Three days later the six met in Kikyo's room, and awaited Mao's arrival. The air was filled with tension, and nervous stares. It was Riho and Kikyo's first time seeing Monmoku, he appeared humanoid, but his hands and feet were large and webbed and eyes just a little too big. Truly a frog-man. Lasrefel was lounging with his head on Riho's lap, feelers twitching every now and again. Airu was sitting seiza style barely moving even to breath. Kikyo was the only one who seemed to have thoughts to spare, even going as far as to prepare tea for everyone. Riho was going to ask how Lasrefel was going to drink it, but the thaumikitsune defied all logic, sipping it like any human would. Or perhaps more aptly, like any human grandfather might. Considering the split in his body where the magical nexus lay it was even more surreal as his lower body seemed even more detached.

Finally a rift crackled to life in the air, and from it Otomi Mao emerged. He didn't spare a second, immediately producing seven short wooden rods tipped with metal caps.

“These are some special divination rods I made based on Okoto Kaena's magic. They should keep you on the right path towards the trapped girls' core.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

After handing these out, he produced seven disks just larger than the anchors, “But these are the show stoppers. I call them 'Fixed Recovery Disks' or 'Koteikaifuku Enban.' They collect magical information and compress it back into a physical form. In this case, like rolling thread back onto a spool.”

They each took one and stared at it somberly.

“So we just have to make sure we put all of the Magical Girl's data back on this disk?” Kikyo asked.

“That's the idea,” Mao replied, “But it won't be that easy...As their magical data starts to condense, they'll start to become aware of the dimension around them again. That's where the real terror of the Mirror begins. Since they won't be all the way themselves yet, they'll just start lashing out at you as an intruder. The closer to the Greater Mirror you get as you follow the thread, the more potent their power will become,” Mao explained.

“In other words, always watch your back,” Riho confirmed resolutely.

“M-my feet fell asleep,” Airu said as she tried to stand up.

That broke some of the tension and they laughed it off.

“Good luck. Let's meet again in the Greater Mirror!”

Mao swiped his hand across the air, and each of their Anchors glowed brightly, and then they were gone!