“Is everything alright?” Hope asked. “You seem edgy.”

“I’m alright. Just too much has happened.” It had been quite a shock when Jin appeared from nowhere at her safe house, begging to save Takako’s life. While reluctant, Ume had relented. Against Starlight Dream, they needed allies. And then Seina had appeared after their battle with Haruko, explaining how she’d survived an encounter with the most frightening Devil Princess.

“What the hell kinda luck does that girl have?” Ume said. As they spoke, she snacked on her Pocky sticks. “If you could call having Reiko Yoshida after your head, luck.”

Despite this, Hope had a good feeling about their current situation. “It might be destiny putting us together!”

“Destiny,” Ume replied and snorted. “Ever the optimist.”

“Always! I have to cheer you up, Ume!”

This earned a smile from Ume before she frowned. “But the girl’s a total amateur.”

She still hadn’t forgotten how Seina had refused to kill Emiyo, despite the task’s necessity. It’d take considerable effort to forge her into a proper magical girl. While regrettable, Seina needed to lose her kind heart to survive in their battle against Starlight Dream. Ume told her partner as much.

“Hmm, I seem to recall a certain magical girl also being like that,” Hope said, flopping onto a nearby couch. “I could get used to this! So much of an improvement on that dank, abandoned house! Seina has a nice place!”

Ume joined her friend, enjoying the luxurious couch after roughing it for so long. “That girl died a long time ago. She died when Hinata did.” Her mood darkened, the pain still raw after so many years. Her partner didn’t reply, only giving Ume’s hand a comforting squeeze.

Seina’s so-called bodyguard entered the room, scrounging around in the kitchenette. He withdrew a bowl of grapes and a block of cheese from the fridge. With deft hands, he cut the cheese into bite size pieces. This piqued Ume’s curiosity, watching as he arranged the grapes and cheese into a cute puppy face, using crackers for its ears, on a plate.

“Do you want some, too?” Kiyojiro asked.

“No, thanks. Is that a late-night snack for Seina?” Ume wondered why Seina couldn’t just get it herself. Did she enjoy having servants doing every petty whim?

“It’s her favorite,” Kiyojiro said, inclining his head. “Colten has a particular love for crackers.”

Ume surrendered to her curiosity, asking a burning question that’d been bothering her. “Why are you here? Seina’s a magical girl. Even untransformed, she would break you with ease.”

The bodyguard only shrugged in response, unruffled by her uncharitable reading of his situation. “Someone needs to watch over her and make sure she brushes her teeth at night and eats well-rounded meals.”

“What is she, ten?” Ume replied, baffled. Was Seina that childish? She bit into another Pocky stick.

“Yes, yes, she is.” Instead of taking her question as a joke, he responded in deadly seriousness. Much to Ume’s horror, she realized the bodyguard wasn’t kidding. Her Pocky stick dropped to the floor as the full implication of his words struck her.

“Seina’s actually ten years old?” While she’d known Seina was a novice magical girl, Ume hadn’t realized the girl was that young.

“Yes.” The bodyguard gave her an icy stare, making Ume’s blood run cold.

Oh my god, I tried to kill a ten-year-old! Shame filled Ume as that statement’s full implication struck home.

Oddities about Seina’s behavior finally became crystal clear with this revelation. Little wonder the girl had been so adamant against killing Emiyo. What a total idiot she’d been. Kiyojiro continued his hard stare, adding to her guilt. Hope looked down shamefaced, equally horrified.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Her apology sounded lame to her own ears, but Kiyojiro accepted it with a nod.

“Now you understand Seina’s situation better.” He left with Seina’s midnight treat without another word.

“We really screwed up!” Hope said.

“Yeah.” Ume leaned back, despondent. Poor Seina. No wonder she always seemed so overwhelmed. A young girl her age shouldn’t have to deal with nightmares like the Devil Princesses. At least Takako and Himari understood what they’d signed up for.

“I know what we must do!” Ume said, her heart hardening with resolve.

“Oh?” Hope asked, curious.

“We’re going to protect her, even if it costs our lives!” It seemed the least they could do. Ume would make amends for her terrible attitude towards the girl.

“Great plan!” An idea struck her fairy partner. “We could train her! We knew a few tricks.”

Ume nodded her agreement. While Seina still sucked at controlling magic, she had some ideas to turn that to the girl’s advantage. She hadn’t been a magical girl for centuries for nothing.

What was this strange hope filling her all of a sudden? It was like clouds had parted, revealing the bright sun above.

Then she got it. After years of battling against the monsters, it was nice finally fighting to protect someone. While Ume had defended people from evil, she’d left without a word afterward. Ume had focused more on fighting Starlight Dream than on helping others. If she could minimize Seina’s exposure to the horrors and tragedies she’d experience, then it’d be worth it.

---

“Uh, you want to train me?” Seina asked, baffled.

“I’m your senior, after all. There’s much you could learn from me,” Ume replied, nodding her head.

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“I already tried that with Takako, and it didn’t go so hot.”

“To be fair, I’m not the greatest teacher.” Takako piped in.

“But I actually have experience fighting against magical girls. I have a few tricks you might find useful.” Ume said with the utmost confidence.

“I suppose.” However, Seina had difficulty understanding where this sudden kindness was coming from. Why the change of heart? The other magical girl had been nothing but cold towards her. While Takako remained just as skeptical, she allowed the rebel to speak her peace.

“I say you should agree,” Mr. Kiyojiro said. For some particular reason, he seemed pleased with himself.

“Me too,” Masato said, clasping an enormous hand around Seina’s shoulder. “I hate to say it, but you’ve surpassed me. Now you require a better training partner to grow stronger.”

“She surpassed you even before you started training together,” Colten said, his tone snide.

“Okay, fine.” While still not pleased, Seina went along with it. “But I’m not training to kill! Understand!” She glared to make her point crystal clear.

Much to her surprise, Ume nodded in agreement. “I won’t make you do anything you don’t want.”

“Did Ume hit her head last night?” Seina whispered to her partner.

“Beats me.” Colten only shrugged at this uncharacteristic behavior.

“I guess we should start, I suppose?” Seina said, somewhat lost for words. She found this whole situation beyond bizarre.

“The trick is learning to maximize the effectiveness of your magic,” Ume said as she stood across from Seina on the training field. Himari and Takako watched from the sidelines, curious about what lessons Ume might teach. “It’s saved my behind many times. While our power might seem limitless, it’s wise to conserve every bit of magic, making no unnecessary moves.”

“So Mr. Kiyojiro always tells me, but I’m terrible at controlling my magic,” Seina replied. “It never listens to me.”

“That’s alright. Your talents aren’t in that area.” Ume said, sensing her student’s unspoken self-recrimination. “Instead, we should focus on your strengths.”

“My only strength is being strong!”

Much to Seina’s surprise, Ume gave her a sympathetic smile. “You undersell yourself. You’re tough and determined. That matters more in my book than convoluted magical abilities. You’re a conqueror, Seina!”

“If you say so.”

“In my battles, I’ve learned ways to disrupt a magical girl’s healing factor. It’s allowed me to defeat opponents much stronger than myself.”

“You mean like Emiyo’s sickle?” Seina recalled how difficult it was to heal after getting sliced by it.

Ume nodded. “Magical girls have an aura that regulates their magical flow. Disrupting it makes healing more difficult. I’ll teach you how to do it.”

“Okay,” Seina said, unconvinced. Her mind returned to her unsuccessful experiment with Himari when they got trapped in that kitchen dimension. But Seina would give her best, despite her doubts.

“It’s best if I show you.” Ume got into a fighting position. “Stand still. This shouldn’t hurt too bad.”

Seina nodded, standing stock still. The others watched in curiosity as Ume readied her attack. Vanishing into nothing, Ume appeared from nowhere and struck Seina in the stomach. Bones bent as the hit connected, making Seina stagger back.

“Ouch.” Seina rubbed the wound, flinching as she touched sensitive flesh. As Ume explained, the blow struggled to heal, creating an unpleasant weight in her stomach. “You didn’t need to hit me that hard!”

“Remarkable, you are tough. I hit you with everything I had, and it mostly only bruised you.” Ume gave a self-deprecating smile. “Still, do you understand what I did?”

“Well.” Seina paused, thinking, before shaking her head. “Not really.”

“I put disruptive magic into my blow,” Ume said. “And your natural magic fluttered when struck against it.”

“And I suppose Emiyo’s blade sliced through a magical girl’s aura, making it harder to heal. Something like that, right?” Takako said. “But can it be defended against?”

“It’s possible,” Himari said, nodding. “I’ve had it pounded into me, literally, that only with strong mental discipline can a magical girl gain their true potential. Perhaps a firm iron will can soften the impact.”

“Oh! So Mr. Kiyojiro’s martial art lessons have been useful all along!” Seina said, amazed. She’d always thought them a hassle.

Her bodyguard sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Obviously.”

“We can focus on that topic later,” Ume said.

“So, I just need to disrupt their magic,” Seina said. “Doesn’t sound too difficult. Let’s do this.”

“Right.” Ume flinched, realizing what it meant to train Seina in this ability.

“I’ll go easy on you,” Seina said, rubbing the back of her neck.

But this proved more difficult than expected. While Seina could hit like a train, it couldn’t cause any long-term disruption of a magical girl’s defenses. However, despite her best efforts, it failed to work. Much to Seina’s irritation, the others proved much more adaptable than her. Takako, in particular, could make herself very troublesome with her ribbon of doom. She’d made a cut on Seina that’d taken over an hour to heal.

“Of course.” Seina hung her head, defeated by her failure. Was the universe conspiring against her to make her look ridiculous? This shouldn’t be so hard.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up,” Ume said. “While you didn’t quite get the lesson I intended, you learned a different skill, which might be even more important.”

“Really?” Seina said, her tone doubtful.

“You’re better at shattering a magical girl’s defenses outright,” Ume said. “You pulverize it to pieces. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Only for them to heal from it anyway,” Seina replied.

“Uh, not when you’ve broken them into pieces first.” Takako gave her friend’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “It’s hard to heal when you’ve reduced them to a pretzel.”

“I suppose,” Seina said, considering.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ve gotten better at hurting magical girls. That’s not nothing. You can focus on hurting them while the others attack their healing.” Mr. Kiyojiro’s smile was nasty. “They won’t know what hit them.”

Seina nodded, knowing she was being ridiculous, as usual. It was just hard to accept how unsophisticated she appeared compared to her friends. It made her look stupid and brutish, only useful for breaking things. Hardly surprising, considering Seina was only an ordinary girl thrust into a war of the heavens she never asked for.

Still, inwardly, Seina prayed her terrible luck with magic wouldn’t cost them dearly in the future. She feared her brutish nature might work against them when they needed a cleverer solution. Too much was on the line.

As if reading his charge’s downward spiral in mood, Mr. Kiyojiro piped up. “How about we have a snack? It’s about time for a break.”

Himari glanced at a nearby clock. “Aren’t we meant to train till three?”

“No, we’ve done good work today. Better than I’d hoped, actually.” Ume said. “Though, don’t think you’re off the hook. We’re training until you’ve each mastered this. We’ll need every edge when we face the Devil Princesses.”

“Okay,” Seina said, with little enthusiasm.

“I thought you did super well, Seina!” Colten said as they headed towards the sitting area. Mr. Kiyojiro was preparing her favorite snack while they waited.

While they sat, a sound from a far window caught Seina’s attention. But when she looked outside, she saw nothing but the busy streets of Osaka. It must have been a bird, Seina chastising herself for jumping at shadows. She already had enough problems.

---

“Ah, so that’s how that works,” Emiyo said, nodding to herself. She’d already understood the principle, but Ume had mastered it. Despite being a total weakling, the rebel had some nasty tricks up her sleeve. It made her an exceptional assassin. Now, however, she’d unwittingly created her own demise. Her genius allowed her to understand the trick just from watching it.

She whistled as she jumped from her hiding spot amongst the tree’s branches, satisfied with her reconnaissance mission. Though, Emiyo was sore after sitting in a tree for hours upon end. Ume had insisted on training long into the day, the moon was already rising high into the night sky by the time they finished.

While learning much, Emiyo wouldn’t make a move until she was ready. Seina surrounded herself with powerful and dangerous allies. Worse, they were getting stronger. Even Himari, of all magical girls, was becoming a dangerous threat.

If only I could call for backup. But Nyx had vanished into the ether, with no sign or word of her yet. If her fairy partner had left for Starlight Dream, why hadn’t she returned with help?

These mysteries chafed at her sensibilities, making Emiyo nervous. She shivered as a chilly wind struck, huddling up to keep warm. Without her magical girl form, nothing protected her from the elements. But it was necessary to remain undetected by her enemies.

After checking the coast was clear, Emiyo slipped into an abandoned building through a broken crack in the wall. With some effort, she blocked the entrance with some old wooden boards. The sheer untidiness of her new home gulled her. Emiyo feared she might have gotten fleas from the unsanitary environment, but reminded herself it was necessary to remain out of sight.

She sighed, plopping herself into the cardboard box she used as a bed. Some old, worn blankets were her only comfort. But both barely kept her warm on these cooling days as winter fast approached.

Much to her misfortune, this world had few amenities available while it recovered from the vampire’s cruel reign of terror. Only a select few, like Seina, lived in luxury. Others were left to manage with what they had available. And Emiyo’s lack of money hardly helped her situation.

Emiyo blushed as her stomach growled, reminding her she still hadn’t eaten since she’d stolen those few loaves of bread. She sighed when she realized her meager food supply had already been eaten. Emiyo would need to find food in the morning.

Bundling up to her coarse blanket, Emiyo tried getting some shuteye. Her mind wandered as sleep refused to come easy, her stomach demanding subsistence.

Was this Seina’s life before she became a magical girl? The squallier, fleas, and hunger?

Wait. Am I feeling bad for the girl? Never! As an elite, heartless magical girl, Emiyo was beyond such petty emotions. Still, facing the other side of suffering hurt. Her thoughts betrayed her as she contemplated if others suffered like this because of magical girls.

No, it doesn’t matter! I’m beyond simple, petty concerns. Crushing loneliness threatened to bring her to tears, as she led there. She wanted the familiar warmth of Nyx curled up beside her, a habit she had long since enjoyed. They’d never been apart this long before, the worry eating Emiyo alive.

Nyx, please return soon! Please!