(33)

The girls had stayed and asked many more questions even after Dakunaito left. Knowledge was power, after all, though, admittedly, not all knowledge was equally useful. The black knight had been right about that.

That wasn't to say that many of the questions asked didn't lead to interesting information, even if it wasn't readily useful, and, surprisingly, Sarasa only refused to answer a small handful of all of the questions they bombarded her with. If anything, she seemed delighted to be able to open up to her girls for the first time in probably ever.

Though they talked late into the night, given it was the end of the school week, the truly important questions could be narrowed down to a relative few.

Obviously, one of the first asked was how far the Arbiter would have to go before Sarasa's fifth-dimensional Council considered him having crossed the line. Unfortunately, it didn't have one of the most productive answers. He had to reach a point where he was actively endangering the continued operation of the program.

Not only was that incredibly vague, it was too high a bar for them to make use of it. They couldn't manipulate him to taking such drastic measures by any feasible manner, and it would require far less for him to just kill them.

Another was what they had to do to be considered rehabilitated. All Sarasa could really tell them was that they had to display good moral character under duress and avoid temptations and shortcuts.

She did confirm that Precognition was only a symptom of Reina's many cycles as the first Witch, and not actually her passive power. In fact, now that they were beyond the edges of that particular map, she doubted it would be showing up again without a reset.

Reina asked then, what was her passive? But Sarasa had just giggled at her. Didn't she already know?

That drove the dark witch to glare daggers, but not at Miss Sada. At the brunette.

What, exactly, had they done in their previous lives? Could those memories be restored? Well, she'd have to ask permission. But that meant it was, in fact, possible, and even if their past selves had been erased, the Council had kept records.

Of course, questions about restoring the brunette's memories, either of her erased self or of Nariko Kelly so she could transform, quickly followed that, but it wouldn't be so easy. Her condition was unique. She was broken in some way. It would be difficult to return her original memories since she was actively using that space, and returning those of Thunder Witch could overwrite her.

Ran had asked why everything sounded like computer terminology, but Sarasa was quick to clarify that it was simply because she was using terms they'd understand, and assured an overeager Natsumi that, no, they were most definitely not living in some copyrighted AI-controlled simulation.

The question had come up as to whether or not there were other facilities like theirs, and yes, there were. Only one for this Earth, but multiversalism is apparently a thing. The brunette was quick to remind Reina that meant she owed her a texted apology, which the upperclassman obliged with a maturity that immediately made her feel childish.

Surprisingly, this didn't mean that there were other beings in the same field as Sarasa. She explained that just moving down to their planes of reality replicated her across the multiverse as she became a part of it. She was the Warden for all Earth-based facilities simultaneously.

She refused to answer if there were facilities for any other planets in a given reality.

Interestingly, the split meant that she wasn't always quite the same person, and didn't always run the place the same way. Magical girls were definitely a majority preference, but they weren't always fighting demons, and it wasn't always this specific group of girls.

In one, apparently, there's a former planetary emperor that tried to invade the multiverse, and is now fighting a darkness that he'd formerly bargained with. In another, her charges were placed in an isekai. Yet another was actually tokusatsu. One even had them as sky pirates. The brunette and Natsumi quickly agreed they wanted a field trip to that last one.

Yes, this meant that they were Witches because of her stylistic preference, but she assured them that the power they had was all theirs. She only influenced the rules the facility used to interpret them.

No, she, this specific 4D incarnation of Sarasa, was not personally and simultaneously at all multiversal locations. She did touch base with the others from time to time, though, to brainstorm solutions to particular problems one or more of them might be having or to share and compare particular achievements of their girls. No matter the world, she was always proud of her girls.

Did this mean their families were all fake, just constructs of the facility? No. Each person was a fully realized individual consciousness, as real and unique as they were. The base parameters of their families were optimized to give each girl the best chance at success, but their upbringings and their relationships with their family members were all genuine.

Were they tied to the same actions over and over again, was that why they kept getting the same result for Precognition? No, and Miss Sada pointed to the very fact they were there to ask that as proof. Their will was their own in every cycle, to make their own choices. But without any memory of failure to change their approach, they unfortunately just ended up treading the same steps until something else changed.

It was the brunette who asked if it was really the lack of memory that drove them to take the same steps, or if it was due to the obfuscation-like blocks on their minds. Everyone at the table looked at her like she'd grown a third eyeball, though.

Everyone except Sarasa. She just refused to answer.

* * *

"Well, at the very least, I can stop worrying about replacing Nariko. Or up and spontaneously vanishing, for that matter."

The brunette was walking Haru home. It really was late. The moon was looming in the sky and they were the only two souls to be seen as far as the road stretched ahead or behind them.

They'd called their families, of course. A group cram session had been the excuse. It was even almost true.

"I'm happy for you!" Haru sang back with a smile on her face.

But the smile was tense. She didn't think she needed Analysis to notice, but Haru was very good at her smiles, so maybe she did. She'd been quiet most of the evening, letting everyone else ask their questions. She'd made comments, shown enthusiasm when called upon, but done little under her own initiative.

The only time she'd shown any significant interest, it had been about restoring Nariko Kelly. In fact, it was after that when she'd really withdrawn. The brunette had wanted to ask, but there had been no good opportunity that wouldn't have derailed everyone else.

She frowned back at her blonde friend, who was already turning away, no doubt having realized she'd noticed before the expression even reached her face. "No, you're not."

The statement wasn't judgmental or accusatory, but Haru was still determined to look at anything in the other direction. "... Please, Riko, don't ..."

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The brunette shook her head. "Haru, it's okay, I get it. You're not going to hurt my feelings with this. It means ..." She sighed. "... It means Nariko isn't just going to recover and go back to the way she was. And even if she could, the team requires she doesn't. It's not fair to you or her."

Haru wheeled around and thumped the bottom of her fist against the brunette's chest. "Stop that!" she shouted. "Stop talking about yourself in third-person! We know you're Riko now!"

"Not the one you grew up with," the brunette shook her head. "Not the one you forced to talk to you on the playground. Not the one you became a Witch so you could look out for."

"Yes, you are!" she insisted. "You just don't remember it!"

The brunette put a hand against the blonde's upper arm and rested her forehead against Haru's. "No, I'm the Riko that hit you. I'm the one that came into the group like a wrecking ball, intent on emotionally destroying everything around me."

"You were lost! You--"

The brunette grabbed her other arm, too, as she cut her off. "Haru. It's okay for you to feel that way. I understand."

"Stop, Riko, stop!" Haru was actually starting to bawl now, the emotions she'd kept bottled up, distracting herself with everyone's questions, starting to break through. "It's not right! It's not fair to you! You can't do anything about it! I have no right to be so selfish!"

The brunette wrapped both arms around her now, pulling her friend close. "You have every right, Haru, to feel however you feel. You can't do anything about it, either. If something hurts you, you're not a bad person for feeling pain."

The blonde continued to sob into her shoulder, so after a moment's pause, she continued.

"You were there for me when I first came here, Haru," she said softly. "You were a point of normalcy in a hurricane of insanity. You were a rock I could hold to until I came to grips with the world around me. But we're a two-way street, you and me."

She pulled back, gripping Haru by the shoulders to pry her away so she could look her in the eyes. "Haru, it's my turn. I'll support you. I promise you, you cannot offend me, and your feelings can't hurt me. So let it out. Unload on me. Whatever it is, you're not chasing me away."

The blonde drew back, too, looking for a moment like she was rearing back to headbutt the brunette. Then the tears resurged, and she rammed her forehead into the brunette’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Riko,” she cried out. “I do want my Riko back! That’s not right, but I do! I don’t want to just laugh about old memories with you! I want to remember them with you! I want the friend I fought beside, not just the one that looks like her! I want the immature, arrogant Riko, not the one that feels like she moved away for the last two years and grew up!”

Haru shook her head, grinding her eyes against the brunette’s school blazer. “But I can’t have my Riko back! Not because it’s impossible, but because getting her back means she dies! All of our friends die! I die! In just bringing her back, even you die! I can’t! I can’t be that selfish, but I can’t get rid of it! I’m sorry, Riko! I’m so sorry!”

The brunette simply let the blonde cry, rubbing her back in circular patters with one hand as she hugged the blonde close with the other. She didn’t speak until the twintailed girl’s words finally broke down into sobbing gibberish.

“Feelings aren’t supposed to be rational, Haru,” she tried. “In fact, feelings and rationality don’t like each other much at all. That’s why it’s not selfish to want something that’s wrong. It has to be okay, because otherwise …” She fished for a more poetic way to say it, but came up empty. “… Well, we’re all screwed.”

She felt, more than heard, Haru scoff in spite of herself.

“I know,” she intoned sagely. “I’m a real Shakespeare.”

The blonde didn’t raise her head until after she slugged the brunette in the shoulder. She sniffed as she did it, and her green eyes were still wet and rimmed with red.

“You’re not a bad person, Haru,” the brunette assured her friend again. “Or, at least, if you are, you’re the least of all of the bad people you’ve surrounded yourself with.”

“Thanks,” Haru sniffed again.

She nodded. “I told you, that’s what I’m here for.” The brunette shifted her feet. “And if you need to talk about the train, I’m here for that, too.”

The brief moment Haru froze confirmed her suspicions, but a moment later, the blonde dropped her head.

“What would you tell me about that, Riko? You risked your life to stop that train. You defied a premonition of your death! And not just yourself, you’re the single reason why any of us are still alive!”

When Haru didn’t say why that mattered, she ventured a guess of her own. “And in your eyes, you cowered in a box and brainwashed everyone in there with you, including your own parents, rather than fight.”

This time, instead of freezing up, Haru visibly flinched. Again, however, she didn’t say anything, so the brunette put a hand back on her shoulder.

“Haru, you saved the lives of everyone on that train, including your parents. From what I heard, it sounds like those guys would have shot you the moment you tried to transform. They knew who you were and were keeping you under watch from the moment they appeared. You took the right course of action.”

“It doesn’t feel like I did.” Haru raised her head to meet her gaze again. “Yeah, I know, feelings and rationality. But rationality is your specialty, Riko. Emotion is mine. And it feels like I’ve betrayed every principle over our powers I’ve ever held.”

“Every principle over our powers is there to ensure we use it only to save people, Haru. How many would you have saved if you were shot dead?”

Haru’s voice was quiet. “Are our principles less important than lives? Are you saying the end justifies the means, Riko?”

“Those aren’t the same thing,” the brunette insists fervently. “You used your power to save people by buying us the time we needed. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do!”

At some point, they’d reached Haru’s house, and now, the blonde put her hand on the door knob, signifying the end of the conversation. She hesitated a moment, though.

“… I know you’re right, Riko. Because if I had to do it all over again, I know that I would. I just hope that, one day, I can come to believe it.”

* * *

From her bedroom window, with the room’s light off, Haru looked down at Nariko, still standing in front of her house. The girl out of time looked lost, but true to her word, she seemed to take the revelation that her best friend wished she were dead in stride.

Sword Witch was so strong, shoulders built up from a lifetime of bearing such burdens, a lifetime that no teenager could claim. Could her Riko have shown the same strength? Not the same kind of strength, of course, but could she have endured the conversation this Riko had literally held her through?

Haru had to believe she could. She couldn’t stand to doubt two versions of her best friend.

After a long moment, no doubt spent shuffling the burdens on her shoulders around to make sure they stayed balanced against one another so as not to drag her down, Nariko Kelly finally turned from Haru’s house and walked away down the street.

The blonde released a sigh she didn’t realize she’d been holding. On some level, she feared Riko would storm up to her room just to continue the conversation.

“A pity you’re only an empath, or you wouldn’t have to guess.”

Haru wheeled around, light flaring to her fingertips as her eyes fell on the figure sitting calmly on her bed. She didn’t feel him there. She still didn’t. To her extrasensory ability, there was nothing sitting in front of her, smiling at her bewilderment.

“Of course you can’t sense me, fool girl,” the robed man replied to her thoughts. “I’m not really here. Surely, even you children must understand the concept of a projection? And, yes, that does mean there’s no point to you transforming.”

She let the light at the ends of her fingers dim, but still didn’t allow it to fully extinguish. She’d only heard this man described, but she knew in an instant who he was. “You’re the Arbiter, the one who attacked Riko!”

“Correction,” he said as he stood from the bed, “I tried to fix Nariko Kelly. I tried to turn her back to the way you know her.”

“By murdering her!”

But the Arbiter merely waved the accusation away. “You can’t die here, none of you can. Surely, that was explained to you.” He moved toward the window, himself, and pulled the blind open to look out, but said nothing more.

“That excuse won’t work with me,” Haru shouted back. She’d have worried about her parents hearing the racket, but the fact she couldn’t feel them at all across the hall from her room meant she was already in a seal. “I don’t have amnesia!”

The Arbiter cringed at her shouting. “Damn it, girl, I’m right here. Just because I’m a projection, that doesn’t mean I’m deaf.” He let the curtain drop and turned to face her. “And that excuse doesn’t need to work with you because I’m not here for you. My focus remains on correcting Thunder Witch’s anomaly.”

“You’re too late, then! You just missed her!”

The man sighed as he shook his head, rubbing his middle finger and thumb back and forth across his eyebrows. “How does she do it … deal with this day in and day out …”

He looked back to her face again. “No, you idiot. I’m not here to attack Sword Witch. I’m here because I intend to use you as a focal point to bring back Thunder Witch.”

“Without resetting her?”

“Oh, Sword Witch is still a concern,” he replied, tapping his fingers casually on her desk as he glanced across its surface. “Dalliances with demons are what landed you all in this place. That she would so easily jump right back to doing so speaks poorly.”

“You didn’t give her much choice by attacking her, you know,” Haru insisted back. “She and Da-kun were just about to swear to go back to trying to kill each other when you showed up and gave them a shared enemy!”

Arbiter sighed and rolled his eyes back. “Yes, yes, I know. That’s why I’m trying something different. I’m just saying that her crime is still being adjudicated.” And he looked firmly back at her. “After all, you, of all your teammates, know the feeling of that temptation now, don’t you?”

He held out his hand to her. “Won’t you help me save your best friend from that same fate?”

… And the light at her fingertips flickered out entirely.