Chapter Text
It’s the next day, around 5pm and Kanade is heading to Shizuku’s apartment. She arrives fairly quickly, already seeing Mizuki, on her phone, standing in front of the apartment complex. It’s very unusual to see Mizuki on time for once, but she actually expected that from Mafuyu, rather than Mizuki. For some reason she thought that Mafuyu was very organized, but well maybe she was wrong. She doesn’t know her that good.
Short after she can see a purple haired girl at the corner of the street. It was Mafuyu. She walks up to the 2 girls.
“Hello! Have you two been waiting long for me? Is Hinomori-San not here yet?”
There’s a tinge of exhaustion in Mafuyu’s tone, but she doesn’t let it show on the outside.
“It wasn’t that long! And Shizuku should come outside any minute now.”
Kanade answers, noticing Mafuyu’s school bag still hanging of her shoulder.
“Did you just come from school? At 5pm?”
“Yeah, well sort of. I had archery club till 4pm and I went to a small shop in the meantime!”
She answers in a cheerful manner.
“WAIT YOU GO TO A CLUB? AND ARCHERY AT THAT?”
Mizuki interrupts, turning her head towards Mafuyu, who has now just taken a step backwards just because of the sheer loudness in Mizuki’s voice.
“Yeah, I do! Do you have any hobbies?”
“Well… Uhm I-I do some composing from time to time.”
Kanade answers quietly, chuckling nervously.
“Oh composing is interesting! If it would be okay with you, I would love to take a listen someday.”
Kanade shyly nods.
“I’m trying to learn how to sew. It’s not looking well.”
Mizuki adds, as Shizuku finally walks out of the building, greeting the 3 girls.
She walks over to them and greets them.
“Well hello there! Are you ready for your first witch hunt? Well half-witch hunt but whatever.”
Mizuki, the ever-energetic-girl she is jumps up, throwing her fists in the air and screams.
“Hell yeah!”
Her excitement dies down quickly though, as a question pops into her mind.
“How do we do that though?”
She stands up straight, tilting her head slightly to her left in confusion.
“It’s quite easy actually.”
Shizuku’s ring transforms into a glowing gem, the light emitted from it flickers slightly.
“We have to go where the soul gem leads us. The closer we get to a witch, the brighter it glows, so just follow me!”
She starts walking, quickly followed by the three other girls. Mizuki starts bombarding Shizuku with questions again, but this time they’re not necessarily about the witches and stuff. Mafuyu and Kanade, who are walking behind the other 2, start chatting on their own.
“So, Kanade, you can compose? Have you ever released any of your songs?”
Kanade chuckles nervously.
“Well I did post 2 compositions of mine on YouTube. They didn’t go so well though.”
Unless 20 views and 1 like is considered good.
“Oh really? You have a channel of your own? That’s interesting.”
Kanade is starring on the floor in front of her, avoiding Mafuyu’s gaze. Her ears have gone completely red by now, luckily her hair is covering it. She never told anybody about her YouTube acount except Mizuki. After a bit more walking the stone in Shizuku’s hand starts glowing very brightly. They stopped at an abandoned school building.
“Ok and now what? Does the witch appear out of nowhere?”
Mizuki asks, but she gets interrupted as she hears distant cries from somewhere above. Everybody looks up, seeing a woman in her twenties at the edge of the roof, about to jump off. She leans forward, dropping down the 3 story building head first. But somehow in the blink of an eye, Shizuku transforms into her magical form, leaping forward and catching the woman mid-air. She lands on the floor smoothly, setting down the woman’s unconscious body on the floor. Kanade kneels down beside them.
“Will she be okay?”
Shizuku nods as an answer.
“She will. She’s just unconscious but she’s going to wake up soon.”
Then the gem starts glowing brighter than ever.
“We have to get going, the witch is near!”
Shizuku quickly stands up, already sprinting into the building. The other girls follow.
Somewhere around, what was once the main hall, their surroundings turn all warbled.
(Disclaimer this is not accurate to what happened in pmmm)
The walls seem to turn an orange brown hue and Kanade could swear she felt a breeze across her back. Somewhere in the distance she can see trees with no leaves. Seems like this domain is autumn themed if that would be even possible. Shizuku leads the group with practiced presicion.
“Follow close and stay away from the entities!”
Shizuku calls out as they finally reach the actual witch. It was the exact opposite of what Kanade thought it would be. The witch looks like a willow tree, but it’s upside down and has something that resembles a head attached to the top, or should she say bottom. The being lets out a high pitched shriek, making the 3 girls cover her ears, unlike Shizuku who already summoned her Guns, aming at the entity. With practically little to no effort Shizuku takes the monster down and their surroundings turn back to normal. The only thing left of the fight is a black stone dropped onto the floor. Shizuku leans down, picking it up.
“What is that?”
Mizuki perks up confused.
“It’s a grief seed. Magical girls use it to replenish their magic. Like this.”
She moves the grief seed to her soul gem and the darkness from it expands and transfers into the grief seed, leaving a clean turquoise soul gem behind. Mizuki’s mouth gapes open and a quiet ‘woah’ leaves her mouth. Kanade and Mafuyu’s eyes were also wide open in surprise.
Then suddenly Kyubey appears again out of nowhere.
“I see you’ve witnessed your first proper witch hunt then?”
He asks walking a bit closer to Shizuku. Everybody nods in response.
“So now that you know about the life of a magical girl… do you wish to become one? A wish of your choice will be granted in return.”
Nobody answers, they all just stay quiet. Kanade breaks the silence.
“But why us? There are so many other girls out there that would really need the wish! Why us?!”
“Because I sense potential. Not any girl can be worthy of becoming a magical girl.”
Kyubey answers boldly.
“Then give us time to think about it at least.”
Mafuyu speaks up.
“Well of course! We’re not in a rush!”
Kanade can hear Mizuki whisper ‘Yeah, doesn’t seem like it though.’ Under her breath.
Shizuku proposes, that she would take them on another witch hunt again soon.
Soon after everybody leaves and they all go home.
_________
It’s the next school day. Kanade and Mizuki do their usual routine of meeting up before school, but since they go to different classes, they have to seperate. Mizuki’s first class is biology. She hates biology. The pink haired girl enters the noisy class and sits down somewhere near the back. The teacher comes in soon after, starting the lesson almost immediately. The topic of today: Man and woman parts. Seriously, why do 8th graders need to learn about the stuff. It’s not like Mizuki in particular wishes to have sex with somebody at her age.
The teacher goes on about the female parts, talking about the weirdest details. Then they get to the male parts. The teacher starts explaining stuff, when Mizuki can hear snickering somewhere on her right. Out of nowhere some boy that has been picking on her recently speaks up.
“Guys! Mizuki is a boy!”
She freezes, immediately attempting to cover herself with her hoodie. God she wishes she could disappear into the floor right at this moment.
“Hey! That’s not nice! Sit down!”
The teacher tries to calm the class down, but Mizuki’s head blends out all the noise. It’s not that she particularly keeps her past secret, but it still hurts when somebody brings it up so carelessly. She raises her hand and excuses herself to the bathroom. The teacher obviously gives her permission and she stands up, heading towards the door.
“Make sure to go the boy’s bathroom though!”
The same boy calls out again, right as she exits.
She walks down the long hallway. It feels way longer than usual and she can feel her stomach twist. She barely arrives at the bathroom, before heaving into one of the toilets. She grips the toilet seat with her hands, her knuckles turning white.
“Why can’t I just be a real girl?”
She asks herself, as most of the sickness leaves her body. The school day barely started and she already feels miserable. After a few minutes of silence she can hear steps. Under the stall door, Kyubey appears, sitting down right where her feet are.
“What do you want?”
Mizuki asks in a tired, emotionless tone.
“Well… Do you perhaps have a wish?”
Kyubey asks in a mischievous tone.
“I do, but I’m not going to practically trade in my life for it. I would rather be free and suffering, than captured and somewhat happy.”
Kyubey jumps up onto Mizuki’s shoulder.
“Who said, being a Magical girl equals to being captured? If you do it the right away you might even end up loving it.”
Mizuki stops fidgeting with her fingers. No wait stop! Mizuki you can’t even consider his proposal! What are you thinking?
“I…”
Mizuki stands up.
“I’m leaving. I’m not about to be brainwashed by you.”
She opens the white stall door and steps up, only to see her makeup smudged. She tries to fix it in the bathroom mirror before stepping out and going back to her class, like nothing happened.
The day goes on as usual, but the harsh words of Mizuki’s classmates and Kyubey’s proposal still linger at the back of her mind.
After school ends, Mizuki quickly goes to find Kanade. Mafuyu and Kanade are standing near the school entrance.
“Hiyaaa guys!”
She walks over to them. Now she’s back to being the energetic friend.
“Hello Mizuki!”
Mafuyu greets her in return.
“Well, I actually gotta get going now, I still have archery club today.”
Kanade smiles.
“Oh ok! Then I don’t want to keep you here. Bye!”
With that Mafuyu walks away, leaving Kanade alone with Mizuki.
“What the heck was that?”
Mizuki suddenly asks as they start walking.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Why were you two talking?”
“Oh u-uhm… we were just talking about school stuff, since she’s a transfer student and all.”
“You sure it was only that? You don’t have to hide your gayness in front of me.”
“W-what?! You really are going insane…! I-I’m not gay and I certainly am not in love with Mafuyu… I think.”
She chuckles nervously.
“Okay. If you say so. But that doesn’t change the way you looked at her!”
“Shut up!”
Kanade kicks Mizuki’s leg, almost making both of them fall. Then Mizuki breaks into a fit of laughter.
“You look like a tomato!”
Mizuki says, while still laughing like a hyena. She gets a hit on her arm in response as Kanade keeps walking, trying to pretend she’s not flustered at all.