Chapter Text
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"Say, Narita-san, just hypothetically, how could wishes affect other people?" Mao posed this question after school, while Chizuru was wiping the chalkboard.
"I mean, obviously they can change people's opinions and stuff, just look at me. But if you wish for something that doesn't have much to do with other people... well. Then it would depend on what the wish is. I can't tell you anything for certain about wishes I- I'm not an expert or anything."
Mao made a small sound.
"And I really meant what I said earlier, don't do anything you might regret. Having people love me.. it's... lonely. I can just do anything, and it doesn't really feel like I've got any real friends, if I've wished it into existence." Narita's eyes were glazed over, he was staring out the open window.
Aya watched this interaction with growing curiosity, what exactly was Mao planning to wish for?
"What's up with you guys?" Chizuru asked, dusting off her hands before she went to pick up her bags.
"Nothing," Narita said, chuckled before anyone else could speak.
On the walk home, it seemed that Chizuru had forgotten anything weird had transpired, until Narita had stepped into a convenience store to get a coffee. Then, Chizuru turned and set her gaze on Mao and Aya, eyes narrowing.
"What's going on?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"What do you mean?" Aya managed a smile, a look of confusion, but she knew she was a terrible liar. She should step back and let Mao handle it. But when she glanced at Mao, the poor girl looked as though she was about to cry. Maybe they should wait for Narita.
"You two and Narita have gotten all buddy-buddy now. It's weird. I mean, don't you know it's nice to share?" Chizuru arched an eyebrow, almost teasingly, but her tone was too serious.
"I- That's not what's going on," Mao stuttered.
"That's not all, you've also seemed off. You guys never talk whenever I'm near you, then every time I leave you start chatting. If you don't want to be my friend, you can just say so."
"That's not it! That's not it, Chizuru." Mao never raised her voice, so both Chizuru and Aya were taken aback by this, "It's not some... silly romance shit, that you're always going on about! We..."
"Mao," Narita cut her off, stepping between the two, a plastic bottle of iced coffee in his hand.
"Silly romance shit?" Chizuru spat, "Is that what you think of me, just some... some-"
"Stop it, you two! Chizuru, Mao didn't mean it like that and... we really, can't say what's going on-"
"It's for the best, to protect you." Narita added, shooting a glare at Aya.
"Aya, you too? What the hell? What, are you guys involved in some sort of yakuza business?"
"No! It's nothing like that, I promise, but you can't get in the way Chizuru, you have no idea, what the fuck you're-"
"Get in the way?" She repeated, looking incredulous. "Fine, I'm leaving! You three can go about your- your dangerous missions or whatever the fuck!"
She stormed off, leaving Mao looking helpless, mouth opening and closing as if still wanting to get a word in.
This was bad. This was bad. Aya and Chizuru had arguments sometimes, petty little things, but Chizuru and Mao, they never fought. Mao was on Chizuru's side of everything, that much had been clear since the beginning of their friendship. So Mao mouthing off at her, yelling at her- this was bad.
They were walking in silence, down empty streets with cracked pavement. They were going to check up on the church a ways away from town.
"Churches are places of despair," Narita finally said, breaking the silence. "Although I haven't see too many witches there, there's always things like funerals going on."
No one responded. Aya was busy worrying: What would happen with Chizuru? What was Mao going to wish for? What was she going to wish for?
And, she was worried about the witch they could potentially encounter. Now that she'd seen the dangers of witches.. and Narita had been especially tired these days.
"I- I feel something. Hurry up, you two." Narita blinked the fog out of his eyes, looking worried.
They chase Narita down a winding road, downhill. They could see the church, getting closer: white painted walls and a cross, all surrounded by a hazy swirl of dark mist.
"It's a witch. You two be careful, we can't risk anyone being hurt." He fingered at his soul gem hung around his neck.
They skidded to a halt in front of the huge wooden doors, Mao and Aya breathing hard while Narita barely even needed to stop for a second.
"Kyubey," he started, "I think this is a big one."
Kyubey was slinking close the to ground, following behind them, eerily quiet.
"It hasn't fully formed it, it's still only a familiar. But it's close," Kyubey said emotionlessly.
"Kyubey, you-" Aya started, but Narita gestured for them to be quiet, and slowly pushed the door open.
Inside was a whirling storm of stained glass and a strange music, something classical.
"We need to kill the familiar," Narita whispered, pointing at a.. thing in the of the church, where the organ typically was.
It was pulsing and breathing, the air around it rippling and shifting with each heavy note.
Before Narita could step in, an arm reached out from behind the door to stop him. Someone stepped out from behind-
"Mitsuki Koga," Narita mused, "again?"
"Sorry, but this one's mine. I'll defeat it, you keep yourself safe. I'll watch out for those two," she said.
"Those two are my charges, Koga, you can't just-"
"I'm telling you to stay here. Don't get involved with things you don't understand."
"Things I don't understand? I'm a puella magi too, you.. whatever, I can't risk any of you to get hurt." He twirled a finger and the light seemed to be sucked out of the space, instead reforming into a ribbon of sunshine that wrapped around Mitsuki.
"Megumu Narita, you-" Mitsuki looked angry, panicked. More so than usual, at least. Her hair seemed wild, her hands clenched until her skin was white.
Narita ignored her and walked in.
"Hold on, this one is the one that... you need to be careful," Mitsuki called out behind them, voice flat and resigned.
The organ familiar turned as they drew closer. Walking past the pews, Aya could see shadows, figures sitting, their heads turning to follow their movement.
"This is weird," she breathed, afraid that her breath would somehow change something in the air.
Narita's eye twitched, the organ familiar suddenly lashed out with a chord, as though someone had slammed their hand into a piano, without any care for how the result would sound.
"Shit," he muttered, the last of his easygoing demeanour disappearing.
The organ seemed to agree, it's body suddenly twitching and twisting in ways that shouldn't be-
"It's grown up. I guess we're getting serious now," Narita sighed.
Then it charged, it's body sliding down the stairs like sludge. Behind it, the stained glass window of a crucified Jesus cast it in an ugly yellow and blue light.
"Stay back." The witch growled, and Narita responded with a curl of light in his palm that manifested into his cannon, all crystals and sunlight.
The witch reared what Aya could only assume was the head and snapped at Narita's ribbons, before he fired.
Bang! A metallic rumble was accompanied by a minor chord, Aya winced. But the witch only picked itself up and ignored it's injuries, getting ready to charge again.
"Narita! Come on, you can do it!" Mao yelled, suddenly her eyes seemed brighter, angry. "Come on!"
Narita stopped, just for a millisecond, arms outstretched holding the canon.
"That's right," he whispered, so quiet Aya wouldn't have been able to hear if not for the echo in the large chamber. "I can't be lonely anymore, I've got you two."
His head turned slightly, Aya could see his face now, tears glittering in his eyes.
"You two need to try your hardest, okay?" He yelled.
Bang. He fired again. The witch cried out again with a higher note, before letting out a weak middle C- collapsing in the ground, notes repeating like it was coughing.
"It's over?" Mao breathed, but it didn't feel right. That last note, it didn't feel conclusive enough, like there was more to be said. If there was anything Aya knew, it was music, and this music... wasn't over.
"Narita! I think-" she yelled at his form, masked by smoke and mist, walking back towards them.
Too late, he let out a gasp, spun around, but the witch already had a hold of his shoulder, biting into it with a laughing, mocking staccato-
"NARITA! NARITA-SAN!" Mao screamed, her legs carrying her three steps forwards before she fell hard into the carpet.
There was so much blood. So much blood, all over the carpet, the witch was advancing now, and Narita- Narita's body was strewn over the back of a pew, the shadow figures watching, as if he would stand up again, to win the battle. Was he still all there? Was there still wavy black hair, charming eyes, determination under all that blood?
"You two need to make a contract! Now!" Kyubey sat in front of them, so close- Mao could reach out, feel the wish-
"No." Mitsuki Koga was there. Aya had never been so glad to see someone she hated so much. "I will defeat it."
"Mitsuki Koga," Kyubey said, and then Aya lost sight of him. Mitsuki pulled something out of the darkness, a guitar.
The organ witch raised its head, alerted, when Mitsuki played the first notes. Then she threw her hand across the strings, and it was music Aya knew well, music Aya could recite in her sleep. She stood there, dumbstruck, frozen to the carpet, the carpet with blood on it, because that was music she knew.
"Mitsuki Koga," Mao paled and staggered to her feet.
Mitsuki stood in the aisle, where the bride would walk, holding the grief seed in her hands.
"It's not yours," Mao muttered.
Mitsuki turned. "You two need to see this. This is what it means to be a puella magi, what you have to give."
"Shut up," Mao yelled.
Mitsuki pushed the grief seed to her wrist, the soul gem embedded in the soft flesh swirled into green, revitalized.
"You two should go home, and stop meddling in these things."
"Fuck you!" Mao screamed, and Aya hadn't ever heard her swear that much in a day.
Aya Oosawa, in that moment, only knew three things.
First, music. Second, Megumu Narita was not coming back. Third, something inside Mao had snapped that day, and things would never be the same ever again.
The shadows in the church were gone. There was light, streaming in through every window and crevice in the old building, illuminating every speck of dust and irregularity in the air.
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Megumu Narita, charming, most popular boy in school, puella magi, felt the moment his soul gem shattered under brutal teeth like piano keys. He felt the moment before he ceased to exist. But he could only have one thought, one feeling, that wasn't death.
Maybe I wasn't meant to be loved after all.