the years, he decided to live their dream for the both of them, getting money in various ways. Some legal, some not. He sort of had a knack of being in the right place at the right time. Like, he knew how things were gonna go before they happened. Almost like magic. Finally, he gets tired of his tiny world and branches out, leaving his home and everything else behind. He goes all over Europe for awhile, settling down for a bit longer than usual in Paris, France. Well, by longer, I mean a few months instead of a few weeks. Anyway, in addition to traveling and making his money back, he spends a good deal of time drinking. See, to him, his sister was basically his entire world, except for the dream they shared.

One tiny bar, he meets someone who seems equally down on his luck. Problem is, unlike most people he’s met until now, he can’t really read him that well. Luckily for him, he’s a charismatic little shit, and the two start talking. They had a lot more in common than either could really imagine: They both lost someone dear to them, all because of the Incubators’ tendency to prey on girls who don’t know what they want, or what their wish’ll bring ’em.

There’s gotta be something we can do, they think. So Velare Ambrosi and Rene Colere begin to dig. Kinda like I’m doing now, but into the entire Incubator scheme. They wanna know everything about Puella Magi, and more importantly, how to stop it.

~Day 3~

Velare and Rene start to travel, and they end up learning a lot just by talking about their shared experiences. They learn about Puella Magi, Witches, and the Incubators’ scheme in great detail. Their thirst for knowledge and revenge takes ’em all over, but eventually brings them to Japan. Specifically Tokyo, where Naota Yasuda was running something of a mob operation. By himself, somehow. Basically, he captured Vel and Rene, but something in their tale intrigued Naota. He’d lost someone dear to him in the same way — go figure, Puella Magi make a ton of widowers and grieving family members, who knew — and the idea of revenge definitely caught his ear. Around this time, Vel caught onto his “intuition”: Cecilia, his dead sister.

Now… I’m not entirely sure how, but when she died, her soul just… shattered instead of moving on, and the fragment of her Soul Gem that Vel happened to find when he discovered her body latched onto a watch of his, and he could get glimpses of whatever it was she wanted him to see. Well, once he caught on, he could ask her to show him anything. Her power still worked, even with her soul shattered. Rene had something similar — I’ll get to that one later. Naota? Yep, him too. A baton that created illusions. He used it to live a very rich life in the underworld mob scene. At one point, he was running Tokyo’s underworld entirely on his own with that damn thing. I think he was a mercenary in between all that, since he didn’t really seem to have a lot in the way of loyalty to anyone. Hell, he was barely loyal to the Conductors during his time there, he just didn’t betray them. Good enough, right?

The Conductors. That’s what Vel called his little “Anti-Puella” group. They had one goal in mind: Learn to fight Witches without the aid of Puella Magi. Now, there’s probably dozens, maybe even hundreds of groups like that out there. Hell, I’m part of one. But they had a very different approach to going about it than most. They wanted to fight ’em all themselves.

~Day 4~

Now, I fully intend on talking at length about what I figured out about this little pocket of existence (The “Dreamscape”, as I call it) once I learn a bit more, but I wanna start with the guy that runs the place. Nebbia Piccolo. Yeah, I doubt that’s his real name too.

So he’s a street rat in Italy, probably an assistant at whatever scheme Vel’s using to make money back in the day. Never seemed to mind, just was always “waiting for his big break”. I think he wanted to write plays or something. He just quotes Shakespeare and shit whenever I see him. But once Velare leaves to travel the world, Nebbia’s a bit lost. Doesn’t have much money to his own name, not really much going for him, but somehow ends up in Tokyo on a very important day. It’s a wedding. Not anything particularly important, just a mob boss, his son, and a blushing bride in white. Well, Nebbia walks in, right up to the altar and just… does the priest in. Hid a sword in a cane — pretty cool, actually — and leaves. Vel and Rene aren’t far behind to apologize to their rival boss, but explaining that old grudges die hard. This is all stuff I’d learned before digging again, but there were too many gaps in the story for my satisfaction.

After Naota joined The Conductors, he lent them his vast fortune and influence to build something of their own, bouncing from city to city before winding up here in Mitakihara. For some reason, our crappy city sees a lot more Witch activity than anywhere else in Japan, so they wanted to operate more close to their problem/target. In doing so, they attracted the attention of another small mob job called “the Family” (ugh). They’re not fighting or anything, but Vel met with the Family’s head honcho to pretty much come clean. “We’re not looking to get in the way, just let us operate in the dark”, and the boss agrees. Turns out, Naota kinda sucks at doing the mob thing with actual other people, and they cross the Family. More than once. It goes over about as well as you think it does. Some shit goes down, and the chain of revenge brings the Conductors out of hiding during the wedding of Garou Arashi’s only son Kaito and his fiancee Yuma Amaya. (That’s why my last name is Amaya, by the way. They never did get married after that.)

As for Nebbia? He made it to Tokyo after meeting his old schoolyard sweetheart Melania. The two got married, stumbled into both the means to leave their own home behind, as well as tracking Nebbia’s old buddy Velare’s whereabouts. Don’t ask me how, I’m still figuring that one out. Point is, right around the time they crashed my parents’ wedding, they felt ready enough to not only study and fight Witches, but the local mob at the same time. No wonder shit went south so quick, huh?

~Day 5~

Where I am now, I know how The Conductors formed, who was involved, and sketchy details after that. Officially, there were only four Conductors:

• Velare Ambrosi, a.k.a. The Maestro
• Rene Colere, a.k.a. The Virtuoso
• Naota Yasuda, a.k.a. The Chairman
• Nebbia Piccolo, a.k.a. The Troubadour

But they had help. Nebbia’s wife Melania was a Puella Magi, and would often help the group either locate or fight Witches. Y’know, when she wasn’t drinking, causing fights, or being paranoid about protecting her sister Katherine. Did I mention Mel had a sister? Now I am. Why didn’t I before? I didn’t know until just now. Like… my last dream just now.

Right. So what I learned today. Melania Piccolo and Katherine… um, something, I don’t know her last name yet. Not sure what Mel wished for, but I know she fought with a whip and had really cool powers with flower petals. Um, rose petals, I think. Right, she called her weapon “Thorn Among Roses”, or something dramatic like that. And she would take everything seriously the second Katherine was in any kind of potential danger. Like one of those creepy harem shows, but the ones that have fighting in ’em or whatever.

From what Vel and Rene told me last night, Mel and Kat were “our biggest assets and liabilities”, and “a goddamn time bomb that we just didn’t want blowin’ up in our face”. I’m guessing that time bomb blew up, since this is the first I’m seeing at all about these two. If the Conductors were really running an Anti-Incubator Witch fighting mob, it’d make sense to have someone on board that had already made a wish. Expertise like that is hard to come by. But why hide it? Obviously, something happened with those two that fucked something up hard, or else the group might’ve lasted longer. Both Velare and Rene have told me that if things played out differently, I would’ve turned out different as well.

It’s a lot to think about. I’m tired again, and I think I should dig somewhere else for a bit. I’m getting a baaad feeling about Melania and Katherine. Something bad happened there, and I got no idea what it means for them. Or for us.

~Day 6~

The other side of the Conductors’ coin was “the Family”, a small mob operation in Mitakihara right around the time I was conceived. The group was run by one Garou Arashi, or as I called him, “Pops”. His wife Kaede Arashi (nee Sasaki) handled the group’s money and legal affairs, but refused to take part in anything violent. No one had a problem with this. Pops’ son Kaito was his second-in-command. He’s a clever son-of-a-bitch, and any situation he couldn’t talk his way out of, he could just… control. Hard to explain, really, since he’s not like that anymore. Basically, he won a lot of battles for ’em without firing a single shot. His fiancee, Yuma Amaya, was the other side of Kaito’s coin. Apparently, she was the type of person that was always on the frontlines, always eager for a fight. Everyone reassures me that when she found out she was carrying me, she joined my grandmother in the background and took it easy. (See, Alice? I wasn’t born to fight!) They had a bunch of friends that helped the group whenever possible, and Dad had a lot of guys under him, usually lifted from rival gangs.

Actually, until the Conductors showed up, it was beginning to look like they’d own the city. I know Dad wants to finish that fight, it’s on his bucket list or some shit to just like… own a city. Maybe he has some other goal in mind, I dunno. I don’t care. I’m livin’ in the past for a while.

So when the Conductors actually show up and become a big enough thorn in Pops’ side, they can’t really afford to just sit and take potshots anymore. The influence they had was beginning to wane, and the Conductors’ magical way of running things was beginning to have more appeal. Naota especially began to revel in that sort of attention, and sorta became the de facto “face” of the Conductors. His history in Tokyo gave that some serious credibility. Crashing Kaito and Yuma’s wedding was the last straw, and that’s when Pops had had enough.

Now, apparently Pops and Vel go back further than that, but I have no idea how far, or why. Pops never told me shit, and Vel’s being more cryptic than usual about this specific topic in particular. I don’t know, but somehow I kinda don’t care. I don’t think it relates to the groups’ shared history all that much anyway, which is why I’m here. I just know that they were friends, then Pops had to stand against ’em.

Only interesting thing is, Pops isn’t anywhere in the Dreamscape. I’ve asked Nebbia multiple times, but he swears up and down that Pops ain’t here. Only place he’d be, then, is in Heaven or wherever people actually go when they die. My grandmother too. In a way, that’s a relief. I’d love to ask Pops more about this, maybe even tell him I’m sorry personally, but… I guess I’m just glad he’s resting.

~Day 7~

The clash between the Conductors and the Family wasn’t particularly long, otherwise the city might’ve actually done something about it, but it sure as hell was bloody. Like, most of the random, nameless guys that both sides had under their belts were gone in a few weeks kinda bloody. Like, the cops had a hard time looking away and covering it up (money fuckin’ talks in any large city) and shit. Like it only took a couple weeks for important people to start feelin’ it kinda bloody. Like, I’m surprised the city actually kept this gang war hidden for so long and I’m just finding out about it now kinda bloody.

As I said, most of the nameless underlings fought each other and basically killed each other off within a few weeks. Some stuck around as fodder for the higher ups on both sides. I guess to sharpen their skills or make it easier to hide after all was said and done, I dunno. Naota was especially dangerous and ruthless when it came to his calling and power. If I had to guess, he probably had all the nameless nobodies killed off from both sides on his own, just to make room for his own shit. Only thing keeping him in check was Vel and Rene. Vel could see through his shit, and Rene was strong enough and intimidating enough to make him back down. Even so, he did a lot of shady shit. I found that out firsthand, unfortunately.

Anyway, as for the thing that ignited this conflict into full blown war? Some shit got started that led to Nebbia knockin’ off the priest at Kaito and Yuma’s wedding. I guess that priest was part of the Family, and was involved in some kinda heist gone wrong. They tried to take something from Naota back in his Tokyo days — which is pretty much suicide in and of itself — but instead of shooting up the whole church, Nebbia stepped in and decided to handle things personally. Vel allowed this under the guise of “letting Nebbia prove himself”, but he knew it’d save more lives that way, and he thought that telling them that would be enough of an olive branch. I guess Vel’s sight wasn’t perfect back then, since it kinda started a huge revenge chain later on.

For now though, there was a sorta… ceasefire. Both sides were really fucked up. Velare sent Naota back to Tokyo, and Pops and Rene were tired of the fighting. Kaito and Yuma were still really sore about the whole thing, though. More than even Vel could see. Turns out, having your wedding day stolen from you by some crappy revenge story is enough to send anyone over the edge.

Well, turns out, Yuma just couldn’t sit idly by and call it even. She had to get even. She couldn’t let it go. I was born at this point, and she’d just recovered from giving birth. Now, she was one hell of a fighter, probably the strongest out of all of ’em. But having a kid takes a massive toll on the body, something she hadn’t accounted for. Rene, on the other hand, was well aware of that. (Not sure why. Did he have a kid with someone? He doesn’t talk about his past like ever.) He didn’t want any more bad blood, but when someone’s knife-crazy and driven by revenge, it becomes a matter of “me or them”. He didn’t try to kill her on their first fight. The second time, there wasn’t any stopping her… except falling from the top of a moving train.

Rene was en route to Tokyo by train to meet with Naota. Probably about all the shit Naota got up to back home, still using the Conductors’ name, I dunno. Mom decided to meet him and finish things off once and for all. Like I said, he didn’t want to kill her, but it’s hard to restrain someone on the top of a speeding train along the countryside. He did what he had to — I don’t exactly blame him, but uh…

Anyway, she’s alive. How? Apparently, Nebbia “caught” her before she hit the ground. Er, caught her soul, anyway. Why? I have no idea. She was the “enemy” after all. She reignited that war that they laid to rest over some petty personal revenge shit. Vel doesn’t even know why. Rene’s pissed about it. But she is down here. I haven’t seen her yet, but I figure I’m going to before all this is over.

Speaking of that place, since I knew ’em in the waking world, it’s pretty obvious that Pops, Vel, and Grandma survived the war unscathed. Dad did too, though I guess he faked his death or went into hiding or some shit. Nebbia is down here, and I think he was the first (Must’ve been, since Mom would be dead otherwise). Rene came down towards the end. I wanna say Dad was involved with that. Naota died sometime after me an’ Alice escaped from his place a few months back. I think that’s why he isn’t down here, actually.

As for my mother, she’s definitely down here somewhere. Dad’s been looking with no success, and I haven’t found her either, but Nebbia assured me she’s here. He’s met with her a few times. I guess they get along. For Mel and Kat, I have no idea. Still got a baaaad feeling about those two, but I can’t tiptoe around ’em forever. Plus, now that I got the summed up version, I gotta figure out how everyone got here, or how they didn’t.

~Day 8~

The war between both major mob powers in Mitakihara was effectively over. Pops and Vel quietly abandoned both sides of the conflict and became distant with Kaito and Rene, who were still in a personal feud. But there was a baby, potentially about to become an orphan. Pops wasn’t getting any younger, and Vel was definitely not father material. Grandma, on the other hand, loved the idea of raising another child. So they struck a deal with Velare.

Vel wanted them to reform the Conductors, but Pops wouldn’t hear of it. To him and Grandma, magical girls were bad news, but also not their problem. He did, however, secretly agree to fight with him in an underground fighting ring Vel was setting up in exchange for money to provide for the newborn. Kaede was okay with this, since she could make sure I didn’t follow down the same path as the rest of the family. Regardless, both the Conductors and the Family were done, at least on paper.

At this point, however, Kaito wanted revenge. To everyone else at the time, Yuma Amaya had been killed in battle with Rene Colere, and Rene understood that. He was honorable enough to give Kaito the shot at revenge he felt he deserved, but he wasn’t going to lay down his axe and die without putting up a fight, either. They must’ve been at it for years, because Rene only came into the Dreamscape several years ago.

Their first fight ended in a stalemate. Rene wanted Kaito to settle it peacefully, and Kaito didn’t really want to fight, especially against someone who outclassed him physically. But “Yuma won’t be resting easy if I just quit”, he’d said. I dunno how many times they fought, but their last was apparently during the “storm” four years back, on top of an old office building. Technically, I guess Kaito won that fight, because even though both of ’em come here, only Rene is “stuck”. Something feels off about Rene being here, though. He swears up and down he’s not alive on the other side and wanted nothing to do with this place, but I think there’s more to it than that.

~Day 9~

The more time I spend down here, the more hazy my mind gets in general. In hindsight, “Operation Sleep For Like A Billion Years” wasn’t my best plan, and my plans kinda suck in general. But at least I’m learning a lot about my family, their history, Vel’s group, et cetera, et cetera… I’ve also learned a lot about this place called the “Dreamscape”. There’s still stuff about it I don’t know, but I definitely know it better than I did before.

So this place is very much run by The Troubadour. He can’t directly manipulate a whole lot that happens down here outside of his own corner, but without Nebbia, this place wouldn’t exist. Literally. If he dies, this world dies with him, and everyone inside that isn’t sleeping on the other side. See, like me, Nebbia can mess with souls. Turns out his Artifact was the strongest. He calls it the Troubadour’s Masque, and while he’s dodgier than usual about talking about it than anything else, he has given me enough to shut me up for now.

I originally thought that this was a plane of existence that caught dead or dying souls between here and the Afterlife. I was pretty far off. Not one person here is dead. The ones that are are just “close” to dead or “almost” dead. Nebbia’s mask somehow lets him catch souls he’s aware of in the mask, like the dying person is sleeping or something. Some window of time between unconsciousness and death, or something. Makes sense, since I did Vel and Pops in, but only Vel’s down here.

Everyone in this realm is “dreaming”, and when they die down here or wake up from their sleep, their soul is returned to their body. In a Puella’s case, we’re even safer down here. Turns out, a Puella Magi, once exposed to the realm, can come and go at will, since our souls are already seperate from our bodies. What that means for the “dead” guys, though, is they’d “wake up” in their own dead bodies and die immediately afterwards. Guess this means saving Vel and the others is probably impossible, and it explains why Naota isn’t down here.

Velare filled me in. He extended the offer to Naota to come down here and rest, letting me handle the waking world shit. Naota didn’t like that offer. From what Vel’s told me in the time I’ve been down here, he’s actually okay if he can’t come back. He describes it as playing chess with himself and losing. (Note: Do NOT ask how I feel about the idea of not saving Velare after all this.)

Rene is still an anomaly to me. He’s not “alive” in the traditional sense, so he says, and he’s “stuck” here the same way Vel is, but if I had to guess, he probably is alive out there and doesn’t realize it. Probably comatose; people have survived long ass times in comas after all.

Mom’s down here too. Her body’s gone, but Nebbia’s sworn up and down she’s here. Naota and Pops are dead. Grandma died of old age, so she’s not here either. I’m down here because of Velare, and Yuzuki Tokai is here because of me (Sorry, Yuzu). Cecilia is here whenever I’m awake, probably by choice. Shockingly, Alice doesn’t dream here, even though I put her soul back together here, and Nebbia caught her when that angel prick tried to erase her. (Turns out, Nebbia saved her because I now owe him a favor. Wonderful.)

~Day 10~

I’ve been dancing around this girl long enough, and Rene agrees. I gotta find out about this Melania chick now.

She’s a girl who wished for something similarly wasteful like most girls the Genie Cat comes across. She had already made that silly, unimportant wish before she met Nebbia the second time around, and he knew all about it. I have no idea what she wished for still, but I know that whatever it was didn’t really matter in the end.

Mel had a sister that she was also super attached to, Katherine. Kat wasn’t a magical girl, but would often follow Mel on Witch hunts*. Mel didn’t really take anything seriously and, as it turns out, didn’t do much fighting for The Conductors during their mob war. She did help teach ’em about all the ins and outs of Puella Magi and Witches and shit, and she’d bring them Grief Seeds to study (not that that did any good or anything), plus she showed them a couple Witches and Familiars and shit. So she was helpful for their overall goal, I suppose, for whatever the fuck that amounted to.

The only time she got *serious* was whenever Katherine was in any kinda danger, and she’d move heaven and earth to keep her safe. Whether it was Witch stuff, Conductor stuff, Mob stuff, didn’t matter. She had two real allies in her mind: Katherine and Nebbia. Kat wasn’t a lot better, just she wasn’t really a fighter, so she more just yelled and cried if someone gave Mel a hard time. Outside of that, she was apparently very… quiet, out of the way, kept to herself.

Turns out, Vel and Rene weren’t kidding when they said Melania and Katherine were time bombs. Still not sure on the specifics, but it looks like those two had a pretty big part in bringing the war to a standstill due to destruction caused to both sides. It wasn’t long after that that Nebbia disappeared, probably falling asleep and forming the Dreamscape.

I have to know what happened, but… I know this is gonna bring about some serious karma, probably gonna follow me into the waking world. See, I never told anyone about this, but I got a pretty intimidating letter back when I first got the task of digging through these guys. It was basically saying the further I dug, the worse it’d get for me, and most likely it’d bring “her” back to the surface.

This was enough to keep me from digging for the longest time, and I had other shit to worry about. But now, I gotta know. Who is “she” that knows I’m digging, and what kinda threat is she? I guess I need to put my bad feeling into words. This person, whoever sent that letter, and whatever happened to Melania and Katherine… I think it involves another “Angel”.

(* Side note: I don’t fuckin’ get that shit, Puella Magi bringing normal girls on hunts and shit. That’s just fuckin’ reckless and asking for trouble.)

~Day 11~

Son of a bitch. Rene was right about those two. I was wrong about this place, and I get why Vel wouldn’t tell me before. We’re in some shit if I don’t stay on it. Shit. Lemme gather my thoughts.

…

So Melania’s wish was some pointless, young person wish that gave her cool powers and shit. She was real good at fighting Witches, terrible as a Conductor, caused problems and drama over her sister, and eventually bailed. Yeah, right after the Troubadour crashed the wedding, Melania left the Conductors.

Turns out, Katherine vanished. Like out of thin air. No one knew where she went. Vel couldn’t find her with his sight, either. And apparently, he really did try, Sis confirmed that. One second, she was at wherever their base was, the next she was gone.

Mel left the group to find her, but it was no secret that she thought that the war with the Family was a big waste of time, and nothing close to their goal of studying Witches and how to fight them without magic. It was also no secret that Melania and Naota hated each other.

Now, Naota Yasuda was an evil guy, and he was one vengeful son of a bitch, so he followed her for awhile, using his baton to give her the illusion she’d found her sister, only to escape before she could see through the ruse. This catalyst is something Vel and I only just now found out about. We knew Mel had gone crazy, but he never really knew why. But even that alone wasn’t enough to tip the scales.

She could’ve easily come back to finish him if she wanted to, and just continued her search without worrying about him pulling that shit again. I mean, she did come back to Vel now and again to ask if he learned anything new, and he hadn’t. I guess this is what pushed Vel into sending Naota back to Tokyo, something of a peace offering. Rene was pissed off though, he saw it as a betrayal.

The Conductors were now down two members, including their tactician, and stuck waist deep in this bloody conflict with a local mob — who cares why, they just were now — and Velare was giving concessions to a deserter. On top of that, Rene had already fought off Yuma once at that point, so he was mentally stretched thin and physically worn out. Now, Melania and Rene didn’t exactly get along, but they didn’t hate each other either. But high tensions and stress can make even good friends turn on one another, so I guess they fought. Nothing serious, don’t even know who won, but Melania left for good after that.

That’s when things get serious. She’s good at taking down Witches, but the stress of losing her sister’s starting to wear on her psyche. Each Grief Seed cleanses her Soul Gem a bit less each time, and she needs to fight more and more Witches just to keep her head above water, which is stressing her out even more. Anyone who knows what happens to magical girls after too long knows how this usually ends. Eventually, she just can’t fight anymore. She’s worn out physically and emotionally, and finally collapses in a small forest on the outskirts of Mitakihara.

Right on the cusp of becoming a Witch, her sister Katherine finds her. No one knows how or why, or where she was all this time. Mel kinda doesn’t care anymore either. Naota is long gone, running his old puppet-show mob again, so she knows this isn’t a trick, but she’s out of Grief Seeds, so she knows she’s basically done for. The only solace she has is that she succeeded in finding her sister and got to see her face one last time before she turned.

Katherine, of course, isn’t happy at all that her sister is about to become a Witch. Just as confused as everyone else about the time that has passed and where she was– she didn’t remember a thing, apparently– and now that she’s got her bearings and isn’t disoriented from the ordeal anymore, the first thing she sees is her sister about to become a Witch. And Katherine would do anything to keep that from happening.

It’s almost like that desperate thought is some kinda bell or something, because the Genie Cat shows up almost like it were on cue. And some of the most dangerous wishes come out of desperation to save someone else’s life.

Katherine wished to take Melania’s grief, her sorrow, her pain, and her suffering into herself.

Her soul had obviously become corrupted from the wish. The negative feelings, the despair, the very things that made Melania almost become a Witch, and the same things that make most of us become Witches… she used her wish to take them into herself, darkening and corrupting her soul before the Gem even formed. Sound familiar? It’s basically what happened with Anisa Nobunaga’s wish. Katherine became an Angel, same as Anisa would years later.

The problem is, there’s no record or indication that Katherine has either been dealt with, or is roaming around. No sign of her down here or out there. Only “Angel” we knew of, we killed. So where the fuck is this one?

~Day 12~

When Katherine made her wish to take Melania Piccolo’s grief and suffering into herself, she became an Angel. The only other Angel we know about was Anisa Nobunaga, and I (yes, with help, obviously) killed her during the Walpurgisnacht attack.

An Angel is basically what happens when a Puella Magi makes a wish that’s too powerful or too corrupt, and her soul becomes close to what a Witch’s is like before it’s made into a Soul Gem. The result is a girl who’s basically as insane as a Witch, with the cognitive thought of a normal girl. A Witch who can plan, can think, can strategize, etc. On top of that, an Angel can manipulate her Witch barrier at will, placing or creating them wherever and whenever she wants. I think that her barrier also lets her “teleport” between long distances without actually moving, I’m not sure though.

They’re also the toughest fuckers ever to exist.

After she became an Angel, Katherine apparently began to cause havoc for The Conductors, since her mind was filled with the grief that they caused Melania. As for Mel herself? Katherine took her now-empty sister’s body and placed her in a barrier. Katherine’s barrier has a weird… quirk about it. Time doesn’t seem to really pass inside it, so Mel would be perpetually sleeping, I think. I have an idea about it, but… nah, later.

Anyway, the first thing Katherine did was attack the office building that The Conductors used as a headquarters. The building, funny enough, still exists and I think it’s actually an office building now. After that, the remaining Conductors (Velare and Nebbia) took refuge in an opera house Velare had bought upon moving to Mitakihara. Well, it didn’t take long for Katherine to find out where they were hiding, but with Vel’s sight, they knew when she would strike. And in between each of her raids of the place, Velare and Nebbia began to plan.

Rene was busy fending off revenge-clashes from Yuma to really help out, which in a way, kinda worked to Vel’s advantage. Nebbia knew what happened and recognized Katherine right away. Katherine, in turn, having taken a lot of Melania’s emotions, couldn’t bring herself to attacking Nebbia. So if he were in the opera house, she couldn’t risk hurting him.

Velare decided to leave Nebbia to guard the headquarters alone while he worked on making something for him. He didn’t have a Conductors artifact, since the person he loved the most was still around. Or something like that. But Melania was effectively gone, and the time was right for he Troubadour to become a proper “Conductor”.

I have literally no idea how, maybe it was during their non-mob tenure of being Conductors, maybe it was Mel’s research, maybe some lingering magic of hers, I dunno, but together, Velare and Nebbia devised a mask that could in theory contain a Witch’s barrier. They figured out somewhat quickly that Katherine had Witch-like properties, so they decided to try and seal her away. They both knew it was a total long-shot, but they had to try something.

~Day 13~

It should go without saying that trying to trick or trap Katherine in an opera mask wasn’t always the best plan, and it should be obvious that it didn’t work. Eventually, she figured out what Vel and Nebbia were up to, and somehow overrode Melania’s emotions within her, striking back in a way that no one would ever forget.

One night, on a particularly busy night for Velare’s opera house — yes, it was operational, Vel had that much money* —, Katherine made herself known, descending through the roof and onto the stage, using her magic to burn the place from the inside. Naturally, she put her barrier over the door, so people couldn’t get out. It wasn’t just a normal fire, though. It was a strange, shadowy fire that spread on petal-shaped embers that she just kinda… conjured. Vel had found a way out, Rene was about to catch a train, but Nebbia was in his office in the back. Waiting.

Once the building had burnt completely and every one of Velare’s guests and performers were dealt with, the building sorta… disintegrated into this black ash**. All that was left was the foundation, and one young man wearing a black opera mask.

“Let us have a talk. I think we can come to some sort of agreement, but if not, I have all I need.”

Do not ask me how the fuck the Troubadour survived the fire, or how the only thing burnt/ashen on him was that mask.

As one might expect, Katherine was not in a mindset to do any sort of vague negotiations, and she attacked him. At that moment, Nebbia’s mask began to resonate, and he grabbed her by the… arm? Tendril? Tentacle? Thing? And a shadowy mist began to emanate from Katherine’s body. She tried to pull herself away, but couldn’t. It was too late– Nebbia Piccolo’s mask had pulled the Angel Katherine into it.

From what I know about souls, I have an idea how this worked, actually. Katherine’s fire was just her magic. It was flashy, and it sent a message, and it was her undoing. I think that an Angel’s dark, eldritch magic comes from her Witch half, and while I’m unsure how Nebbia survived unscathed, I think that when the ashes descended on his mask, it was enough to imprint her barrier into it. Nebbia did his Conductor thing and pulled the rest of her into it. The effort of such an endeavor took its toll on the Troubadour, and Velare found his nearly lifeless body in the ashen foundation of his destroyed opera house.

Vel’s being a lot more open with me now that I know about Katherine, but he says I’m still missing something. I think I’ve figured it out, though. The Troubadour’s Masque is Nebbia’s artifact. Nebbia sealed Katherine within her own barrier using the mask. The Troubadour is the master of the Dreamscape, and entering this place requires an invite through a connection with him. He’s alive, but sleeping or comatose or something. His mask — that is, Katherine’s barrier — is the “Dreamscape”.

And Katherine is very much alive down here as well. Somehow haven’t run into her, but I suppose it’s only a matter of time. Is this what you meant, Katherine, when you told me that digging up the history of these guys would bring about something horrible? Now that I know about you, d’you have some sort of… “master plan” to bust out? Or are you gonna start hunting me in here, keeping me from learning more?

To tell you the truth? I don’t care. I got what I need for right now. I survived you by staying still this long, and I bet I can do it again. Best of luck, babe.

(* His money is now mine, for the record. I have damn good luck with people leavin’ me shit in their wills.)
(** You know, that weird burnt shadowy shit that was on the ground while we had rehearsal there?)

~Day 14~

I’m awake today. In the real world awake, writing this down myself in person instead of dictating to Cecilia. What I learned about Katherine and her labyrinth kept me from wanting to dig any deeper. Even if she has been dealt with for now, I need a break. I don’t wanna learn any more right now. I just… I need a day to like… hit the gym, punch something, not think…

I don’t think she’s coming out, but I think that my life down there’s gonna be hell. I gotta get Cecilia outta there somehow, but knowing her, she’s probably safe. Katherine sent that letter to *me* specifically. I’m her target. I’m probably her way out. And until I know how to keep that from happening, I’m not going back. I’ll update this journal when I’m good and ready.

~Day 28~

Feels weird writing in this myself instead of dictating to Cecilia. Anyway, time I talked all this over with Alice and extended the invitation. Yesterday, I met with the Incubator myself. Hadn’t seen ’em in a loooong time, and I wanted to see if anything had happened while I was out.

Well, on the one hand, Katherine isn’t doing anything, which means she’s still sealed, meaning I got time. On the other hand, some major shit went down while I was digging. This Ozymandias fucking chick raised a goddamn army of magical girls and nearly took the entire goddamn high school down with her. Two attacks, both closing the school for awhile, and this last one ending with her dead. Good riddance, but like, this is gonna suck on the cleanup front for awhile. Some two dozen girls all made their wishes for this empress-wannabe chick, and now she’s dead, it’s gonna be chaos. If only half these girls become Witches, it’ll be a fuckin’ miracle. Yeah, we’re not savin’ everyone here.

What does this have to do with the Conductors or Katherine? Not much. I put this book down after I woke myself up and was gonna lay low for a bit, but now I’m starting to think a couple things:

1. It’s not a bad idea to archive everything I do — we do, assuming my talk with Alice goes well — for any newcomers to the group, and
2. I don’t believe in coincidence. And while I have no idea how Kat could possible be involved here, but she told me I’d regret goin’ down the rabbit hole, and well… shit kinda hit the fan.

In *actual* Conductor news, Sis’s been meeting with Rene for the last few weeks. Says I’ll actually get his story next time I see him. Not in a rush to get it, but hey, can’t be worse than what I learned before. Might give me some insight into his Artifact, the Soul Lantern, and why Dad wants it so goddamn bad.

 

mom accidentally sealed w/Kae
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mom = (KEY) to defeating Kae?