Riho was the first to act, putting herself between Okoto and the others.

“Teacher...”

“You can drop your respectful act, there is no place for you in Priripon anymore. I'm only here to clean up my own mess. To think I believed you had potential, I suppose my divination has a long way to go yet.”

Mao snorted, “It's not the divination but the diviner who has gone wrong.”

Okoto turned her nose up, “A whelp who won't even show his face has no business telling ME how to interpret the results of a divination!”

Kikyo felt an enormous surge of power from her emblem, the dark aura was almost as palpable as the one presently radiating from Lasrefel, who had arched his back and was releasing a guttural growl.

“I would be more than happy to reduce that smirk to ash, but it is you who flee or hide behind maidens who do not understand the reason they fight!” Mao answered.

“Please, no smart ruler actually tells their soldiers what is...” her eyes flicked to Kikyo, and then Riho whose expression was dark and unreadable, Okoto sputtered, looking genuinely flabbergasted, “What could you possibly gain from telling them?!”

Kikyo looked at her like she was lunatic, “What does he have to lose? You already took everything away.”

Okoto took a step back, the dark energies in the room lost their appearance to her as the moodiness of problematic children. She saw through opened eyes the danger of the situation, before her were not two weak mewling babes but strong young women backed by powerful magical entities of power she only had a vague understanding of.

Riho took a step forward, Lasrefel copied her, fur bristling. A circuit of magic flowed between them, Riho had never felt this much magic coursing through her before. Her skin prickled, it felt as though if she tried she could push her body past its current limits, but she instinctively held back. Something told her she wasn't ready for that yet.

“Teacher,” Riho began, Okoto flinched, feeling Riho's soaring magic potential.

“If this is the truth, which you have already acknowledged it to be, then I have made up my mind. I will live here, on earth. I have a stable life here, and any fights I've had were ones I chose myself, even if my reasons were still based on loyalty to the mission I was given,” she laughed hollowly.

“If you do this you won't be a Magical Girl anymore!” Okoto cautioned.

“Will you try to reclaim my emblem?” Riho asked, a touch of sarcasm in her voice as she gestured to the seething gray-black fox beside her.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Okoto took another step backward, her power over the situation diminishing rapidly.

“M-Mao-kun, you know this could lead to war!” she tried.

“How many centuries do you think we've been doing just that? Push those maidens any further and I'll really start an invasion attempt,” he threatened.

“Just leave, Teacher. I'll live here on Earth, and if you try anything, I'll join Mao-san's side.”

Okoto took one last step back, bumping into the door behind her.

“I-I won't forget this!” she cried, and vanished in a plume of sparks.

“Was that okay?” Kikyo asked after a while.

Riho sat down heavily, “It's fine. It's for the best,” she sighed and cradled her head.

“I hate to increase your burden even further, but there's a little problem,” Mao said gently.

“What is it?” said Riho, she sounded exhausted.

“I'm sure you weren't aware which is why you said so, but saying that you would join me if she did anything makes you a Mazoku. I don't mean that in a like, an adoptive family kind of way either. Words have power, the power to shape mana. In Pririponian terms my existence is a bundle of curses and fear, those concepts don't bind me but they can bind Pririponians to me, in other words over time you'll start to pull mana from myself and Makai as your bonds with Priripon are severed...”

Riho mimicked Kikyo, “Eh?”

Kikyo finished Mao's thought, “Since Earth doesn't have any mana, you've been subconsciously pulling it from Priripon to replenish. But after that statement, you have declared you don't need Priripon anymore. Rather even that should it come down to it, you would instead rely upon Makai in the form of Maou-sama, so your manasource has changed. Well, for the short term it's probably not something to worry about, since you share your manacapacity with Lasrefel who pulls mana from...Where exactly are you from Lasrefel?”

Lasrefel waved his tail dismissively, “That is a secret, but thou art right to assume it is neither here nor anyplace thou hast been before.”

Kikyo seemed satisfied with that answer, Riho wondered if that was because she was accustomed to the undefined elements common in magic. Personally, she was still curious, but she felt it would be selfish to demand an answer.

Lasrefel stretched, “So thee wilt be staying here for the next long while, Funano Riho?”

“Mm. Er, well not 'here' since this is Kikyo's apartment, but here on earth yes,” she was too tired to be her usual serious self, and there was still a dull throb in the back of her head from earlier.

“Want me to walk you home?” Kikyo asked.

“No, I'll be okay, I think,” she paused, “Lasrefel what will you do from now on?”

“Hm? What I've always done for thee, and Hina-hime before thee. Though now I may actually converse with thee as I had with her,” he stretched, floating into the air as if gravity didn't affect him at all.

“I am thy partner, a companion to be called upon when thou art in need. In less eloquent terms, I will return to the form of thine hairpiece and await an emergency or until I am spoken to, as per our contract.”