[IC] The Truth Behind the Project

[KoL]

Rose leaned against a wall laughing. Slowly and almost abruptly, Rose stopped laughing. Rose suddenly gained the most serious of expressions. Her eyes were filled with anger. Coldy yet calmly, Rose spoke to every magical girl in earshot, "I visited Emiri's residence this morning. I found her to be no longer among the living. Stab wound to the chest did her in."

@MarsAdept

That grim statement was the first thing to leave Rose's mouth after she finally got a hold of herself. Or, at least, Yuna thought that petite girl who in truth was the oldest of them all had finally regained her composure, but no one can be sure of someone else's inner workings, so a little doubt still hanged in the back of the frost magical girl's head.

Nevertheless, Yuna's expression was as stern as the an immovable glacier when she replied, "I see. I thought it was the case, but didn't had the will to ask." After all, what other explanation could there be for both the lack of Emiri's magical signature and her absence from school today?

"That's... hard to talk about," Yuna said while strengthening her grip on the rosary she had been carrying around the whole morning, "I know that Emiri was almost like a sister to both of you. I'm sorry for not letting you know about my findings earlier, but it was only after... after..." Yuna clenched her teeth, as a single tear rolled down her cheeks, freezing into a beautifully shapes crystal just before falling to the ground.

She steeled her self and continued, "Anyway, it was only yesterday that I got a solid clue about what is happening. Could we please go somewhere more private and, if possible, have some tea while I explain it?"

Once the girls arrived at their usual tea room...

"This place feels... cold, without her barrier." It wasn't Yuna's intention to put a finger in her friends wounds, That comment simply escaped from her mouth before she thought about it, "I'm sorry, it wasn't my intention." She said after meeting Rose and Akame's sorrowful gazes. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to come here after all, but no one could negate that they needed a private place in order to discuss their business.

Curiously, the tea room was really feeling like a private space now, perhaps it was because of their shared grief and anger, turning this into a sort of impromptu memorial service for their companions that weren't here any more. Or perhaps, it was because a certain misleadingly cute devil hadn't barged in their privacy yet, seemingly content to just observe them from above a cushion that that lay on a corner of the room.

"I guess there's no point in telling you about all the places that I've visited on my pilgrimage, since I've travelled far and wide all the way from here, to Kansai, and from there to Hokkaido and then back again through the countryside. Japan is a beautiful country, it's only a shame its people haven't seen the light yet." For the others, it wasn't clear if Yuna was talking about the magical girls' shadow battle against the Primordials, or about her religious beliefs, probably, it was both, to say the truth. But for those who didn't knew her yet, hearing this let them know that Yuna, despite being on a little older than they, had a lot more of experience when it comes to the way of the world.

"In my travels, I've met with many other of our equals. And've said farewell and equally large amount of times, some of them were only sour-sweet, but most of all were as bitter as spoiled tea," Yuna paused to take a sip of her tea, this one's sweetness remembered her of the few joys that she had while on the road. "Here and there, I was even forced to fight the Primordials in lands where no other resident magical girl watched over, lands yet untouched by the grip of the devil."

The Contractor, responded to that indirect, by cocking his head to the side while remained silent, listened to Yuna's report.

"But the darkest revelation that I came about in my travels was the mysterious deaths of many a magical girl in very strange circumstances. All of their bodies showed signs of fighting, or , like on Emiri's case, of being treacherously murdered, which indicates that they have a deal of trust in their assassin, at least enough to drop their guards." Yuna paused to allow the other girls time to process what she had said until here.

And once she thought it was enough time, she continued, "Furthermore, their bodies hadn't been eaten away like when Primordials kill one of us. They were simply... discarded, like trash. As if their life hadn't been harsh enough yet, don't aren't even allowed a humane treatment after it was forcefully ended."

"Anyway, after I found Kyouko's body rotting away on a dumpster yesterday, I was finally convinced that there must be something, or perhaps even, someone, out there hunting us, that's not a Primordial. Something intelligent and evil, who seems to want something with our suffering and humiliation. I just don't know what they might stand to gain, by removing the world's protectors from the scene. Do any of you have an opinion on the matter?"

"But, before it..." Yuna said while moving closer to Elise, "I seem to have hurt you earlier, bloodhair. I'm sorry if I touched upon something of personal importance to you. Also, you seem to be strong, even if you're also a brute. Would you care to have a little sparring match with me? Over my travels I found out that we, magical girls, tend to talk better with our weapons than with our tongues."

Yuna then, left her hand hanging in the air as she waited for Elise's answer...

---

Not too far way from there...

"Ah, is that so? Then, I apologize if I sounded too harsh. Anyway, it's quite a cute toy have." Sora said as she unpacked her lunchbox and stared happily at its contents, most of which were leftovers from yesterday's dinner, but that still looked delicious, specially her favourite, the fried chicken bits seasoned with her mother's secret recipe.

After she said the customary thanks, Sora asked, "Would you care to trade a bit of your lunch for mine, Komatsu-san? I'm sorry if I seem a little forward, but all the girls in the class say that my mother's fried chicken is the best they ever had, so I'd like to know what you think about it too." Of course, Sora was also trying to stablish a bond with the newest girl in their class, but it wasn't like she would pass on the opportunity to show her mother's cooking too, since she had quite a bit of pride about that matter.

After they finished eating...

"Thank you, Komatsu-san. It was very fun to have lunch with you, if you don't, mind could I get some of the other girls to join us tomorrow?" Sora said as she bowed politely before leaving to her own desk.

"Ah, there's one more thing that I almost forgot to ask, but this is a bit more selfish, to say the truth. I'm also the captain of our kendo club and I couldn't help but notice that your body has a swordsman build, I wonder... if you don't have any other clubs in mind, would you care to join us, Komatsu-san? Our speciality is Niten Ichi Ryuu, that's dual wielding, if you don't know, so I can say with all certainty that we're the coolest kendo club of the whole Miso City." Sora said with a confident grin in her lips before excusing herself again and finally leaving for good.

"Looks like we found an interesting human to overlook." The Contractor said nonchalantly.

.@Flamelord@Ariamis

[Ariamis]

@Ariamis and @Kol Collab

Before the Fight

"Oh come on. I totally would have done the full fight if I had the chance," Elise said while waving her hand dismissively. "I didn't need help or anything." She followed Yuna to the courtyard, where the seniors were waiting. Elise blushed when Rose started laughing, embarrassed that she would find her so humorous. "Didn't have time to dry off my own clothes, so...Yeah, I knew this would happen. Ugh."

The laughter didn't last for long, though, when Rose suddenly went serious and revealed Emiri was murdered, and in her own house, no less. It didn't really surprise Elise; from what she remembered of her from yesterday, she really seemed like the weakest magical girl out of the seniors, if not the whole city. It was expected that the rules of nature would apply, and she would bumped off by a stronger opponent sooner or later. She had no tears to share for weaklings.

Later, when they went back to the taco party room, Elise went to lean against one of the walls of the room with a exhausted expression on her face. It looked like another boring group discussion was starting, and Elise hated those. Still, she had a bit more patience than the last time she was in there; you don't easily forget the places where you got your teeth proverbially kicked in.
So she waited and listened with half an ear to what Yuna was rambling about. She seemed to be a traveler like her, which was something at least. When she explained what actually happened to Emiri and others like her, she decided to throw her voice in the crowd:

"The weak fall to the strong. That's how it is, and how it'll always be. No surprises that she would end up dead out of all of us. But the fact she was done in by a backstab disgusts me. Whoever could betray someone in cold blood like that is a cowardly bitch. Mark my words, If I ever see her out there I'm going to make sure she dies as painful a death as possible."

"I wouldn't say that," came Yuna's reply to Elise's survival of the fitest rant, "There are only a handful of magical girls that I ever knew that are stronger than Kyouko was. Truth be told, there's only two, Akame and the Mitakihara Guardian. And Emiri wasn't as weak as you may perceive her either. I'm sure that whoever killed then used somekind of trick that we can't anticipate as of now."

However, it was then that Yuna actually addressed Elise specifically, and apologized.
"Hey, there's nothing to apologize about. It wasn't like that, I just..." She trailed off, trying to make it play out like it wasn't a big deal, but her hesitation in her words told a different story. "Forget it. And I'm not a brute, I'm a professional." Elise was surprised to then hear that Yuna wanted to fight her. Her eyes gleamed and her previously morose disposition changed into a smiling one. "Now that's the kind of language I'm speaking! You're on!"

"Well then, you may pick the place where we'll be fighting. I hope you use that advantage well."

Yuna then turned to address the other girls in the classroom. "I know it's the middle of the schoolday for some of you, but would you care to indulge us just this time, please?"

---

With Elise's lead, the group jumped from rooftop to rooftop as they travelled through the city. Yuna gave her the choice in choosing where their match would be at, and Elise had the perfect arena planned. They ended up at a smelting facility. They stepped inside, and Yuna and Elise hopped up to the catwalks above the main processing hall of the facility, where many vats, furnaces, conveyor belts and channels delivering molten metal were situated, and under them were corridors and tight spaces filled with machinery. The place was very hot and dry, not helped by the burning cinders that still sit in the massive furnaces.

In a place like this, her ice magic is sure to be less effective. And when the going gets tough, I can retreat to the lower levels and use the tight spaces to my benefit. This time I won't be so careless.

Once they arrived at the factory, and Elise showed them where she wanted to start the match, Yuna took her time to carefully analyze her surroundings, before looking Elise in the eyes and saying, "It's a fine place you've chose indeed, It's been ages since someone fought me with such cunning. Though, I gotta say that I didn't take you for the dramatic type, Scarlet." Yuna decided to change the way she called Elise, after the earlier incident, since the topic of blood could probably bring back the memories the other girl seemed to want to forget.

The Fight

Fight Music

Elise asked one of the senior girls to announce the fight to begin and took a defensive pose with her swords like last time. She learnt a lot from the time she fought Akame, and one of the mistakes she did was taunting her, which only resulted in her getting an offensive push on her. This time she would start a lot more composed, still focused on learning the fighting patterns of her opponent, but not stay completely passive. She would also keep an eye out for her ice magic. As soon as the fight started, she threw one of her dual swords at Yuna to observe her movement when reacting to it, and summoned another one to take its place in one motion.

Nevertheless, when the proverbial bell rang, Yuna dropped the pleasantries and summoned her weapon into being. Now, her her gaze turned cold and unforgiving, like the mightiest of the glaciers, she wouldn't be giving this fight for free to the sword-wielding magical girl.

When Elise threw her sword at Yuna, she simply deflected it with the shaft of her spear. It was clearly an attack meant to gauge her reaction time, and Yuna wouldn't fall for such an easy lure. Instead, she countered by dashing forward, building enough speed just to turn it all into force when she came to a sudden stop and spun her weapon horizontally, trying to break Elise's ribcage.

Elise's test didn't yield as much as she hoped for, but she did find out that Yuna preferred using her spear instead of dodging the attack, making her less likely to jump around the area. This was not something Elise would have preferred, since she would have to contend with the longer reach of her opponent's weapon. She did expect a quick charge at her, as happened with Akame, but instead of simply stabbing her she spun around. Elise attempted to block the attack, but she was sent flying from the impact, the blade of the spear scraping a bit of Elise's thigh armor, cutting it up like it was aluminum. She met the wall of the factory with her feet, took leverage from it, and bounced back. She snarled as she flew at Yuna, and performed a vertical spin attack of her own. Again she showed signs of aggression not typical for Elise, even at her angriest.

Yuna watched as her swing sent Elise flying like a ragdoll towards to factory wall, she expected to hear the sound of a body smashing against the concrete, but instead, Elise spun around and used the momentun for her own favor. That was a fine display of instincts, but the crimson-haired girl lacked finesse, as her next attack showed.

Yuna set her spear in front of her body, but turned it a little to her side, in a diagonal pointing towards the ground. It was impossible for her to hit anything with the blade from this stance, but neither was it her intention.

When Elise's attack connect with Yuna's weapon, she would find out that all of this setup was a trap, Yuna had covered the side of her weapon in a thin layer of rimme and once Elise hit her, she would use it to redirect the force of the attack and throw the brute of balance. However, such a brash move was bound to hurt her with the recoil too, so Yuna clenched her teeth in anticipation.

Elise's attack was countered with a crafty move, and she fell down from the catwalks down to the machinery below due to losing her balance. However, before she hit the floor, she combined her swords into her greatsword and stabbed one of the furnaces, slowing her descent as metal screeched and sparked due to being cut by her weapon. Elise looked up at Yuna with her teeth bared in an angry expression, but it soon turned into a smile as she let go of her weapon and dropped down, under the machinery and into the tight space there. She summoned new swords and prepared for her pursuer to follow her.

"That's much better, she seem to have calmed down again," Yuna tought before jumping from her perch atop the catwalk and landing graciously above one of the steel presses. She looked around, to find out that the floor of the factory was even more chaotic than it seemed to be from above, her spear would be of little use if it got jammed into the machines and her speed would serve her nothing with some many tight turns to make. However, she still had a few tricks up her sleeve as Elise would soon find out. She kept her confident grin as she hopped from the press and waited for Elise's next artifice.

Elise suddenly appeared from around a corner the moment Yuna dropped down, and launched numerous attacks at her with fury that turned more and more bestial with every swing. With Yuna's long weapon at a serious disadvantage due to the cramped space, she would be unable to parry her relentless attacks effectively, making her prey for Elise's growing frenzy. Elise herself was foaming a bit around the mouth at this point, as the beast in her, previously subdued, was awakening.

The moment Elise popped out of nowhere and ambushed her, Yuna was really surprised. That fact that you expect an ambush to happen doesn't trun it into something much easier to deal with when it indeed happens. She was cut, once, twice, three time before she could recover from it, but once she did, Yuna placed her next plan into action.

With a small sweep of the tail end of her weapon, Yuna fetched a bucket full of lubricant that was laying next to a random machine, and smeared it on the floor in front of Elise, causing the raging girl to slip. "There might not be enough water for me to create large patches of ice here, but in this place I may not even need it, Scalet." Yuna stated before she lifted her right foot high above her head and let it fall on Elise's stumbling frame, smashing her with an axe kick, that was aimed at her exposed collarbone.

Elise slipped on the lubricant that she didn't realize was sprayed on the floor. However, as a testament to her wild style of fighting, she stabbed the floor with one of her swords, and used it as leverage to spin around and kick Yuna off her feet before she connected with her axe kick, sending her falling down. Elise took this moment to get back up and leaped on top of one of the machines, and roared at Yuna.

"I'm gonna kill you for that!" Elise then teleported behind Yuna, and delivered an overhead swing with her greatsword with enough power to crack the concrete.

Yuna barely had the time to roll to her side when Elise came charshing down on her. If she took even a split second more to react, She could have been seriously injured, perhaps even dying for real. She gazed at the other girls who still were at the catwalk, they looked like they wanted to interfere, but Yuna shouted just as she did a backwards sommersault to regain her footing, "I'm ok! I don't want any of you meddling in this fight. It's a business between us two, only!" Those who knew her, would realize how rare it's for yuna to show some real emotions while fighting, but the smile in her lips was a clear sign that she was enjoying the brawl even if things didn turned out the way that she expected.

"Teleportation is a nice trick, Scarlet, but let us see what you'll do when you can't see!" Yuna said as she threw her spear at the fire prevention systems above their head, causing the sprinklers to activate. As soon as the water touched the molten metal and hot machinery, it would turn into vapour, and as soon as the vapour rose Yuna would freeze it, turning the whole lower level into a foggy mess.

The moment the water touched Elise's face, her memories of her battle with Akame outside in the rain were triggered, and it caused the beast within Elise to finally awaken, causing her to howl in a bloodcurdling way. Her bloodlust blinded her from rational thinking, but at this point Elise welcomed embracing the savage inside her; the beast could sniff out her prey, and Elise used that to target Yuna in the fog. She rapidly teleported to Yuna's location before spinning her two smaller swords around in a dance of death, too unpredictable and crazed in its patterns to counter in a straight fight. Elise continued howling as she thirsted for blood that she seeked to reap.

Yuna had predicted that outcome, but now she was blinded by her own fog and Elise seemed to rain a barrage of steel upon her trying to make this become a bloodbath. Or so she thought, since the thing that she hit was actually an 'ice clone', in fact on of the many that Yuna had created all around the factory's floor. To camouflage her presence, hoping to ambush the ambusher. This, however was only half of her strategy, as even now Elise was falling into an even more elaborate trap, as long as she stayed in that freezing fog, her body would lose heat and soon hypotermia would start to work it's magic.

Yuna used that chance to try and stab Elise from behind, because the more the redhead struggled, the faster her body would freeze. Delivering a blindingly fast barrage of trusts from her spear, Yuna pounced at Elise hoping to end this conflict once and for all, "It's a shame someone as you is taken by such a fury, Scarlet. But at the very least I can say that I like you now that I've seen your true colors, all you need is to find the right path to thread." Yuna said in a wistful voice.

Elise's fighting style did not aim to parry or counter Yuna's attacks at all, which did result in Yuna taking hits even as Elise was getting slashed and stabbed; an insane move for any other fighter. Her body was getting slower by the second as she was freezing up; if Elise would have still stayed as her regular self she would have jumped up to the catwalks, where the fog was less condensed, but frenzied as she was she only knew to hunger for the flesh of her enemy. She finally stopped, but not before Elise jumped at Yuna and bit deep into her neck, ripping a chunk out of her and sending her falling down as she finally went unconscious.

---

Yuna couldn't believe what had just happened. Has that other girl seriously bitten of a piece of her flesh, just like an enraged Primordial? The pain was unbelievable, but somehow she felt that the one suffering the most wasn't she...

The Resolution

"Uh? What was that?" Yuna woke up, in the middle of the night, after having the strangest nightmare she had in a long time, however when she placed a hand to her stiff neck she felt a sharp pain coming from a bandaged patch, "So it wasn't a dream, huh?"

The white haired girl looked around and found out that she was laying at an unknown bed, and staring an unknown ceiling, "Where am I?" she asked as she tried to find her music player and headphones, luckly they were right besides her as she soon found.

Yuna hopped of the bed and walked around aimlessly for a time until she figured that she was still inside the school, but there was no one else there now. "Probably one of the other girls placed me there while I was unconscious, " she mused as she made her way to the roof.

Elise was already on the roof, having recovered from their fight sooner than Yuna did, and was sitting at the edge of the building when Yuna arrived. She spotted the white-haired girl, and gave her a thumbs up. "That was an awesome fight, Snow White. Thanks for not holding back, I apppreciate that." She then cringed a bit when she spotted the bandage on her neck. "I guess I went a bit overboard, huh? Sorry about that."

Once there, Yuna found a nice place atop one of the air conditoners that weren't on at this time, and simply laid down gazing at the stars while listening to her music, "What am I doing anyway?" she questioned, not really hoping to find an answer.

Yuna turned her head to see that no one other than Elise was there by her side. The frost magical girl, looked into the readhaired one's eyes, indeed they had a look she had seen many times before, on many places, but there was only one thing that connect they, every time Yuna saw those eyes, she was looking at her own reflection.

"Coming to think of it, you never told me your name, huh, Scarlet?" Yuna asked turning back to face the stars.

"Yeah, right, hehe," Elise gave a bit of a laugh as she had one of her hands behind her head. "I'm Elise Augermann, but you can call me Scarlet if you want to. I don't mind."

"Scarlet, then it'll be. Your actual name is kinda pretty, but Scarlet really fits you better. Anyway, here..." Yuna said as she threw her precious headphones to Elise, hoping that the other girl wouldn't let them be smashed against the floor.

"Ooh, what's this?" Elise let out in surprise as she caught the headphones. She put them on, and picked out a random track to listen to. It was pretty nice music, not something Elise would listen to, but good nonetheless. It was actually refreshing to hear something new like this. "Hey Snow White...you're all right in my books."

--- Rain---

"The sound of my soul..." Yuna answered in a quiet voice once she was sure Elise couldn't hear her reply.

[TheWendil]

Akame watched in silence. Silence so potent that she could have been mistaken for a Contractor. The whole day seemed to move in a blur. First they moved to the room where they had their discussion and greetings on the day prior. Then Rose dropped the news of Emiri’s death; Akame wasn’t too surprised to find that the other girls didn’t really seem to care all too much. That was expected of younglings like them, girls who had not seen true battles of blood and magic.

Then suddenly, they found themselves in the midst of a working factory of sorts, fire and steel surrounding them on all sides. Akame again watched with interest though her mind was focused on other things than just the battle before her. Moreover, the lack of contact from Chiyo. The girl had said she was visiting Mitakihara Town and maybe Yuna had ran into her on her way here. She would have to ask the other Magical Girl after she was done playing with Elise.

“Chiyo, are you there?” Akame messaged privately though her Soul Gem. “Are you back in Miso City yet?”

The answer came without pause or hesitation as Chiyo replied, “Yes, I’m here. I just got back this morning with some fast traveling. Can I assume you’re with Yuknio Yuna?”

“That’s right. It’s another mock battle with Elise. Again. Why aren’t you here with us?”

“Apologies Natsuko-san, but some of us have school to deal with,” Chiyo said drily. “Not all of us can afford to cut class everyday.”

“I see. I apologize for my lack of attendance then. We’ll see each other soon.”

“Yes, let’s.”

With that conversation over, the battle between Elise and Yuna began to come to a close. The battle officially ended with Elise getting stabbed and Yuna getting bitten of all things. Those actions made Akame raise an eye as both girls seemed to fall unconscious. Elise was nothing more than a raging beast when she fought. Could she have lost herself to bloodlust and somehow murdered Emiri in cold blood?

No. Rose made it seem like Emiri was led to lower her guard before being struck down. The roaring redhead didn’t seem like the type to dabble in such deceptive arts, not to mention her expressed distaste at whoever had done this anyway.

“Honestly, don’t you learn?” Akame asked softly as she rolled her eyes to Elise’s unconscious form. “We’ll have to carry them back,” she told the others. “Though I’m starting to think that these are nothing more than pointless challenges. How can we fight Primordials if we’re already harming ourselves?”

Sighing, the older Magical Girl crossed over to Rose before speaking lowly so only she could hear.

“Tonight I want to visit Emiri’s apartment. I want to see her body for myself. Will you please accompany me to that place one more time old friend?”

[Flamelord]

"Thanks," Miyako replied gratefully, at least as much as she could seem to be given the current subject of the conversation. She was more surprised that the Contractor hadn't said anything, and was keeping completely still regardless. It was a level of motor skill she hadn't seen before. "Though he can be more trouble than he's worth sometimes." And wasn't that the truth, more than her current companion could know.

She said her thanks as well before getting down to eating her own meal. Perhaps it wasn't the best, but it was homemade, and that was good enough for her. Then again, she didn't exactly have high standards when it came to cuisine. As long as it was edible and she could stomach the taste, she would probably eat it. That was why she didn't have much trouble agreeing with the suggestion when it was presented.

"Sure," she replied with a hint of indifference, passing over some of her food in exchange for the chicken. And she would admit that it was pretty good chicken in the end, without any chagrin or give there. If it was the truth, then it didn't hurt to actually say it now, did it?

When lunch had ended, she waved dismissively at the question. "Sure, go ahead," she replied. It might be a slight problem with her magical girl duties, but she saw no need to shut her down entirely. Having friends was a part of life, and if she wasn't willing to give up on her family then she wouldn't give up on this either. And it helped that apparently the Contractor wasn't interested in engaging in it's namesake.

The last question caught her by surprise though, and Miyako found herself glancing downwards in the process. It was true, she would admit, though it had more to do with her fighting Primordials than anything. And with that particular job, who knew when she would have the time to engage in a club, given the impact it tended to have on her social life. Vanishing for hours at a time could be a bit of a dampener on that sort of thing.

"I'll think about it," she replied noncommittedly. It'd make sense anyway, since she would naturally have to look at the other clubs here before making a decision. She couldn't be faulted for that. for now though, she was left alone to wait for lunch to end.

When Sora had gone, Miyako glanced down at the Contractor, somehow not surprised that the silence he had been using this far had now vanished. "You, maybe," she replied with a hint of aloofness. "If you want to add another magical girl to the seven we've got here already, that's your business. Not mine." Really, she might be the best but she was not going to be used as a propaganda tool.

[MarsAdept]

Rose watched the reactions of the other girls. Their reactions were varied and yet not surprising. Rose would have to hid her emotions better. If they were not going to grieve then she could not afford to grieve in front of them. Yuna's investigation was not a surprise. It made a lot of sense. Rose found Emiri dead with barely a struggle and not eaten. Thus it was not a Primordial. However, Rose could not find any remnants of a Soul gem on Emiri meaning whomever did her in must have taken it. Why? Why was the question that needed to be answered.

Rose watched the fight between Yuna and ELise. Inside Rose wondered how to train Elise, that bloodlust was on a whole other level that what Rose felt. Rose was all in control. The thrill of fighting on the edge of death was addicting to Rose, but never would it cause her to loose her humanity. When Akame asked for Rose to accompany her to see Akame, She replied, "I would go now if you want. I think I have passed the grieving stage at this point. I am Angry now. I cannot just accept the fact she is dead."

@TheWindel

[Crimson Raven]

One day earlier...

It was, ironically, a nice sunny day. On the outskirts of the city, there was a strange sight to anyone who saw, or could see it. Amara rode in on a tall, ethereal, and ghostly stallion. "So this is Miso City." She said to herself. "I hope the food here is as tasty as the city's name." As she approached the city, she dismounted then dismissed the stallion, and paused to pick up the preserved hoof and put it away. She could feel the presence of several other Magical Girls in the city. "Great," She sighed. "This is shared turf. That's going to cause problems." The city's sights and sounds were so nostalgic. It brought back so many memories. She shook her head to clear her thoughts. The past is done. There is nothing there to dwell on. She thought angrily.

Present time...

Amara watched the battle between fire and water from an unobserved place, hiding her presence from the others, just observing. They are not bad, but they rely too much on magic instead of their weapons. After the battle, she spent a little time sneaking around gathering information. When she heard of the death, she thought So, the one named Asuka Emiri died. If I talk to them now, they will immediately suspect me. But then how do I convince them otherwise? But then, she had an idea. Maybe if I catch the real killer... She thought quickly for a few minutes, forming a plan. Once she was sure of what she was doing, she set out toward Emiri's apartment.

[Little_ninja]

An invisible mist lofted over Miso City since last night, with the feeling of a magical presence disappearing from each of the towns. This mist could not be seen, could not be touched, could not be felt as magical. It was almost like it did not exist. That is what Kasumii was. Traveling around different cities, helping out the different magical girls she had encountered, and then erasing the existence she had, not letting them remember a single thing about her.

In the town, she could feel nine other magical girls. Why are so many girls in this city? Kasumii wondered. Something is going to happen in this city. It's just unnatural. Lofting over, she saw a battle between two of the girls. Is that ... Yukino Yuna? It was a magical girl, whom she had met that also traveled. The girl seemed to have traveled across all over Japan, while Kasumii was only slowly moving from city to city. Kasumii had helped the Yuna in two different cities before, but Yuna would have no memory of that. Just as no-one ever did. Simply because Kasumii did not exist.

Hovering over the other girls, she could hear them, talk of a death of a comrade, named Asuka Emiri. Is that the presence who disappeared. The girl could only wonder, as the group dispersed. She noticed there was another girl, who did not seem to be part of the group. For now, Kasumii did not give herself form. She would follow the two, headed to the apartment of their comrade. She wanted information, to see what was happening.

[Spriggs27]

Izumi like all of the others watched the fight and through the entire fight spoke to herself aloud." Geez, more senseless fighting, I thought the frozen primordial was enough but now this." Izumi commented on the situation at hand, she soon shifted her focus on to the others while the fight continued noticing Rose and Akame, she noticed that Akame was speaking to her soul gem having a complete conversation with someone on it, while Rose looked completely distraught like she needed a good friend right now. The second she turned her attention back to the fight Elise got stabbed and Yuna gotten a chunk bitten out of her then dropped like a rag doll.

Izumi made a loud yawn, she didn't care about their fight or who won, when it was all over she just went over to Elise's side and observed her injury." Your gonna need something for that injury, and a band aid or licking at it won't help you, you'll need something like Gauze or a hospital or something." Izumi told Elise, then when she noticed she was sounding too nice and helpful towards the redheaded girl, she turned back to her usual self with her usual attitude with Elise."Next time try to win a fight without biting someone, it makes you look childish, weak and like a dirty fighter." Izumi berated her.

[KoL]

It was the end of the school day at Miyako's school, as the bell rang its nostalgic melody students began to pour through the gates of the house of learning, some of them were making their way home, since they didn't had any after school activities to do. Today Hitomi Sora would be joining them, since the practice session of the kendo club was cancelled thanks to the upcoming national mock exams, that were going to be held in a couple of weeks.

"Bye!" Sora said as she waved to a group of friends, before entering an alleyway that she used as a shortcut to get to a sidestreet that followed a small mountain stream that run along a bamboo thicket and would eventually lead straight to her family's old Japanese-style house. She had used that same way ever since she was a gradeschooler and so she felt very confident about traversing the barely lit path all on her own. And if the unspeakable happened she still had her shinai and years of experience on how to use it, so Sora was feeling pretty safe. However, she didn't knew that this evening, things would be different.

Not too far from there...

Miyako walked back home after her first day at her new school, without receiving any further news of the other magical girls. The Contractor that had followed her during the whole day was still hanging around her, walking over the walls of the nearby houses. However, it seemed to have lost its interest in talking and was only following Miyako wordlessly.

Suddenly, Miyako's soulgem throbbed and she felt as if a sharp sting had been introduced in her temples, the clear sign that a Primordial had appeared somewhere very close to her location.

Without saying anything the Contractor dashed away between the buildings, going into the direction from which the magic signal was coming from.

Back to Sora...

Sora was just a few blocks away from home when she heard a giggling sound coming from somewhere behind her. At first the girl though that she was hearing things, the street was desert and it was not impossible that her mind was playing her tricks in the gloomy twilight. Even the most confident person would feel a little off put by the eerie scenery of the rustling bamboo and the quiet flow of the water.

The fact that she saw nothing behind her but still was sure that she heard the giggles made Sora speed up her pace, from a careless walk to a worried jog. It was then that Sora thought that she had seen 'something' move within the shadows of the bamboo thicket. All kinds of images passed through the once composed girl's head "What if it's a stalker? There had been a lot of mysterious disappearances these days."

Sora picked her cellphone from within her shoolbag "Perhaps I should call mom and let she know that I going home now." But before she could flip it open and press the speed dial, another giggle came. This one was close enough to scare the girl out of her boots and she dropped her phone on the stream accidentally.

"Who... who's there?" Sora shouted as she picked up her two shinai and looked around but still saw no one.

A second later, the girl's mask of bravery would shatter completely when she heard a loud rattle coming from a place where a few trash cans laid. Sora instantly let go of her bamboo blades and curled into a ball while hugging her knees and crying, all that she could think was "I should have heard mom... I should have heard mom..." over and over.

She almost jumped at the stream when she felt something caressing her legs gently, if were not for the "Meow!" that she heard a second later, the panicking girl would probably have jumped in the freezing water.

Sora took a few quick breaths before opening her eyes and saying "Oh gosh, I can't believe that I scared like that by a simple ca...t?" The light-hearted joke was halted abruptly when the small feline was turned into a bloody cloud by a shadowy girl that wielded a pair of bloodied metal claws.

Sora didn't even knew what had happened, or why it had happened, but her body began to move on its own to save her from the treat. The only problem was that she was running away from her home.

A few seconds later, she saw a small, fluffy and cute creature jumped from one of the nearby fences, as it ran side by side with her it said in a cheery voice "Hitomi Sora, I don't have time to explain all that's happening, but if you want to survive that creature's attack... Make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!"

---

.@Flamelord

[Crimson Raven]

Amara felt the tell-tale sting that signaled the presence of a Primordial nearby. It was very close. That apartment can wait! She thought as she altered her course toward the presence. On the way, she transformed into her Magical Girl garb. Recognizing the feel of death, she made a small detour that could save her life. With that done, she ran toward a bamboo thicket and jumped the fence. As she did so, she aimed a light (for her) kick at a small, vaguely feline form that she recognized.

She took in the details fast, there was a terrified normal girl running from a shadowy from with long, bloody, metal claws beside a cold stream. She let out a battle cry as she jumped over the girl, while summoning her Death Scythe. She caught a descending claw on the haft of her weapon. The thing seemed surprised at Amara's sudden appearance, but it didn't hesitate to go on the offensive. Amara calmly fought the thing at high speed, their weapons blurring into attacks and blocks. She slipped a little and earned a cut on her cheek for it. But a moment later, she mentality called the zombie cat she had stopped to raise. It screeched in a warbling tone and threw itself on the primordial's head, clawing it up and distracting it long enough to allow Amara to cut one of it's appendages off at the wrist. It's head soon followed. The thing slowly dissolved into nothing as Amara put away her scythe, and stopped to pet the undead cat, which was nuzzling up to her like a normal cat. She turned to make sure the girl was all right. "Are you okay?" she asked her, forgetting for a moment how frightening her appearance was in her Magical Girl form.

[KoL]

The thing slowly dissolved into nothing as Amara put away her scythe, and stopped to pet the undead cat, which was nuzzling up to her like a normal cat. She turned to make sure the girl was all right. "Are you okay?" she asked her, forgetting for a moment how frightening her appearance was in her Magical Girl form.

@Crimson Raven

"A... another monster?" Sora said as she tried to run away from Amara's horrific visage, but stumbled and curled into ball, shaking up with fear, "S... tay... Stay away from me! Please, someone help!" She cried in panic, not caring to listen to the skeletal girl's words.

Despite any attempts of Amara at being friendly with Sora, the girl was too scared to listen to a person who looked more horrific than the monster who had attacked her just a few moments ago. Though, this served for one purpose, distract Amara from what was happening around her.

Before she noticed, Amara felt a sting in her right side, and when she looked to see what it was she saw a wicked arrow stuck deeply in her flesh, not only that, but there was something dripping from the arrow, as her vision wobbled and went unfocused momentarily, only one thought came to her head "Poison?"

She barely had the time to summon her scythe an block another arrow coming from within the bamboo thicket when the Claw Primordial that she had thought she had dispatched reappeared atop one of the near houses. "RRRRRR!" It growled fiercely, as it looked into Amara's direction, seeking revenge for the severed had that was still laying on the floor close to her feet.

However all wasn't lost for the skeletal magical girl yet, as she looked around just to see that they were near an old roadside temple that had cemetery dating back to the Warring States period.

Meanwhile Sora had finally found the courage to get up and run, to hide inside the deserted temple, what she didn't counted with was that a spear-wielding Primordial would be already there waiting for her. "W... why is this happening to me? What have I done?" The girl mumbled as she was starting to lose her grip on reality.

She stumbled again and this time her legs were refusing to move even an inch forward. The Primordial closed in slowly, dragging the tip of her spear on the ground while laughing just to terrorize the poor girl even more. When the Primordial got on top of Sora and stared into her face before lifting its spear, she could only cover her eyes with her crossed arms and shake while crying "I don't want to die! I don't want to die! Someone help me!"

BMG | Umbra Nigra

"If that's really true, Hitomi Sora, then... Make a contract with me and become a Magical Girl!" A Contractor who had appeared on the lap of one of the stone Buddha statues on the temple's courtyard said in a cheery voice.

Many things ran through Sora's mind as the Primordial trust its weapon at her, determined to not allow another magical girl to be born "I don't want to die! I don't want die without doing anything of my life. I want to have a family and children, with someone I love... I... I want to love someone. I don't want to die like this... I don't want to die!"

When she opened her mouth and was about to scream "Fi...ne!" A loud bang and a flash of light deafened and blinded both her and the Primordial and she heard a series of muffled sounds while she was disoriented. When Sora could see again and listen again, she saw an eye-patched girl dressed in frilly black dress wielding a black Single Action Army and a combat knife between her and the monster from earlier.

"Who.. who are you?" Sora asked, finally feeling relieved that someone had come to her help.

"You stay back, I'll take care of this. Trust me!" Chiyo answered.

At the same time the contractor looked quite befuddled as it said "Chiyo Kuroke? What are you doing here?"

BMG | Venari Strigas

"My dear Contractor," Chiyo said as she threw a speedloader in the army and dashed at the still stumbling Primordial slashing it on the right thigh, before flashing behind it and shooting the last two shots of her revolver at the creatures chest, causing blood and gore to splatter all over Sora's body, though the girl as far too shocked to care for it now, only staring at the fight with unfocused eyes. "While I don't care to have another girl join our ranks," Chiyo kicked away from the beast, swung the revolver open ejecting the used capsules and caught the falling speedloader with the revolver's cylinder all in a single move.

Then, she finished her sentence pointing the gun at the Contractor's face "Such forceful methods are to be avoided at all costs."

"Chiyo Kuroke... what's on your head, now?" The Contrator asked unfazed by the treat.

The Spear Primordial roared "RRRRRR!" and dashed at the gun totting magical girl, their fight had just began...

---

.@Flamelord@TheWindel@Crimson Raven

[TheWendil]

“This….This is horrible.”

Akame and Rose stood before the corpse of their friend in the now abandoned apartment. Akame had thought she could stomach the idea of seeing her friend like this in such a helpless state. But now she was having second thoughts, hands trembling into fists as a shudder passed through her body.

It hadn’t been particularly difficult in getting there and sneaking into the apartment. It was a good thing that no one had noticed Emiri’s disappearance yet either; they had been able to lie about their purpose here, telling the Golden Magical Girl’s neighbors that she was merely not feeling well. The sight of Emiri’s eyes staring into nothing was a gross understatement of that fact.

As soon as Rose had indicated that she was ready to go, they had politely left the others without telling them of their location. It was perhaps the best move too as none of them could understand how they felt about their comrade’s death. No, their friend’s murder.

Akame faintly felt the presence of a Primordial across the city but also felt multiple Magical Girls closing in on it as well. She didn’t give it too much mind then and instead focused on figuring out what to do with Emiri's body. It was also a blessing that the damned Contractor wasn’t here. As much as it posed no danger to them, its spoutings about human emotion could get to be grating from time to time.

“It’s a stab wound,” Akame confirmed, knowing firsthand since she herself used a blade. “It can’t have been a Primordial. The room’s too clean and there’s really no signs of a struggle. You were right in thinking it was another Magical Girl Rose,” Akame said darkly.

She let slip the other girl’s real name because they were alone and because she needed an emotional support right now, as much as she held on herself. She was about to comment more when suddenly she felt another presence. One that had followed them to the apartment, though why it was felt only now, she couldn’t say.

Akame turned away and ran to the front of Emiri’s apartment, peeking her head outside and scanning the area. Her eyes narrowed and it was too coincidental, despite the obvious fact that she was indeed sensing another Magical Girl.

The murderer? Could they really be that arrogant as to return to the scene of the crime? Whatever the case, she would not be killed the same was as her friend. She gave one last glance before returning next to Rose’s side, aware now of Kasumii’s presence.

“We’re not alone,” she told Rose. “There’s a Magical Girl near the apartment and it might just be our killer.”

Farther away from those two were Izumi and Nanako. The Contractor padded next to them as it too waited for their arriving escort. Chiyo had asked the fluffy white creature to pass a message to them both, saying that she wanted to perhaps go shopping on this night to break the mood and have a little Magical Girl fun.

“It seems Chiyo Kuroke is late,” the Contractor said, not caring how redundant its statement sounded to the two girls.

[Crimson Raven]

Damn, the old decoy ploy, and I fell for it. Amara thought and she pulled out the arrow. A poisoned arrow? Seriously, who does that any more? More to the point, why would anyone use it against a Magical Girl? She thought indignity. "Focused." she muttered to herself. She took the offensive this time, Dead Kitty went in first, but the thing simply flung it off with bone breaking force. It hit a nearby bamboo stalk and bounced (sorta) back to it's feet. While the thing was still distracted, Amara summoned her two kusarigama and engaged the primordial at medium range. She gripped them by the weight at the end and swung them like a whip. This time the primordial was smarter and faster. It raised its claw and got it tangled in the chain. Amara yanked it off balance, grabbed her other weapon by the handle, and slashed at its chest. She managed one gash before it blocked her with it's free claw. It stabbed at her with it's claw which she barely blocked, the impact almost knocked her weapon out of her hand. Its strong! She realized. The primordial attacked with both claws, forcing Amara to jump back. While she was in the air, it swung it's claw, still wrapped in chain and slammed her into the ground. While she was momentarily stunned, the thing rushed up, intending to kill her. But the valiant cat once more jumped on its face and clawed at what looked to be its eyes . This time though, the primordial struck the cat off and stomped on it while it was down. Amara winced as she felt it re-die as the severe trauma ended it's unlife. But it had served it's purpose and Amara was back on her feet. This time, she summoned her Death Scythe, (having decided that the kusarigama were too risky) with a battle cry she went on the attack again. I have to hurry up and finish this before the other Magical Girls show up! She thought desperately.

[Flamelord]

Walking home, Miyako considered it an overall good day. She'd begun to settle into school, the only Primordial attack had been swiftly handled by one of the other girls in their group, and she had started to make friends. All told, the day certainly could have been worse, and for now she liked to keep it as was. She was busy enough with magical girl business anyway, so it was always good to enjoy moments like these when they came about. You never knew when it would happen again.

As if tempting fate, her desire for peace and gratitude for a calm day was shattered as the feeling of a Primordial washed over her. Two in one day? Well, that was unusual, though that was merely going by her own experience and not that of this place. But still, she couldn't let it pass her by. At least now she wasn't in school, and could make up for her lack of initiative during the attack at lunch.

As the Contractor took off, she quickly ducked off to the side, making her transformation into magical girl form before running after him. Sure, he had a bit of a head start there, but it wasn't major. So long as he didn't vanish again, and she soon stopped caring about him as she honed in on the location of the attack, hoping she would make it in time.

When she made it there, she found that indeed she wasn't, there a distinct lack of dead or dying people, for which she could be grateful. Instead, though, Miyako found some new magical girl fighting a Primordial already present, and the sound of fighting further away. "Geez," she muttered to herself as she surveyed the scene. "How many girls did the Contractor call for? It's like every girl in the province is crawling out of the woodworks or something."

That said, she summoned her swordstaff and moved in to the fight. Specifically, she had seen a third Primordial off in the bushes somewhere, and that might as well be good enough, since the new arrival seemed to be holding her own for the moment. Naturally Miyako went in swinging, the better to quickly encounter the foe and not allow for sneak attacks. The best magical girl in the world wasn't going to be taken out by something like sheer luck, not if she had something to say about it.

[MarsAdept]

Rose looked at the body of Emiri and was struck with sorrow and rage at the same time. Emiri did not deserve to end like this. Magical girls knew they were going to fight until they died, but this was not the way any of them would expected. This was a personal, intimate kill. Emiri lowered her guard, let the person close, and must have known and trusted her killed. Rose shook her head in disbelief, "Unless this is a new form of Primordial, I think this would have to be a magical girl. Emiri was a friendly person, maybe she met a magical girl and invited her inside..."

It but a few seconds after Akame detected another's presence, Rose detected it. That was odd. Rose doubted the others would have followed them. Akame had suggested that this was the killers. Rose immediately doubted that idea, but kept silent. In her there was doubt that the killer woulr return to the scene, but then again killing a magical girl that was part of a team might be good bait to lure in more victims. But why attack now? Rose was here earlier and was left alone. Was the killer that confident that it could take on two instead of one? That thought chilled her as she transformed and moved to intercept the other magical girl with Akame.

@TheWindel

[Little_ninja]

Approaching the apartment of the departed magical girl, Emiri, Kasumii felt the presence of multiple Primordials, but just as she had sensed them, she felt a number of magical girls approach them. She would of wanted to help them, of course, however, they should have been able to handle it, thus she continued to follow the two other magical girls, Akame and Rose, leaving no trace of herself. Kasumii wanted to know, was this linked to the one she had started to chase after? The thing that was hunting magical girls, from town to town?

There on the floor, was a corpse, a golden magical girl. Kasumii wanted to investigate closely, starting to form her misty self inside the room. Taking in a closer view of the corpse. She was alerted however, as Akame and Rose had sensed her presence. Did I focus too much on the corpse? Either way, I guess I would be easily suspected. They already had deduced it was a magical girl. Showing up now, it was all bad timing. Was this planned? No, it couldn't be. I should have left no trace. The faintly present magical girl thought, looking over the wound. It was clearly a stab wound from behind, the girl had let her guard down. No signs of struggle. There were similar cases of girls being killed without resistance. There were also cases of girls being killed in such disgraceful manners. Just what is their purpose? It makes no sense. Maybe there's another hunter. Either way, best to disappear for now The other girls were aware of her, and she needed to leave. It would otherwise cause some major misunderstandings.

Her misty form spread out, leaving the apartment. Kasumii headed in the direction of the primordials, having finished her investigation.

[Spriggs27]

As the two girls waited around Izumi felt like she needed to speak to the young girl Nanako, she looked the eight year old in the eye and pushed down her anger for having such a small height and began speaking to her." Nanako, you...You have to become a little braver, because what if none of the others could get to us in time ? Or if Yuna didn't freeze it, or if we didn't have that battle hungry Elise ?" Izumi paused for a second." We'd be hurt, dead or worse, I don't want to come off as morbid, but we should learn some self defense it's not like we can count on everyone to help us in a fight, and with what Rea is going through we aren't getting any training from her any time soon."

Suddenly a wild contractor appeared, it told them that Chiyo would be late and sounded like it left out a couple things in that sentence." Is that all ? Or are you not telling everything ? " Izumi asked the small cat like creature. She still couldn't believe how she gotten roped into going shopping with Chiyo and with Nanako no less, she didn't have a problem with Nanako or know much about Chiyo, but she didn't really like shopping to much.

@TheWindel

[TheWendil]

"What's happening here? Is she really a Magical Girl? Now that I think about it, isn't that the same toy that Miyako-chan had? Perhaps... Miyako-chan is a Magical Girl too?" Millions of things passed through Sora's head now that she was finally feeling safe again.

However, none if these thoughts mattered to her now; the only thing that she could focus at the moment was at the dark dressed girl that came to her in her time of need as she fought that hideous monster.

"RRRRR!" The Spear Primordial howled as it dashed at Chiyo with eyes gleaming with the desire to draw the dark Magical Girl's blood. With a maddening laugh it launched a stabbing attack aimed at Chiyo's chest, taking advantage of the fact that the dark magical girl seemed to be distracted, threatening the Contractor.

"Wa... watch out!" Sora shouted, trying to alert Chiyo of the imminent danger.

"Oh my," Chiyo commented, easily parrying the monster's blow with her knife. "Not to worry dear. I've had lots of experience in doing this kind of work and trust me, this is nothing compared to some of the opponents I've had to face."

"Are you saying that there are more of those monsters out there? What do they want?" Sora asked, a little confused.

The spear wielding Primordial howled in frustration. "RRRRR!" The idea of this Magical Girl who seemed to carry herself in confidence was making a fool out of it only caused its rage to expand. It spun its spear into a deadly arc now, moving it in a buzz saw-like function. It then leapt back into the fight at hand, slashing and hacking away at Chiyo's defense.

And it was a pretty good defense considering that she was blocking and countering nearly each swing of the spear. The Primordial got lucky at the end of its assault however, rearing back and using the grip end to slam Chiyo's head. The attack would have connected, resulting in a cracked skull had something magical not have occurred. The spear end seemed to faze right through Chiyo's head, the Magical Girl grinning in delight before firing her revolver point blank into the creature.

"Goodness this is taking longer than I expected! Hurry up and die please so I can meet up with Izumi-san and Nanako-chan?"

"RRRRR!" The Primordial wasn't going to give in to Chiyo's demands so easily, however, and it continued its bestial assault despite wounds that would have killed a human being several times over. In its frustration, it tried to tackle Chiyo, using the spear as leverage to throw the dark magical girl to the ground. If it succeeded it would then try to bite off her neck and kill Chiyo by drowning her in her own blood.

"Kuroke Chiyo, we have more important matters to discuss. We'd appreciate it if you could meet with us later," the Contractor said, before leaping off the Buddha statue and moving to next to Sora. The feline looking creature circled around her while nuzzling its face against her before saying, "There's other things that we have to monitor now. Hitomi Sora, if you even feel like becoming a Magical Girl, please... make a Contract with me and become a Magical Girl." The white creature said this before walking away and then climbing a nearby tree.

Chiyo resisted the urge to roll her eyes, both at the Contractor's words and her enemy's actions. She had wasted enough time already but now she could at least finish this knowing that the Contractor was gone. Smiling, she again allowed the weapon to go through her body before dashing next to the monster. In mere moments she had her gun aimed up right at the Primordial's lower chin before firing casually.

The gunshot rang out as gore flew awry from the Primordial's shattered head. Chiyo let the body chunks to pass through her physical body, partly to keep her attire clean and partly to show off in front of Sora. With that task completed, she transformed out of her Magical Girl uniform and checked on her Soul Gem. Instead of frowning at how dark it had gotten she merely chuckled knowingly. Well then, this was a perfect opportunity to test the research. However...

"That was quite the spectacle you had to witness there," the dark dressed girl said to Sora with a soft smile. "As you may have heard from our fuzzy white friend, my name is Kuroke Chiyo. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I... I'm Hitomi Sora. Thank you for saving me…really, really thank you," Sora said as she slowly got up from the pool of blood she had been sitting in for quite some time now. The small white haired girl was all covered in red and despite her polite behavior, her eyes showed that she was still quite perturbed by the close encounter with death.

"What will I do now? I can't go home like this. What will mom think if she sees me covered in blood? Even my underwear is soaked in it..." Sora thought while looking inside of her uniform's blouse. If Sora at least had her schoolbag, she could wear her P.E. uniform and tell her mother that someone had played a prank on her again as the over polite and kind girl was always an easy target for the school bullies "But... I dropped my bag on the way back here and there's still all those monsters. I can't go back there, not now," Sora thought aloud forgetting for an instant that Chiyo was still around her.

Then, Sora turned around and almost jumped of her skin when she was met by Chiyo's soft smile; for someone who's so experienced in martial arts, Sora certainly had a penchant for lowering her guard. "Oh sorry! I guess my head was in another place, really, I'm sorry for being so rude."

Sora glanced to the side, avoiding Chiyo's gaze as she made her next question "Hmm... may I ask you something, please? Are you really a magical girl? And what were those monsters? What about that small fluffy one? It seems like the same one that a classmate of mine had this morning. Does it mean that she's a Magical Girl too? Do you know her?" She was only stopped in her questioning when her eyes met Chiyo's again and she could see that the dark magical girl's expression was saying 'could you slow down, please?'

"I... I'm sorry!" Sora bowed apologetically as she waited for Chiyo's answer.

"There's no need to apologize," Chiyo said brightly, reaching out to cup the girl's chin. "To answer your questions though...yes, I am a Magical Girl. That monster that I fought just now is called a Primordial. Terrible things they are really as they consume the flesh of human beings, though we don't know where they come from. I say 'we' because that girl you saw earlier was probably a Magical Girl herself. As for that white creature...that was my companion. He's called the Contractor and he's the one responsible for making us into Magical Girls...by granting our temptations."

"Thank you," Sora said "I guess that I'll have to ask Miya... erm, Komatsu-san about that tomorrow. But what if she thinks that I'm crazy or something like this?"

Chiyo's red eyes narrowed and her smile seemed to widen. She backed away from Sora and offered up a hand to pull her up.

"Yes, some people call them wishes, but at the end of the day they're nothing more that selfish fulfillments. It's the price of wielding such power. As for Komatsu-san...well, I think she may just lend you an ear. Trust me on this."

After hearing that the tiny creature that Chiyo called Contractor could grant her anything that she wished for, Sora's curiosity was picked. It's not like a regular everyday girl like her had anything special to wish for, but still... "You mean that little fluffy one can fulfill any wishes that he's asked for and still gives girl magic powers as compensation as long as they are willing to fight those monsters? Even if I wished to be a princess, or to have a boyfriend, or anything else?"

Sora knew that she was just letting her imagination run wild, thus she found herself blushing a little as she faced Chiyo and then, turned away from her, embarrassed. It was then that she remembered something more important than all that talk about wishes and turned on her heels again to ask Chiyo with a slightly flushed face. "Erm... I know that I'm probably being a bother to you, Chi... I mean, Kuroke-san. But, could you please help me get something else to wear? I've lost my schoolbag and can't go home covered in this sticky blood."

"Sure thing," Chiyo said coolly. "And you can call me Chiyo. There's no need to be so formal around me! Just hold on for a minute..."

Using her powers like this would no doubt drain her completely at this point. Still, it was worth it to test the results of the experiment and so Chiyo had no qualms turning away and placing a hand to her head. When she turned back, a fresh batch of new clothes appeared in her arm. Her Soul Gem was dangerously dark by now but the smile wasn't an indication of that fact.

"Here you go," said Chiyo as she gave the clothes to Sora. "Free of charge. I really must be going now Sora-chan. But if you ever need anything, please don't be a stranger."

Chiyo leaned in closer, red eyes matching to the other girl's gaze. She titled her head with a look of unreadable emotion before turning away again.

"Bye now!" she called out before flickering away from sight.

"Bye, Chiyo-chan! I hope we can meet again!" Sora shouted to the receding magical girl. "Now, where'll I get a place to clean myself?" The blood covered girl asked herself while looking around aimlessly.

Back where Izumi and Nanako were waiting, the Contractor merely tilted its head to the question of validity towards its statement.

"I'm simply relaying the message Chiyo Kuroke instructed to me to give. That is all Izumi Kaede."

"My, my. Giving these girls such a hard time as always, my dear Contractor."

The voice came from none other than Chiyo, who jogged up to them as if nothing had happened. The Contractor only looked at her with unblinking eyes, leaping up to rest alongside her shoulder. She gave it a passing glance before turning to the two younger girls.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. There was a Primordial that needed to be taken cared of," Chiyo explained, glancing at her Soul Gem. It was now as bright as ever. The Contractor merely stared and said nothing.

"Now then. Shall we get going girls?"

[Crimson Raven]

"Stupid. Basterd. Primodial." Amara muttered, slamming her scythe into the still-twitching prone monster with every word. "Stay. Dead. Already." Finally she paused, planting her scythe and leaning on it. "Do ya feel better now?" Asked the presence that had been hovering out on the battlefield, unnoticeable by anyone but Amara. "Not nearly enough." She replied, glancing at the ghostly shape in the form of a sixteen-year-old girl. She felt the familiar stab of pain and regret that she felt every time she saw her. "If we want to find out about who killed that dead Magical Girl, we had better move fast before any of the others get here." "I know, I know." She took one last look around, and noticed a school bag lying where the girl from earlier had dropped it. The ghost figure followed Amara's gaze and sighed, "I know what you're thinking, and I say it is a bad idea, but I also know that no matter what I say you'll do what you want anyways" Amara rolled her eyes. "Ixany, Mizuki." she said with a grin. She grabbed the bag and ran in the direction the girl had fled. After a moment, Mizuki followed.

Amara found the girl, safe and sound with two other Magical Girls there, and a Contractor too. To be more exact, it was the same Contractor that had turned Amara into a Magical Girl. She set the bag down where it could be easily seen. She then took a moment to make sure the girl was all right before she turned to leave. She headed to Emiri's apartment to find the killer, before they killed again. She turned back to her normal form, and caught a taxi. "Where to?" The driver asked. Amara shot a questioning look to her unseen companion. Mizuki giggled and told her the address, that Amara relayed to the cab driver. The driver didn't miss the look. "Cabbies get all the crazies." He muttered to himself as he took off.

A short while later, Amara arrived at the apartment. She got out of the cab and paid the driver. She looked up and thought This really doesn't look like the right place. "Hey, are you sure you got the right address?" She asked Mizuki, drawing a couple of strange looks from the few passersby within earshot. Yeah, I'm sure. Mizuki responded. Amara shrugged. She went inside and asked an employee behind a counter. "Excuse me, miss but which room is an Asuka Emiri in?" "Ah," the stern-looking woman said, "You are a friend of Miss Emiri?" In a way, I'm checking on her for a friend." "I see." The employee said. She grabbed a large book and pushed up her glasses as she told Amara the room number. "Thank you." Amara said as she headed to the elevator. She went inside and pushed the button for the correct floor. As soon as the doors closed, Misuki, who had been withholding laughter, burst into giggles. "What is so funny?" she demanded. "You!" Mizuki said breathlessly "Excuse me miss." she said, mockingly imitating Amara. Amara scowled back at her. "I can be polite when I want to be." She declared. Mizuki just shook her head and laughed harder. The elevator doors opened with a pleasant ding, and Amara walked out, still talking to Mizuki. "Its not that funny." She said. "It is from my perspective." Mizuki replied, calming down a bit. They walked down a hallway and came to the door. Amara turned to Mizuki and said,"Now that you are done with your juvenile humor, go inside and tell me if anyone is in there. A janitor nearby looked up, puzzled and realized she wasn't talking to anybody he could see, started to edge away from her. Amara noticed him and gave him a glare. She sighed, "I am tired of everyone giving me strange looks when I talk to you." Mizuki gave her a bright smile, "Then don't talk" she said as she moved through the wall.

A moment later, she came out and said, "Bad timing, there are two in there already, and from how they talked, I assume they are more M.G.s. Amara raised an eyebrow, "MGs?" she asked. "Magical Girls, The spirit girl replied, "I just shortened it because its a mouthful to say, and it sounds weird." Amara thought to herself, Hmm...there are two in there already, but I need them to leave. I don't want unfounded suspicion on me or anyone else, because that could prove fatal for all of us. I need to find out who did it quickly. Outloud, to Mizuki, she said, "Alright, I will lay low for awhile, you can keep an eye on here, and tell me when they leave." Now, for a hiding spot. It would be suspicious if I hang out in the hallway, and I can't go into any of the rooms, but I need to stay in the building... She look around and noticed a bathroom sign Of course, the bathroom! Her mind made up, she told Mizuki and she quickly made her way to the bathroom. At this rate, I'm going to get my self a P.I. license. She thought half jokingly to herself.

[Pudding]

Izumi gave Nanako a small lecture about being brave and that they need to learn how to get stronger... Nanako knew that it was true and that she had to stop being so childish, after all, she had become a magical and therefore had the responsibility of fighting primordials.
"I know Izumi-chan..." Said Nanako sadly. But I'm only brave when I transform... Ether my wish didn't really come true, or maybe it only works when I transform... Or maybe it does work and I'm just too scared to act..." She was then interrupted by the sounds of a familiar voice, it was Chiyo.

Nanako was delighted to see her friend Chiyo again, noticeably unharmed from the primordial she had just apparently thought before arriving. Chiyo was indeed a strong fighter, Nanako could only dream to be half as strong as her. Nodding happily, Nanako ran up to Chiyo with a smile, she was ready to go shopping and to spend some time with her comrades. "How was your trip? Did you have fun in Mitakihara? Did you see lot's of cool things Chiyo-chan?" Nanako held her hand with pure blind trust for her friend.