A little over a week had passed since Riho started her job at the Dawson convenience store and she hadn't seen the Mazoku girl since that day just after her interview. She didn't hate the job yet, but she didn't think she'd ever get used to Ikue Airu's antics. She thought the corporate structure was partially to blame, but there was only so much that could explain. Habiro Akiho on the other hand was slowly worming her way into Riho's heart. She had decided she wouldn't make friends on the pretense of quickly returning to Priripon, but as the week passed few were the reminders of her mission. It felt a lifetime away, those memories of intense combat and spell slinging. In that time, the cheerful but somewhat listless girl had managed to infiltrate her mental defenses and learn about some of her hobbies. Riho on the other hand, had also come to know that many of the things she liked to do in her free time in Priripon were either still totally accessible or replicable there on Earth.

She had just exited the store after clocking out when she saw her: the Mazoku girl!

There weren't many other people about, most of the other shops were closing up or getting ready for a shift change. Pent up stress from work coupled with the vague anxiety of slowly losing her identity as a Magical Girl of Priripon spurred her actions.

From a slip in space she retrieved her staff, and chanted her activation incantation.

“Forebearer of an age upon thee I call, take mine form and bring wrath and fall. My foe before me stands, slow the clock, halt the hands!”

A barrier of light just large enough to cover her shot into the sky, the surrounding people took no notice, except one.

A chill ran down Kikyo's spine as a familiar magical pressure suddenly flared to life behind her.

“Now?! Of all the times?!” she looked around, seeing the scant traces of others, “Okay, maybe now is your best chance but still, give me a break!”

She touched the star emblem that held her hair in its side ponytail.

“Maou-sama give me your blessing to stand against your foe, this fledgling!”

From a human perspective, not but a second had elapsed, but from the girls' perspectives quite a bit had occurred.

At the end of Riho's chant, a fox-like ornament had appeared in her hair. Starting from her hands a veil of light covered her, replacing the casual clothes she had just changed into out of her work uniform with a fanciful blue battle dress. Her shoulders were bare, but she had long gloves that came nearly all the way up to them. Similarly she had a medium length puffy dress skirt under which were tights, over which were a pair of black pumpkin shorts. Her shoes merged with the tights in the way normal clothes could not, the bottoms gold and seemed to be metallic. Upon the backs of her hands, shins, and the middle of her back was a green quartet of diamonds, the largest at the top with three others sprawling out underneath.

At then end of Kikyo's hurried chant, the star emblem flashed. Kikyo levitated into the air, a horn sprouted from the center of her forehead, then wings and a tail from her back. She was wearing the same casual clothing she had been, only now her skirt had large flower on the front and a repeating pattern of flowers in other places.

Riho faced down her quarry, “You'll die here tonight, then I'll go back to Priripon!”

“Just go home already! I don't wanna fight! I'm having fun here!” Kikyo shouted without thinking.

In an instant Riho had closed the distance, she raised her staff, a blade of energy coming out of the orb at its tip.

“Is it so fun messing with people's lives?!”

Kikyo deflected the staff with her tail, “Hah?! What are talking about? What do you think I am, a demon?!” Kikyo replied, taking a step back before taking a ready stance, “I didn't even bring my sword today...”

“Of course you are a demon! Not a single Mazoku can be left alive, they are spreaders of misfortune and evil!” Riho said with conviction, “And there's no way you could forget your sword, just call it with magic and face me, coward!”

“Um, who's the coward here? The one who suddenly transforms in the middle of the street and launching an assault or the one who just wants to go home?”

Riho countered with a yell that hurt her throat, “As if this place could ever be your home!?”

That got Kikyo fired up, “I'll have you know Maou-sama told me to expect a long stay! If he requires it I'll stay here my whole life!”

“What?! You've had contact with the Demon Lord?! All the more reason to end you here, no lowly soldier could have direct contact with the Demon Lord!”

“HAH?!” Kikyo felt her blood pressure rising, this girl didn't know what she was talking about, “I'll have you know I'm a Major in the Overlord's Army. Not only that but I'll have you take all of your 'demon' comments back! Maou-sama is most honorable and I'll have you know he personally chooses every soldier! We're the ones who couldn't find a way to live on our own, so he took us in and taught us to fight!” She met the Magical Girl's resolved eyes with her own.

They met in a flurry of blows and magical bullets, each pouring their frustrations out until they were out of breath.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“H-how did you get...so strong...” Riho panted, remembering how clumsily Kikyo had fought when they clashed in Makai.

“W-we're not supposed to kill...Magical Girls...” Kikyo replied in a similar state, gripping her knees, “Either hurt them enough to force a retreat...or run away until they give up...”

“What's that supposed to mean!?” Riho exclaimed, “That makes it sound like Mazoku are stronger than Magical Girls!”

“I don't know about 'stronger,' but we certainly use magic more efficiently...” Kikyo heaved, falling on her rump, “You're absurdly persistent, you know? Were you even paying attention to where I was leading you? You could've gotten lost in Makai, even if you had killed me...you would've been surrounded by Mazoku who'd just witnessed a murder...do you really think you could've gotten out alive?”

Riho didn't have a response, she had been taught to focus on her mission, the elimination of Mazoku. After a moment of thought she realized something.

“Wait, but if Mazoku aren't supposed to kill Magical Girls, wouldn't I be able to get away just fine?”

Kikyo gave her an exasperated look, “That goes for the Overlord's Army who are specifically trained in how to deal with you, all the citizens know is that we're constantly fighting off a Pririponian invasion,” her face fell, “Well, I suppose there is also the possibility that if they saw you kill me they would be too afraid to do anything given they have no training.”

For an instant Riho saw herself there in Makai, the girl before her broken on the ground, and then she felt the terrified stares of the Mazoku around her. It was not a good feeling. It was not the kind of grand celebration the defeat of an evildoer would bring, but the fall of hope into despair. She shook her head, trying to clear away the image.

“It's Makai that's invading Priripon!” she said, but some of the conviction in her tone wavered. Because she had seen the World Snakes in person. It was an unspoken rule not to talk about them in Priripon. It was a taboo magic to begin with, but worse was a very real possibility that the purpose the top of Priripon claimed they served was in fact the opposite. Having seen them in person, Riho knew exactly what kind of magic composed the grand teal columns of light emanating from the Overlord's Castle in Makai. It was no dimensional bore.

Kikyo, not knowing these thoughts countered naturally.

“No! Priripon wants to destroy our king! I can't say I know all the reasons why, but they're willing to sacrifice their own Magical Girls to do it!”

At that Riho took a step back. It was true, since coming to Earth not a trace of even an attempt at contacting her had been made. It was also true that many Magical Girls had never returned from missions to Makai, Riho had assumed they'd been killed by Mazoku, but if what the girl before her said was true, it was more likely something more sinister had occurred. A haunting memory of the reports she had read of missing magical girls had made no specific mention of falling in battle, that conclusion had been one of her own.

Kikyo stood up again, “Can I go home for the day? You look just as worn out,” her tone was terse. She started to walk away when Riho grabbed her arm.

“Wha-?” She began harshly, but Riho's eyes were filled with confusion and the beginnings of tears. Suddenly a third voice cut in.

“Kikyo. Give her a moment,” Otomi Mao, Overlord of Makai.

Riho sniffled loudly, regaining some of her composure and ruining the mood she herself had created.

“Tell me your name.”

A simple request, but one that showed a lot of progress for breaking the tough shell this Magical Girl surrounded herself with.

“Sorane Kikyo. Kikyo's fine,” Kikyo replied, her voice softening a bit.

“Funano Riho,” Riho said sulkily.

“I knew that, but thank you for telling me yourself,” Kikyo said genuinely.

Riho was too tired to question her about it, and having heard the third voice she assumed it might have something to do with it.

“Riho-san, perhaps it is still too soon to ask this of you, I'm sure you have many things you need to think about alone, but as the Overlord I must ask you, please try to coexist with Major Kikyo.”

“The Overlord?!” Riho looked to the star emblem where the voice came from.

“That's right. I think you're beginning to pick up the pieces of the truth, but take it slowly. Rely on Kikyo, she will support you.”

“I'll do what?!” Kikyo said, but was ignored by both her king and her enemy.

“Tell me...who are you, Otomi Mao?” Riho said bitterly.

There was a long pause, “Come to me when you have more pieces of the puzzle. To know now will only cause you unnecessary pain and confusion. Adapt to Earth, and pursue your own happiness.”

Riho clenched a fist, “That's not something a Demon Lord should be saying...”

“I may be an Overlord, but I know no demons. Only a people of my own blood who struggle to survive like any other race.”

Kikyo nodded to Riho before undoing her transformation. They met eyes and Riho felt something twist in her gut. Without the horn and wings, Kikyo looked like any other human or Magical Girl. Seeing her in that light made her feel sick, how had she felt such hatred towards someone whose name she didn't even know? She knew the answer, but she didn't want to think about it. It was what she had been taught. That was how she had been brought up and trained since childhood.

“Maou-sama exactly how am I supposed to support her?” Kikyo asked, her tone holding obvious contempt. Riho couldn't blame her, she had been trying to kill her, to suddenly be told to make up and be friends was outrageous no matter how you looked at it.

Mao sighed, “Well, first off try putting yourself in her shoes for a while and lose that contemptuous tone. Letting bygones be bygones is the only way to move forward.”

Riho interjected, “No...Trying to take a life isn't something that can be so easily let go, is it?”

Kikyo looked surprised, and there was a long pause from Mao.

“If that's how you feel then for now perhaps it is best for you both to take some distance and think things through. Though given you live in the same town, I imagine you won't get as much time apart as you might wish.”

At that moment neither could imagine how true those words would come to be.