Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was late on the night of December 23rd, as Shamiko lay on her futon in her tiny room in her family's small run-down apartment, still pondering over what to give to Momo for a Christmas present.

Momo was her nemesis, by definition—someone she could never hope to defeat—and by all rights they should have been mortal enemies. When they'd first met, Shamiko had indeed seen her as such, but they'd been through so much together in the last seven months...they'd shared joys and sorrows, dreams and fears; they'd even saved each other's lives. They were the best of friends now—perhaps even more than that.

Not that the demon would ever admit it to anyone; not even herself.

"What can I even get Momo that she'd appreciate? I mean, she's rich, so it's got to be something personal..." she whispered.

She wanted to get Momo a meaningful gift, but what does one get for someone who already has everything they want that money can buy? Although Momo was fabulously wealthy, and owned a large house the next neighborhood over, she was currently living in the apartment next door, just to be close at hand in case of emergencies...just to be close to Shamiko. There had been enough problems to have made it a wise decision, in hindsight.

In the darkness, Shamiko stared up at the ceiling, hands on her horns, racking her brain for ideas. Some cheap trinket wouldn't do. Shamiko owed her so much...

Her ancestor Lilith, on a futon next to hers, was already sound asleep and lightly snoring, tired from a long day of picking up garbage from the local riverbank, as part of her pact with the Mizuchi, the guardian spirit of the Tama River. It had cursed her to an eternity of cleaning up garbage from the riverbanks as the price for releasing Shamiko, after it had abducted Shamiko's soul for its own amusement. Two months of this new life now, and Lilith still wore out her new body fairly quickly. She wasn't very used to physical activity at all, after the thousands of years spent sealed away in her extra-dimensional prison. No longer a voice in a statue, but still as wise, she was almost as human as anyone else now and needed sleep.

"Something she wants...something personal...something only I can give her...or do for her..."

An idea suddenly crystallized in her mind.

"That's it!"

"...Shamiko, be quiet," Lilith muttered in her sleep.

"E-eh, sorry, Ances-" Shamiko started apologizing out of habit, but realized that talking was exactly what Lilith didn't want her doing.

She kept her remaining thoughts quietly to herself.

I know exactly what to do for Momo now! I'm sure she'll definitely appreciate it...I just hope it's been long enough...

First, though, Shamiko would have to test if she could do what she'd planned to do at all. She let herself drift off to sleep, while crafting a dream for herself.

A short time later, Shamiko was standing in what appeared to be her apartment, but it was a dream of her own making, a representation of her family's dilapidated apartment instead of the real thing. She looked around at her phantasmagoric handiwork. It looked much the same as her home currently did in the waking world, but it had a surreal appearance due to a soft dim light that seemed to be coming from both everywhere and nowhere. It filled the room despite none of the lightbulbs being on; there were no shadows.

...It'll do. I won't be here long, she thought.

Everything was in its usual place, and the box her father was sealed into that her family used for a table was sitting in the middle of the room. A small artificial Christmas tree stood in the corner by the door to the balcony, with fourteen small wrapped presents sitting underneath. Eight of them were in peach or orange-themed wrapping paper, gifts from their magical girl neighbors. Looking out the windows, there was nothing but a pitch-black darkness outside, broken by what appeared to be a light snowfall...if snowflakes glowed purple, and left luminous trails as they fell.

I need to see if I can bring someone into my own dream by myself first.

She had some practice with summoning her little sister Ryoko from within Lilith's dreams. Her respected ancestor had continued teaching her the demonic arts of manipulating dreams, even after Lilith's vacation to reality in a true-to-life vessel had taken a very strange turn—she'd only expected to have a week on the outside, and now faced a very long lifetime in it.

Okay, little sis, let's see if I can bring you here...

Shamiko reached out with her magic to Ryoko's mind, using her demonic powers to pull her younger sister's consciousness into this dream with her. This felt a little different, though, since it was her own dream she was working from this time.

Ryoko appeared suddenly near her, clad in her sleepwear, looking around in confusion.

"Huh? What happened? I'm...at home? Sis?" Ryoko asked. "...Am I dreaming, or is this actually you?"

"...Both. Uh, hi, Ryo... Sorry."

Shamiko waved to her sister, with a fork in her hand. It wasn't really a fork; it was a magic staff that had once belonged to her father, an instrument of chaos with no true physical form that could become anything that one could handle like a stick. When Shamiko had found it, it had looked like a cute magical wand, but when she—its rightful inheritor—picked it up, it acknowledged its new mistress by assuming the form of an ordinary fork, her idea of a "weapon." She always kept it with her.

"I didn't interrupt a nice dream of yours, did I?" Shamiko asked.

"I don't remember it...so it probably wasn't that great. B-but I don't mind if you or Ancestor bring me into your dreams... Dream training's fun...!"

"Yeah...Ancestor can be...pretty creative, sometimes... This is only my dream, though, and...well, I just wanted to see if I could bring you here on my own without her help. I guess I can. Sorry if I let you down..."

"It's okay..." Ryoko looked around the room, then sat down at the box. "I'm still happy you let me in on your dream training... Um...Sis...am I ever going to grow horns and be able to do all this dream stuff too?"

"...I'm not sure," Shamiko asked. "Why don't we ask Ancestor? If she's dreaming right now too, I should be able to get through... Ancestor Telephone!"

What appeared to be a hole in the air with glowing magenta edges appeared, and Lilith's face peeked through it. She was at a hot spring resort in her own dream, soaking in a warm pool...and appropriately unattired for it.

"Oh, you're together? What can I do for my two cute descendants tonight?" she asked.

"AAAAHHH! Ancestor! Why are you naked!?" Shamiko conjured a blindfold to cover Ryoko's eyes.

"W-w-why did everything go dark?!" Ryoko whimpered.

"Leave it on, sis!"

"It's a hot spring, what else would I be wearing? We're all girls, and it's not like I have anything up here to hide compared to you, Shamiko, but if it's causing you distress..." Lilith conjured a towel and draped it around her shoulders to cover her flat chest. "Better?"

"Ancestor...!" Shamiko's voice was filled with irritation. "...Sorry for interrupting you."

Ryoko pulled the blindfold off. "That was scary..."

"My dear descendant, thy figure is a sublime weapon that's wasted on the likes of thee. When will you get over your ridiculous modesty? It's unbecoming of a demon!"

"I get over it plenty enough when I'm transformed! ...Let's change the subject...Ryoko has some questions for you..." Shamiko gestured to her sister.

"Ask anything you wish of me, my young descendant!"

"Umm...Ancestor...am I going to grow horns and a tail like Sis, too?"

Lilith's expression turned pensive. "Compared to your elder sister, your demonic blood is rather weak...I'm inclined to say it will not stir. That's not to say it's impossible you shall ever awaken, but I do not believe it likely to happen unless something...instigates it."

"So I probably won't?" Ryoko asked. "But you said...something could cause it to happen?"

"I could incite it to happen after thy fifteenth year, as I did for Shamiko, but I would not do so unless you were absolutely certain you wished it. Once done, there is no undoing it. Perhaps it is for the best that you do not..."

"No... If it happens on its own, it happens...but I don't really want it to..."

"Wait a minute!" Shamiko shouted, pointing at the hole in the air with the fork. "Why didn't I get to choose?!"

"The choice was never thine to make, Shamiko," Lilith said. "You inherited most of the power of our bloodline...thus your awakening was inevitable. For you, the best course of action was to get it over with forthwith, and so I did. And look at how much your life has improved for it!"

"...I can't argue with that." The last seven months had completely transformed her family's lives, mostly for the better.

"Um...well..." Ryoko hesitated. "If it does happen...will you and Sis teach me all of this dream stuff too, Ancestor?"

"It would be my honor, my young descendant! By then, Shamiko should be a master herself; together we'd make of you a dominator of dreams as well! Heh, heh, heh, heh!"

"Really?!" Ryoko's eyes lit up with excitement.

"It's still years off, though," Shamiko added. "A lot could happen between now and then... But if you do awaken, and we can teach you, then we will. That's a promise, little sis!" Shamiko patted Ryoko on the shoulder with her tail.

"Okay! I guess if it happens, I have something to look forward to...but I'll leave it to fate."

"Have you anything else to ask of me, my cute descendants?" Lilith asked.

"No...that's all...thanks, Ancestor..." Ryoko said.

"Sorry we bothered you," Shamiko added.

"No harm done. I was merely indulging myself. I'll hang up then." Lilith sighed in contentment. "Good night."

The glowing hole in the air shrank to nothing and closed.

Ryoko lowered her gaze. "Now I'm starting to have second thoughts..."

"Say...while you're here, Ryo, would you like something to eat or drink? I can make anything we've had that I remember."

"Umm, I... How about the okanomiyaki we had last week?"

"Coming right up!" Shamiko conjured a plate with a modest serving of okanomiyaki, along with a different fork, then set it on the box with a smile. "Here you go, just the way you like it. Enjoy!"

"Wow!" Ryoko sat down, picked up the fork, and took a bite. Her eyes lit up as she chewed. "...It's even better than Mom's!"

"Heh, heh, heh... It's my dream, so naturally, I can make it better than the real thing."

"You're the best, Sis!"

Shamiko smiled, with a big fanged grin. "You deserve the best, Ryo."

"You want some too?"

"I made that just for you." She held up her own fork. "If I want something, I'll just make it. Thanks for offering, though."

"I wonder if Dad gets this as an offering when it's just a dream?" Ryoko asked. Part of why they used this box as a table was that every meal they ate upon it became an offering to their sealed father.

"Since it's just a dream and not the real box...probably not," Shamiko lamented. "Kinda like how if you take a picture here, it's not on your real camera?"

"I see." Ryoko ate another bite, then after swallowing it, asked, "Do you remember Dad, Sis?"

"Not really..." Shamiko sighed, and her tail drooped. "I don't recall much of anything before you were born. I was so sick and weak, I was asleep most of the time, and even when I was awake, everything was...hazy. I don't even remember Dad's face...just his voice, when he'd pat me on the head and tell me not to give up... Or when he'd visit me in the hospital, and say he was doing everything he could to help me, so I had to be strong for him, too..." She fought back her tears.

"I see..." Ryoko said. "Since he was sealed right before I was born, I never got to know him at all..." She put her fork down on the plate and sulked.

"Has Mom ever showed you that old picture of her and Dad together?" Shamiko said. "That was even before I was born."

"Yeah," Ryoko replied. "He looks a lot like Ancestor... I kind of expected he'd have horns more like yours..." Ryoko touched the sides of her head above her ears. "I wonder what mine would look like...?"

"Hopefully small and cute like you," Shamiko said, raising her hands to her own horns for a couple of seconds, "because these heavy things are a pain in the neck!"

Ryoko placed her hand on the box. "Mom cries in her sleep a lot lately, and sometimes it wakes me up...I think she really misses Dad... " She took the fork again and poked at her food, finally taking another bite.

Shamiko prodded the box with her tail. "...I'll find a way to get him out of here, someday. For Mom's sake, at least. So we can be a proper family again. And then...we can both get to know him."

"I'd like that..."

Ryoko quietly ate the rest of the okanomiyaki. Shamiko then dismissed the empty plate and fork, making them disappear.

"Thanks, Sis...! It was delicious...I know it wasn't real, but I'll remember it..."

"You're welcome, Ryo. I'd better let you get back to sleep now."

"Umm... Okay...but how do I leave?" Ryoko asked.

"When you want to enter or leave a dream, you have to find something that looks like a door and go through it." Shamiko pointed to the front door. "Since we're at home, I guess...the front door?"

They walked to the front door of this dream version of their apartment. Shamiko opened it. Outside was nothing but a pitch black emptiness, with a scattering of glowing purple motes of light slowly falling like snowflakes, leaving faint trails behind them. They fell from high above, far beyond what they could see, drifting downward past their dreamscape apartment, falling forever into the void below them until they were too faint to see again.

"Sis, what is that...?"

"That's what a dream looks like before your mind makes up something to fill it with. I, um...didn't think about anything to put outside..."

"...Is it...safe to go out there?" Ryoko asked.

"If you go out there, you'll leave my dream, and end up back in your own. It looks scary, but I promise you, it's safe..." Shamiko wrapped her tail around Ryoko for a moment, while patting her on the head. "Don't worry, Ryo. I'd never let anything or anyone hurt you or Mom..."

A swirl of purple magical energy enveloped Shamiko for a mere second, fading away to reveal her Crisis Management form and the skimpy outfit that came with it. She didn't need the Ancestor Statue to transform anymore, thanks to Lilith's re-training; now she just needed to think about it hard enough and it happened.

She posed triumphantly with a smug smile, left hand on her hip, a giant black fork longer than she was tall in her right hand. "They'll have to go through me first!" Not that it would be a very difficult task, but Shamiko was fiercely protective of her family and wouldn't hesitate to give her life to keep them safe.

Ryoko's eyes lit up with wonder. She'd seen Shamiko transform a few times, but it still amazed her.

"All right, Sis...! I-I trust you! Good night!"

"Night, Ryo. Sleep well."

Ryoko walked out the door into the darkness, and disappeared back into her own dreams. Shamiko closed the door behind her, not bothering to undo her transformation. Aside from making her physically stronger, it helped her think and focus, and she had some things to ponder over tonight.

I nearly died for her once already, Shamiko thought. I took Ryoko's share of the family's curse...

The young Yuuko, upon learning she was going to have a little sister, had simply wished for her new sibling to be spared the suffering she herself endured...and through some means or magic, the curse obliged. What should have befallen Ryoko took Yuuko instead. Already sickly and weak from her own strong curse, she slipped into critical condition. Yuuko had spent months at death's door, in intensive care at the hospital, kept alive by a respirator and a heavy drug regimen.

If Sakura hadn't given me her core... She's still inside me...

If not for Momo's adoptive sister Sakura, she probably would have died back then. Her savior had, for all intents and purposes, given the very essence of her being to Yuuko, her magical girl core, to stop the double dose of curse from stealing the last of her feeble life force. Soon after that, she recovered enough to be discharged, but remained weak and lethargic, regularly getting sick or injured enough to have to visit the emergency room. She'd probably spent a third of her life in the hospital.

I don't think I can ever tell Ryo...she'd probably just try to return the favor. It's good enough if she lives up to the potential I'll never have...

Shamiko returned to the box and sat on her knees next to it. The demonic pitchfork shrank back down to an ordinary utensil.

Okay, so I can bring someone into my own dream, she thought. But they have to be family...or vassals. If I want to bring Momo, I'll have to convince her to fall to darkness, or take that dark medicine that Ogura made for her... That's going to be awkward to ask, though... I don't think I could bring myself to say it...

She sighed.

Maybe I'll just write a letter for her, then. It's easier than saying it to her face...

She conjured up a notepad, and turned the fork into a pen. She started writing a rough draft of what she wanted to convey to Momo, but she couldn't focus on it—something was bothering her... Something Ryoko had said...

'Mom cries in her sleep a lot lately...'

Shamiko put down the notepad.

I want to see what's bothering Mom...

She raised her left hand above her head.

"Dream mirror! I summon you!"

A brass hand-mirror appeared in her hand with a flash of light. She stared into it.

Within it, dozens of little points of light—the dream channels of people she was loosely acquainted with—went rushing by, but several lingered in the mirror, barely moving at all. Those were the dreams of people she had close bonds to, or had connected to before. She could enter those easily enough without having to break the mirror. Just looking at those points of light, she could tell who's dreams they were.

Momo. Mikan. Lilith. Lico and Honyu, from the time she'd had to meddle in their dreams. Ryoko. Her mother, Seiko...

Shamiko touched the glowing point on the mirror that was her mother's dream. Her own dream vanished, and she suddenly found herself falling into another...

She landed awkwardly on her feet, coming down uncomfortably hard on a solid surface. She wobbled uneasily on her high-heeled boots a bit before regaining her balance.

"Ow...uhh...last time I did that, I landed on something a lot softer." She looked around. "...Where the hell am I?"

She'd landed in a city that looked like it had been pulled from the pages of '1001 Arabian Nights' ...and then given a full suite of modern embellishments. It was night, the moon was low on the horizon, and the air felt warm and dry. A stiff breeze stirred her long red hair and her waist-cape. She was standing in an empty brick-paved street, gritty with sand. White stone and brick buildings lined the dark street in both directions, lit by occasional streetlights.

"Not exactly what I expected Mom to dream up..."

She took the fork she'd brought with her in hand, and held it out in front of her.

"Staff of Navigation! Find Mom!"

The fork turned into a plain pointy stick, hovering in the air after she'd let go. It spun like a compass needle, eventually settling in a single direction.

"...That way?" It was pointing down the wide brick road she stood in. She grabbed the stick, and started walking the way it had pointed.

In her own dreams, Seiko was sitting alone in a small street corner cafe, somewhere from long ago in her memories, and far away from Japan. It was a small, quaint little establishment built from red bricks and mortar. There were twenty square tables with two high-backed chairs each, hand-crafted from polished cedar and painted white. The floor was smooth orange tile. The dining area filled the front half, with a counter running down the middle, a cash register on top, and a kitchen in the back. It was silent, and empty. Even the streets outside were empty. It was dark out, with a waning moon shining low over what looked like a city somewhere in the Middle East. Large windows let in the pale moonlight, but most of the illumination came from lamps hanging from the ceiling.

She heard the silver bell on the cafe's door ring, as someone walked in. Startled at the noise, she looked up, and found her daughter, of all people, walking through the door and heading towards her...wearing that scandalous half-naked outfit again. As she approached, the stick she held turned into a fork, which she tucked into her belt.

"...Yuuko? What are you doing here!?" Seiko asked. Her daughter's given name was Yuuko, but aside from her co-workers, everyone else called her "Shamiko" and Yuuko herself had come to identify with that alias more than her birth name.

"I'm not just imagining you being here, right? ...And why are you walking around like that, young lady?"

"Oh, eh, sorry, Mom..." Shamiko reverted to her normal form in a brief flash of purple light; her blue and cyan camisole and knee-length loose blue pants she usually slept in reappeared with it; the fork was now in her waistband. "I know you hate seeing me wearing that...but it makes me stronger. Sometimes I just need it."

Seiko sighed. "I know I shouldn't get so upset about it. It's part of who you are, after all... I'm going to have to accept it. It's just...when I see you in that, it forces me to confront the fact that my little girl's grown up, and become a brave, confident, and beautiful young woman..."

"Mom...!" Shamiko blushed, her face flushed red with embarrassment, her tail limp.

Seiko clasped her hands together, and sulked. "You're growing up so fast...soon I'll have to let you go..."

"...I don't think I'm very brave at all, Mom...and I'm nowhere near ready to leave the nest yet."

"You've always tried to protect me and your sister, in whatever way you can... It takes real courage to do that. I think you're very brave...when you have to be. Especially if you can stand to wear...that thing. ...I'm sorry, Yuuko. I- I won't complain about it anymore. Just don't wear it out in the cold...?"

"In that case...you'd better start getting used to it, like I did." With a slight smile, Shamiko transformed again, a flash of purple magic enveloping her, then revealing her inner self. She slowly spun around once to show off her whole outfit, what little there was—a top that was little more than two bits of cloth covering the lower third of her breasts, held on by a strap around her torso; skimpy black underwear, a detached collar and flaring sleeves adorned with pink bows, a waist-cape that was blue on the outside and pink on the inside, a wide belt holding the cape on, and thigh-high high-heeled boots held up with garter straps.

Seiko glowered at her daughter's little flourish. She wasn't voicing her dislike, but she was clearly thinking it.

Shamiko's smile faded. "...I used to hate my transformation because of this outfit." She crossed her arms below her breasts, staring down at her boots, frowning. "But now I actually like it...not for how it looks, but how I feel in it. My whole life, I've felt that curse eating away at my body, draining my energy, clouding my mind... I'm stupid and weak because of it..."

She raised her right hand and stroked one of her curled horns.

"I felt a lot better after my horns grew...I wasn't tired all the time anymore. But when I'm like this...that sick feeling's almost completely gone... It's like I'm normal and healthy...I think...? I don't know what that feels like; I just know that what's 'normal' for me isn't it."

"Yuuko..."

"I still don't like how much it shows off, but it doesn't work right if I change it, so I've just...gotten used to it..."

Seiko sighed, trying hard not to show her distress."I guess your Ancestor is right; you have to accept what you are, not fight it. You have to have confidence in yourself, and your abilities."

"Huh? You know something about demon powers, Mom?"

"Yuuko, I've been married to a demon for decades; did you really think I didn't learn anything about your father in all that time?"

"...I guess you would."

"Care to sit down, dear?"

Shamiko walked to the table her mother was sitting at, pulled out the chair opposite from her, and sat down on it, still transformed.

"Sorry I invited myself in without asking, Mom, but..." She looked up, meeting her mother's gaze. "Ryoko said something was bothering you...and I was concerned."

"Oh... Your father and I...our wedding anniversary was a couple weeks ago... This time of year...brings up a lot of memories for me. Most of them from here..."

"I see... What is this place, anyway?" Shamiko pointed out the window, a befuddled look on her face.

"This was a town without a name, a hidden sanctuary for the Dark Clan, sort of like Tama is now... This is where I met your father...a long time ago...it's where we fell in love." Seiko said, sadness in her voice. "We came to this cafe a lot."

"Oh? ...This isn't in Japan, is it? I couldn't read anything outside when I was looking for you. The writing's all a bunch of squiggly lines!"

"It's Arabic."

"So this is Dad's home...? This is Mesopotamia!?"

"Yes, but they don't call it that anymore."

Shamiko looked out the window for a moment again. "But what were you doing here, Mom?"

"It's...a long story. I'll tell you when you're a little older." Seiko smiled.

"I wish I could let you see Dad again... I'd conjure him up for you if I could," Shamiko said, "but I can't make things with a mind or soul...so no people or animals."

"Conjure? Make things...?"

Shamiko pointed at the empty vase on the table. Seven slightly deformed dark red roses appeared in it; the petals were the wrong shape.

"...Like that. I don't have a very good imagination...so they usually don't turn out right, unless I can look at the real thing to copy it."

Seiko examined the odd roses."I see...I suppose creating people would be pretty difficult..."

"Well, I can't, but... Oh, I know!" Shamiko smiled, her upper fangs showing. "Maybe if I fill in some of the details here from your memories, your imagination can do the rest! It wouldn't be like what I can do...but you'd at least get to see him in a way... If I strengthen the connections between him and this place, you'll dream about him! I need your permission, though, Mom...it's hard for me to explain, it's...it's just how this works. I can't change things in your dream if you don't want me to."

"I guess it's worth a try... Go ahead, Yuuko. I trust you. What do I need to do?"

"Just think of a night you were here with Dad, and try to remember as much about it as possible! Anything at all! Smells, sounds, feelings...I'll do the rest!"

"All right... Hmm..."

Shamiko raised her hands up in front of her face, with her palms facing towards each other. She closed her eyes, concentrating. A glowing sphere of purple magical energy appeared between her hands. Her tail swayed back and forth hypnotically behind her, like a metronome. A faint pink aura began glowing around her.

"...What are you doing?!"

"It's my magic, Mom. It might...look scary, but...I'm fine. Just try to remember..." Her voice was slightly strained.

Purple smoke-like tendrils of magic began rising from her hands, from her bare shoulders, and from her horns as she focused her powers. This was part telepathy, part dream manipulation, and it took a lot of focus: what her mother remembered, she'd change the dream to fit. Lilith had been slowly teaching her how to do more than just conjuring random things on command; now she could reshape things that were already there. She could do as she pleased in her own dreams—but could only do it here because the dreamer had agreed to it, which lowered the mental defenses enough to let her work her magic.

"All right... There was usually music playing on the speakers...how did it go...?" As she recalled the tune, it began playing. "Yes, like that...!"

A strong enough mind didn't need to ask...it could simply take control of the dream away from the dreamer, change everything in it, twist it into a nightmare, and then trap the dreamer within it: dominating the dream, Lilith called it. She claimed she could do that before she was sealed, but didn't have the strength any more, though she still knew how—and she wanted to teach Shamiko one day.

"Go on..." Shamiko said.

As more of Seiko's memories surfaced, the dream around them changed to match. The dim murmur of a busy street outside. The sounds and smells of food cooking, various breads, meats, and spices, rich and hearty, wafting from the kitchen. She watched in wonder as her dream transformed in tune with her thoughts.

"Yuuko, are you doing this?"

"Yes... I...need to...concentrate..."

More things changed. The table settings, flowers in vases, posters on the walls, menus printed in Arabic and Hebrew, bottles of various sauces, soft conversations from unseen patrons...

"...anything else, Mom?"

"I think...this feels just about right."

The glow around Shamiko and the light between her hands faded away to nothing. She put her hands down, and took a few deep breaths. Her tail went limp.

"...ehh, aah, that...that wears me out a bit..."

"Yuuko? Are you all right?!"

"I'll be okay in a minute, Mom..." Her breathing slowed back to normal. "So this is what it was like?"

"Aside from there being no people around...but you said you couldn't do that, right?"

"...right. I just recreated the sounds." Shamiko nodded.

"Yes, it was just like this...we'd come here often, have dinner, and talk about sweet nothings until late at night..." She sighed, a dreamy look on her face. "It takes me back... Thanks for letting me see this again, Yuuko. I'm impressed."

"Ehh, it's not much, Mom..." She modestly turned her gaze down at the table. "Ancestor taught me how to do all of this...and she's way better at it than I am..."

"That was still incredible...watching things change as I thought about them. You really do have an amazing gift, after all..."

"Maybe...? I just...get this stuff somehow. Now that I know the basics, Ancestor can walk me through something new, and...it makes sense. Maybe it's because I'm a dream demon? I don't know..." Shamiko sighed. "I wish science was this easy!"

Shamiko stood up, walked around the table, and took her mother's hand in both of her own.

"I'll find a way to get Dad out of that box for you, someday, Mom. I know you miss him a lot..."

"I know you'll do your best, Yuuko. Don't feel like you need to rush, though...I can wait as long as it takes." Seiko smiled. "But I do dream of the day when we're a complete family again...you and Ryoko, myself and Joshua...even Ancestor. She's family, too...as strange as she is..."

"Good night, Mom. Hope you have sweet dreams!"

"Good night, Yuuko. ...And thank you."

Shamiko turned and walked out of the cafe, her tail swaying as it stuck out from under her waist-cape. "Guess I'll get on that letter now," Shamiko quietly said to herself. As she opened the door, the bell rang again; she disappeared from Seiko's sight as she walked through it.

Seiko looked around at her surroundings, and mirthfully giggled. It really felt like she'd stepped back into the past. Nothing had changed, not even herself.

"And here I was afraid that Yuuko had no talents... She really does surprise me, sometimes..."

For a while, she sat there, her elbows on the table and her chin resting on her hands, eyes closed, thinking of the nights she and Joshua had spent here...

Suddenly, she heard a voice. A very familiar voice, though one she hadn't heard in ten years...

"Good evening, my precious treasure...!"

She opened her eyes, and gasped at what she saw.

Joshua stood across the table from her, a hand extended in greeting, a captivating smile on his youthful-looking face, looking how he usually chose to make himself look back then. He wasn't quite...solid, though... He was definitely a making of her own dreams.

"Sorry I'm late," he added.

She took her husband's hand in her own, a joyous smile on her face.

"...Good evening, honey. I've been waiting for you...!"

Chapter Text

"Now that I'm living somewhere with seasons, I've decided I hate winter," Lilith grumbled.

She was sitting on one side of the 'Daddy Box' with a blanket wrapped around her for warmth. Her old statue sat on the box next to a half-empty soda bottle. The statue was now inert, as her spirit was in her new body and no longer in the sealed space. She had a remote control in one hand, flipping through TV channels with the volume turned down so as not to wake Shamiko. She still had some bad habits from her days in the sealed space that she'd been unable to shake now that she was mostly free of it; being hooked on TV was one of them.

"All news programs... Never anything interesting on in the mornings..." She turned the TV off and put down the remote.

Seiko walked in from the kitchen with a bowl of rice mixed with scrambled eggs, a fork sticking out of it, and placed it on the box with a cheerful smile. She was in a very good mood this morning, for some reason.

"A humble offering for you, oh great Ancestor!" She sat down next to Lilith.

Lilith glared at her. "Knock it off, Seiko. We both know you think I'm just another mouth to feed. ...And I permit you to call me Lilith; you're the matriarch of this home."

"Now, now, you're part of our family, Ancestor, and we all love you," Seiko patted Lilith on the shoulder. "the great founder of our clan who's finally returned to us! Though now she's having a hard time getting used to her new life... Still, you'll get as much respect as you deserve."

"...And how much is that?"

Seiko poked the Ancestor Statue. "Hmm..."

"No, you can't use it for a doorstop again," Lilith said.

"I didn't say anything..."

"You were thinking about it."

"Now that you're not in this thing anymore, sometimes I can forget your age; since you look a lot like my husband, it kind of feels like I've gained another daughter..." Seiko tugged on one of Lilith's pointy ears. "A particularly bratty and troublesome daughter, though."

"Ow!" Lilith swatted Seiko's hand away, then grumbled. "Where's this 'respect' you were just talking about?"

"Sorry... I got carried away. I humbly apologize, Ancestor." Seiko bowed slightly, then sighed. "Yuuko's sixteen already...soon she'll be wanting to move out on her own, and start her own life... And someday Ryoko will do the same... But you're not going anywhere anytime soon, are you, Ancestor?" Seiko smiled at her with her eyes closed.

"...Wasn't planning on it." Lilith rolled her eyes.

The door to the bedroom slid open and Shamiko stepped out.

"Then let's go on being good housemates, then...great-grandmother-in-law. You'll always be welcome under my roof." Seiko giggled, then stood up. "Enjoy your breakfast." She turned to Shamiko and gave her daughter a big smile. "Good morning, sleepyhead! You're up early."

"...Morning, Mom."

"I'll get your breakfast ready."

'She's been insufferably cheery all morning. What did you do?' Lilith asked telepathically. Ever since Shamiko had awakened her own telepathy during the incident with the Mizuchi, the two dream demons now almost always talked to one another mentally, only speaking out loud when they got overly emotional, or needed someone else to hear them.

Seiko walked back into the kitchen, humming a tune to herself—it sounded a bit like the one from her dream last night.

Shamiko looked at Lilith. '...What exactly did I walk in on?'

Lilith grumbled, then dug into the rice with the fork and scooped some into her mouth; she couldn't get the hang of chopsticks. She spoke to Shamiko through her telepathy magic as she chewed.

'Shamiko...take me with you when you move out... The idea of being stuck here with Seiko forever makes my skin crawl...now that I have skin again.'

'Who says I'm moving out? Besides, what would you do about having to clean around the river everyday?' Shamiko mentally replied, as she walked to the fax-phone, grabbed the notepad next to it, and sat down at the box with it. She took the fork from her pocket and turned it into a pen.

'I'll commute if I have to!'

Seiko walked back in with another bowl of rice with egg and a pair of chopsticks, setting them down in front of Shamiko, still smiling like the cat that ate the canary. "Here you are, Yuuko. Working again today?"

Shamiko turned to her mother. "Yeah. Momo's never gonna let me pay off my debt to her all at once; she keeps making excuses to turn it down and only accept 50 yen a month. I'm just going to have to try to keep it from getting any worse." She sighed. "I'm going to work every day I can during winter break, and save up the money, so the next time fate adjusts to make me pay for something, I can handle it. Momo'll never see me as an equal if I have to keep asking her for help!"

"That's very responsible of you, dear. You're really growing up! I'm so proud of you..." She patted Shamiko on the head, then returned to the kitchen.

Something good must have happened after I left her dream, Shamiko thought to herself. I haven't seen her this cheerful since we got the new refrigerator...

Shamiko turned back to Lilith, and started clumsily eating breakfast with her left hand, while simultaneously trying to write something down with her right hand. It was convenient that they could privately converse with their mouths full.

'I'm not even sure if I'd want to move out. I can't leave Mom and Ryo here unless I'm sure they're gonna be safe!' Shamiko looked over to the kitchen, then up at a trapdoor in the ceiling, then back to Lilith. 'I don't want to leave them behind when they could be in danger!'

'They're just normal people without powers.' Lilith replied. 'The Light Clan won't care enough to go after them while they've got bigger game to hunt. Being around us might be putting them in more danger than you're protecting them from...'

'What if someone uses them to get at me, though? What if some magical girl abducts them when I'm not here, and tells me "let me seal you or I'll kill them"? And where else would we be safe besides here in this town...?'

'Hmm...I can't say that wouldn't happen. Some magical girls are ruthless enough to do that,' Lilith mentally replied. 'Well, maybe there is no right choice to make, after all...'

'...It's too early for me to be thinking about these kinds of things. Let me at least graduate first!'

Seiko walked out of the kitchen with two more bowls of rice and egg with chopsticks, climbed up a stepladder beneath the trapdoor in the ceiling, and shouted up at it. "Ryoko, come get your breakfast!"

'Maybe I'll just move in with Momo...'

Lilith glared at Shamiko in disgust. 'Then I might as well stay here!'

The trapdoor slid open, and Ryoko peeked out. "Oh, sorry, Mom, we're busy with an experiment up here."

"Experiment...? Here." Seiko handed the bowls and chopsticks up. "And give this one to your...friend."

Ryoko took them. "Thanks, Mom."

'Wonder what they're up to now?' Shamiko mentally said to Lilith.

"Oh, thank you, Mrs. Yoshida!" Sion Ogura's voice called down from the attic.

"Just don't blow anything up, you two..." She laughed nervously.

'Beats me. They spend all day up there, lately.' Lilith replied.

"Don't worry, Mom, it's nothing dangerous. We're just testing ways to get barriers to last longer." Ryoko closed the trapdoor.

Seiko climbed down from the stepladder. "Yuuko, how long has that weird girl been living in our attic?" she asked.

"I...honestly don't know, Mom. At least four months. I have absolutely no idea how she got all that stuff up there without anyone noticing, and I have so many questions that I'm afraid to ask..."

She probably left it behind, back when she used to live next door, Shamiko thought to herself. But I promised to keep her secret...

"But Sion's been a really big help to us, and she means well, so let's just leave her be...?"

Seiko walked into the kitchen and started washing the pots she'd cooked breakfast with. "She must have her reasons... Does Sion not get along with her family?"

"I don't think she even has family, Mom. She's never talked about them..."

She doesn't.

Shamiko alone knew what Sion really was and where she'd come from, but had promised Sion's...former self that she'd keep it a secret, because if others knew, it would...endanger Sion's existence.

Lilith eyed the notepad, still eating her food. 'Whatcha writin'?'

'A letter,' she projected to Lilith. 'I was up for a couple of hours in my dreams thinking over what I was going to write, so I'm getting a rough draft on paper in reality before I forget it.'

'Ooh. Lemme see!' Lilith grabbed the notepad out from under Shamiko's pen.

'Hey!'

Lilith read the text, and coughed as she almost choked on rice, taking a gulp from the soda bottle to wash it down.

'W-w-what is this? When I said "seduce Momo Chiyoda," I meant seduce her to the dark side, not seduce her into bed!'

'Give that back! It's not done!' Shamiko seized the notepad back.

Regaining her composure after nearly choking, Lilith grinned at Shamiko, blushing. 'Well, if that's your...preference...maybe one will lead to the other... Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh... Don't think I haven't noticed how touchy-feely you've been with her since she changed her battle form. You can't keep your hands off her when she transforms!'

'Ancestor...' She glared at Lilith, who was rubbing her hands together and grinning manically.

'Go and corrupt her with your feminine wiles!  Make her give in to your passion until she wants to become your vassal so desperately she'll sacrifice anything! If you can't defeat her on the field of battle, defeat her on the field of desire!  I'll make a proper demon of you yet!'

Shamiko gripped the pen tightly, angrily scrawling, her tail thrashing with irritation.

'That's NOT what I'm going to be doing!'

Lilith's expression turned confused. She scooped another forkful of rice into her mouth.

'...then what ARE you doing? Because that letter's awfully...suggestive.'

Shamiko raised an eyebrow.

'...it is?'

Lilith pointed her fork at the notepad.

'If I didn't know you weren't doing it on purpose, I'd say you had a talent for it.'

Shamiko ripped the first page off the notepad, wadded it up, and tossed it into the waste paper box by the front door.

'...I'm gonna start over.'

Seiko looked back at them from the sink. "I know you girls are talking to each other somehow, but I don't know how you do it..."

Shamiko turned the pen into a long white stick with a megaphone on the end, then held it up with the megaphone pointing at her mother.

Seiko heard Shamiko's voice, but in her head and not her ears. "It's magic, Mom."

"...Of course, dear. ...Wait, you're serious, aren't you?"

Lilith sent Seiko a telepathic message. 'Indeed! Just like this, great-granddaughter-in-law... Heh, heh, heh.'

Shamiko did it too with her telepathy stick. 'It's a demon thing, Mom.'

Of course, Seiko couldn't respond in kind.

"...is that so?" She turned away, laughing nervously, making a prayer gesture with her hands. "This is fine... If I wanted normal children, I would have never married a demon..." she quietly said under her breath.

Someone knocked three times on Momo Chiyoda's door. She was lying half-asleep and face-down on her couch, still in her normal clothes.

"...mmm, what time is it...?" Momo lazily picked up her smartphone off the table in front of the couch, and looked at the time. 8:37 a.m.; she'd stayed up late last night.

The knock at the door repeated three times, louder and more insistent.

Momo had been lazing around for most of the winter break, playing games on her phone or lifting weights when not asleep. Mikan had gone to visit her family for a few days, taking her 'daughter' Ugallu to meet her parents, and Shamiko had been busy at work with her waitress job, so Momo had been left to her own devices.

Whoever was at the door heavily pounded four times.

"MOMO! GET UP AND OPEN THIS DOOR BEFORE I FREEZE OUT HERE!" came an angry high-pitched shout from outside. It was Shamiko.

Her familiar Metako looked at the door, then at Momo. "The time hath come," the old cat said, the one thing he was still capable of saying.

Momo lazily pushed herself off the couch. "Mmph, all right, Metako, I'm up." She half-stumbled to the door.

She's probably here with breakfast, Momo thought. Shamiko cooked meals for her since Momo was nearly incapable of cooking for herself. Her magical girl powers caused strange and unusual things to happen to her culinary handiwork, leaving mostly inedible results nobody had the stomach for. Well, almost. Shamiko would happily eat anything Momo made for her—either being a demon gave her a cast-iron stomach, or she was just the least picky eater ever.

She turned the knob, pushed opened the door, and sure enough, the demon girl was waiting, dressed in a gray sweater and long dress. Shamiko had an impatient look on her face, her tail was shivering, and she held a large rice cooker and a folded piece of paper in her hands.

"Took you long enough, damnit! It's cold! Here. It'll have to be breakfast and lunch...just re-heat it later." Shamiko handed the cooker to Momo.

"Thanks, Shamiko." Momo accepted it. "Sorry I kept you waiting. I just woke up..."

Metako stepped out the door and nuzzled Shamiko's ankle.

"Hello, Metako." Shamiko bent over and pet him for a moment, scratching behind his ears, then stood up straight again. "Momo...are you mad I'm working full-time over winter break, rather than training with you all day?"

Metako sat down, looking up at Shamiko, his tail waving happily. The cat seemed to know the demon bore his former master within her.

"No. ...What's that?" She pointed at the letter.

"Something else for you!" Shamiko presented the letter with both hands. "Read it!"

Momo took the letter and glared at it. "Is this another challenge letter, Shamiko?"

"N-no!" She started fuming, and her tail extended out as straight as an arrow. "J-Just read it after I'm gone!" She quietly added, "...It's embarrassing."

Shamiko took off like a shot, running back to her own apartment to prepare for her part-time job.

"The time hath come," the old brown cat spoke.

"...She's still weird. Come back in, Metako."

Momo closed the door after Metako walked back inside, put down the rice cooker on the table, then lifted the lid and peeked into it. It contained a mixture of rice, scrambled eggs, and fried vegetables lightly seasoned with furikake.

She's always nagging me to eat more vegetables. She puts them in everything she makes for me, Momo thought. Not that I mind.

Momo replaced the lid, then unfolded the letter.

"Okay. Let's see what Shamiko's up to now..."

She started reading.

Dearest Momo, how fare you on these long and cold nights, as the new year approaches? You shall be the recipient of my warmest demonic affections on this special day. I have long pondered on what I should give to you, but I feel that no store-bought possession is adequate to represent my feelings for you, that no craftwork could equal the value of our relationship. Instead, I shall offer you something truly priceless, a treasure that money cannot purchase, something that only I can give to you. This evening, allow depravity to lay claim to you and await my coming at the ninth hour. Tonight, let our hearts become one in darkness, and I shall fulfill your deepest desire.

The letter was signed with a representation of Shamiko's tail, a mark she used as a signature sometimes.

Momo's eyes went wide, and a blush erupted across her face.

"W-what...? My...d-deepest desire...? She doesn't mean...? S-she...wants to...to...?"

Momo sat down on the couch and set the letter aside, suddenly feeling weak in the knees, her heart racing. Shamiko typically spoke rather harshly, but in writing she could be quite romantic, though when she did, she just rambled and never got to the point. She put her heart on full display through her acts of kindness, all while fiercely denying what was written upon it, leaving Momo to read for herself what the demon's feelings were—and she wasn't very good at it.

"Shamiko, why can't you just be straightforward and say what you want...?"

Metako looked up at her from the floor. "The time hath come."

"You're not helping."

Half an hour later, Shamiko was heading off for work. The Cafe Asura had reopened in a new location in the Tamasakura Shopping Center, near the old shop, a couple of weeks earlier. Their old landlord wouldn't take them back after all the property damage Lico had caused, but Shirosawa had managed to convince another agency to give him a lease on a new storefront, with the help of a hefty bribe...er, "security deposit"...from Momo, since getting the tapir and kitsune demons a new shop meant getting Lico out of her hair. The cafe had temporarily relocated to the downstairs floor of Banda Terrace, and it had been a series of disasters from the start, from a foreign magical girl that had hunted Lico down to settle a grudge, to the pipes bursting and flooding out the place when an unseasonably cold autumn freeze had hit.

Shamiko was glad things were finally getting back to normal, and she could have some peace and quiet at home again—even if it meant walking a kilometer to work instead of just going downstairs. 

She stepped outside, dressed in a heavy knee-length brown coat over her clothing, her tail sticking out from underneath. She carried a bag containing her work uniform. As soon as she'd closed the front door and taken a few steps, it popped open again behind her.

'Hey, wait up! We need to talk more.'

Lilith emerged, closed the door again, and followed Shamiko a few steps behind. She had on a shorter black coat and multiple layers of sweat pants, as well as a festive Santa hat that covered her unbroken left horn. She was carrying trash clean-up tools and garbage bags in a wicker basket with straps on it so she could wear it like a backpack, and the Ancestor Statue was in her coat pocket. Lilith was free of her sealed space, but her spirit was still tied to it and she had to keep the statue close to her or she'd fall unconscious. Now she was the one who carried it around these days.

'Are you seriously wearing that silly hat outside again?' Shamiko mentally asked.

'Indeed! It's fashionable, and seasonably appropriate! ...You're really going to dive back into your subconscious again?' the elder demon asked. 'You remember what happened last time...'

They descended the stairs from the upper floor of Banda Terrace.

'I know, Ancestor... Momo's going to be with me the whole time, though. She got me out before, she can do it again. I'm not worried.'

'Provided you can find an exit! You sure you don't want me to go, too...? I can help you more, now that I'm out of this thing.' She patted the statuette in her pocket. 'My powers are still mostly sealed, but I can do a lot more now from outside than from inside the sealed space.'

'Absolutely not! I want this to be a special occasion, just between me and Momo... But keep an eye on us, all right? If we don't wake up in the morning...'

'Okay, okay. I'll be your backup plan then,' Lilith projected. 'I should be proud that you're showing confidence in your powers...but don't take chances. Go in, do what you're going there to do, and get yourselves out fast. You really worried us when you got stuck in your own nightmare and couldn't wake up. Momo would've slit her wrist and given me her blood if she thought it would have done any good...I only stopped her because I knew you'd never forgive me if I let something happen to her.'

Shamiko turned to Lilith, a look of shock on her face. "She was going to do WHAT?!" she shouted out loud.

Lilith sighed. '...I've said too much.'

Shamiko put a hand to her forehead in exasperation. 'Momo...she'll just never say anything if she thinks it'll make someone upset...'

They left the apartment complex and started walking down the sidewalk. Shamiko's tail swayed as she walked; her more disciplined ancestor kept her own tail mostly still.

'Ancestor...are you happy with your life now?'

'It's taken a lot of getting used to...being outside. After five thousand years in my sealed space...I kinda forgot most of the little details. For the first time in a very long time, I'm not sure what the future holds...but I'm getting to try new things, and make actual choices. I think I like it.'

'It's still my fault...it's all because I dropped that cup in the river and upset that snake that you ended up like this...'

'And what if you hadn't? I'd just be back in my sealed space by now, pigging out on imaginary junk food, complaining about not getting enough offerings, being bitter and lonely as usual...going back to being able to see the world, but not touch it...'

'I thought you liked living like that?'

'It had its charms...but you know what came with it? Watching my progeny live and die while all I could do is whisper into their dreams once a decade or so. Thanks to you and your friends, I get to live among my family again, in flesh and blood, and share in your lives.' Lilith curled her tail around Shamiko's waist for a moment. 'We might be many generations apart, but you and Ryoko are just as precious to me as my first children were, my cute little descendant! I'd do it all over again.' She smiled.

"Ancestor...!" Shamiko wiped away a tear. She'd slip up and speak out when she got emotional.

When they approached their neighbor's house, the orange dog tied up in the front yard there started barking as it heard the two dream demons approach. As they walked past the open gate, they both turned to the dog and in unison, yelled "SHUT UP!" at it. It whimpered, and ran into its doghouse.

'I should've gotten the idea to brainwash that dog months ago,' Shamiko telepathically said.

'You're welcome,' Lilith replied. 'But so what if I have to pick up garbage every day now? For once, I'm doing something with my life that people actually appreciate. You've inspired me to...to make a fresh start. So don't worry about me. If this world has a place for me, I'll find it...and if not, I'll make one! Heh, heh, heh...'

'All right, Ancestor... If you're happy, I'm happy too! And I like having you around like this! Because I can do this now!'

Shamiko hugged Lilith.

"Huh?" After a moment of surprise, Lilith hugged her back. "Hehehe, so can I!"

"You're kind of like the grandmother I never had," Shamiko said, smiling.

"Well, you're missing a few dozens 'great-'s in front, but for you I'll let it slide..." Lilith gave Shamiko a bright smile and ruffled her hair a bit. "my cute granddaughter!"

"Please keep teaching me more, grandmother!"

"Oh, I will...!" She continued telepathically. "Because of the seal, I can't do much, but I still know how to do it. I have plenty to teach you that you can't learn from anyone else...when you're ready for it. When I'm done, you'll be the successor to my title as the "Dominator of Dreams!" Heh, heh, heh, heh..."

After a moment more in their mutual embrace, they let go and continued walking, but now both of their tails bobbed and waved happily in sync as they went.

'Do you really think I'm capable enough for that...?' Shamiko's eyes went wide.

'I think you have the potential...at the least, you'll be able to do more than I can, since my powers specifically are sealed. ...Don't let that happen to you!'

'I know...' Shamiko sighed.

'Besides...while I'm not planning on anything unfortunate happening to me, I'll feel better knowing our powers and secrets will live on in capable hands if it does.'

Shamiko clenched a fist, with a determined look on her face. 'Ancestor... I wouldn't let anything happen to you!'

'I know. I just feel a little more...vulnerable now.' Lilith frowned.

They walked in silence for a minute or so before a thought came to Shamiko.

Hmm...wait a minute...

'By fresh start, you just mean another plan to conquer the world, don't you?'

Lilith gave Shamiko an evil grin. 'Well, of course! A true demon never gives up on their ambitions! Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh! I only told those magical girls I was joking because I thought I was only going to have a week on the outside!' Her expression turned more pensive. 'But since it looks like this is more of a permanent arrangement, all of my plans are back on the table.'

Shamiko rolled her eyes. 'You never change...'

'It's called perseverance, my dear descendant! I meant it when you said you'd inspired me. You've shown me that while our clan's powers might be worthless in direct combat, they're the perfect weapons to win without fighting!' Lilith feebly clenched her open hand into a fist for a moment. 'And since this body has the combat power of an insect...if I'm going to conquer the world and restore our clan to glory without doing battle, I'm going to have to take it slow and do things a bit more your way.'

'I see, so you're going to try a "rule the world from the shadows" approach now...?'

'Now you're getting the idea!' Lilith gave a thumbs-up. 'A new plan for a new era! We'll gradually captivate hearts and dominate minds in all the right places! Those we control will do our bidding without even knowing why!'

'Ancestor...I don't know if I can stand with you on that... '

'What? Why not?!'

'I'm sorry. I just... I can't. It's wrong. I still want to get back what we've lost... I just want to do it my own way. '

Lilith smiled awkwardly. '...I see.' Her expression turned to a stern glare. 'W-well, then! Get Momo Chiyoda to fall to darkness and properly join our family as your vassal already! That makes it all the more important! ...She can be helpful sometimes.'

'...I'm working on it.' Shamiko smiled deviously. 'If tonight goes well, I feel it'll be a big step in the right direction...!'

They came to the intersection where they'd have to part ways; the cafe was south, and the most direct path to the river was north.

"Good luck with work, Shamiko. I'll see you at home," Lilith said out loud.

"You too."

They touched their tail tips together as a farewell, and parted ways. Shamiko crossed the street, heading for the cafe for her waitress job. Lilith watched her go for a moment, before rounding the corner to head for the river.

She had to perform a daily duty to the Tama River's guardian spirit by cleaning things up along the riverbanks, in return for it keeping her alive—should she break their deal, the dragon jade it had implanted within her that was keeping her soul anchored to her new body would instead engulf her in flames, and her soul would be pulled back into her sealed space again.

For Lilith, it was a small price to pay to be truly alive again.

Chapter Text

Momo stood outside the door of Shamiko's apartment, the now-empty rice cooker Shamiko had left with her that morning tucked under her right arm. Though Momo was here to return it, she also had another reason to be here.

Her attention was focused on the paper taped to the door, which was covered by a complex geometric pattern made mostly of circles, with a few personal touches. Her left hand glowed with a magical aura shimmering in a multitude of colors as she traced over the patterns with her index finger; she was reading the flow of mana through them.

"Good. Shamiko's been diligent about keeping it charged..."

It was a magical barrier that prevented uninvited magical girls from being able to find Shamiko's home and family—or rather, a replacement. The original made by Momo's sister and mentor Sakura had been slowly decaying over the years, and the last remnant of it had completely withered away several weeks ago, after an...unusual incident.

"How are the magical circuits...?"

Sion Ogura had tried to preserve the last fragment of the old barrier, but instead had gotten...absorbed into it. Momo and Shamiko ended up going in to save her, and found a world within it full of altered destinies and averted fates the barrier had prevented. It had been necessary to 'clean out' those lost threads of fate, or when the barrier failed, it would have sucked in the whole neighborhood, leaving everything and everyone in it lost in time and space. Instead, when that world inside the barrier collapsed in on itself, and the three of them had barely escaped it, the last bit of the barrier on Shamiko's door had disappeared along with it. That was a big enough problem in itself, because while they'd saved their neighborhood, it meant Shamiko's family had lost their protection.

Momo had managed to design and produce a new barrier, with help from Sion Ogura, but she was much less skilled at making barriers than Sakura had been. Her version was far more high-maintenance, but at least it worked. She'd tested it herself—when she put a prototype on a building across town, Mikan had been unable to find the place, even when Momo had given her the address and exact directions to it.

"The mana flow looks good. Still leaking way too fast, though."

Unfortunately, the Yoshida family had been unprotected for a couple of weeks, and that time without a barrier had been a very bad couple of weeks for everyone involved. Momo and Mikan had ended up having to fight an old acquaintance, who went by the name 'Black Rose', who had come looking for a missing Navigator who'd vanished right after its charge had broken her contract, which meant she was looking for Shamiko's home—though she didn't know it.

Momo and Mikan hadn't really been friends with her back in the day, but they certainly weren't friends now. She wasn't anything now. Hopefully Black Rose being an arrogant demon-hunting loner meant nobody would come investigating what had happened to her. Magical girls made friends not just because you expected them to back you up, but because if something happened to you out there, nobody else would come looking for your core; your Navigator would just go recruit someone else.

"Okay. Nothing wrong with the circle itself..."

Finding nothing wrong with the central design, Momo checked around the edges of the poster. Although it looked fine at a glance, the magic within the paper was fading rapidly. Soon the barrier would start to wither away from the weakest edge like the original had done, only much faster.

"...It's already degrading. This one lasted a little longer than the last one, but it's not good enough yet... Not nearly good enough. How did you do it, sis...?"

Sakura's barrier had lasted ten years without any care given to it. Momo's would only last a month at most, and it still had to be reinforced daily with additional mana. Just to be safe, Momo was replacing it every two weeks until she learned how Sakura had given hers more permanence. She wasn't taking any chances with Shamiko's safety.

With her analysis of the barrier done, she released the flow of her magic and the glow from her hand stopped. It would be okay for another week. Finally, she knocked on the door and stepped back.

Seiko answered the door after a moment.

"Oh, good afternoon, Momo! If you're looking for Yuuko or Lilith, they're still at work..."

"I know. I was just returning this." Momo presented the rice cooker to Seiko.

"Ah," Seiko accepted it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Sorry if I interrupted anything."

"Actually, I was about to go out shopping for ingredients for tonight's dinner. Speaking of which...would you care to join us, tonight?"

Momo raised her left hand to her shoulder-length pink hair, nervously twirling a few strands. "I, uh...actually, I have other plans..."

"Oh?" Seiko said. "Will you be at home? We can at least bring you some food if you are."

"Sure. I'd...I'd like that. Thanks..."

"Why don't you and Mikan join us next week for New Year's, then?" Seiko asked. "You'll be our guests of honor. Besides, Yuuko says you don't have any other family, and I'd hate to see you spending the holidays all alone..."

Momo blushed a bit. "I appreciate the offer...but I don't want to intrude on a family celebration."

"Please; you've done as much for us as your sister did, if not more! It's the least we can do to show our appreciation. Besides...with as close as you and Yuuko have become, it feels like you're practically part of the family already..." Seiko smiled.

Momo's blush deepened. "Well, if you insist...I accept, then." She bowed a bit. "Thank you for your hospitality, ma'am."

"No, thank you! You and Mikan are practically our guardian angels. I'll send one of the girls over with some dinner for you later, okay, dear?"

Momo managed a bit of a smile. "Thanks... I'll be going now."

"Any time." With that, Seiko closed the door again.

Momo headed back to her own apartment, and heard her phone ringing as soon as she opened the door.

"The phone? Ah, I left it here, I wasn't expecting anyone to call!"

Momo rushed over and picked it up, saw Mikan's number on the display, then answered it.

"Hello? Mikan?"

"Momo? Why weren't you answering your phone?!"

"I was next door checking on the barrier and didn't bring it with me. Sorry. Didn't expect you to call this early."

"I told you yesterday I'd call again this afternoon! You never look at your messages, so it's the only way I can get your attention! Ugh. You can't even remember my birthday, why did I expect you to remember this?"

"I said I was sorry about that, Mikan."

"And then you accused Shamiko of giving you a nightmare of her trying to eat you as an excuse for not showing up! You know she doesn't try to mess with your dreams anymore; she says some 'macho Metako catman'  keeps chasing her out."

"I know she's done it to me at least once; she even admitted it. I guess that wasn't enough for her..." Momo sat down on the couch, sighing. "Well, enough about that. How are things with your parents?"

"Better than I feared, but not as well as I hoped... Things were a little awkward at first, but I think they're warming to Ugallu."

"She certainly takes some getting used to." Momo snickered.

"Papa's been beating himself up for years, blaming himself for what happened to me. He really needed to see with his own eyes that it's finally been resolved, and it all worked out for the best. He and Mama even kind of got to be grandparents out of the whole deal..."

"So you've finally accepted she's your daughter now?"

"Ugh...! I know, I know, I'm responsible for her...I admit it, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it... So, how are you doing?"

"It's a little boring, without you and Shamiko around..." Momo twirled a bit of her hair. "Just killing time."

"Are you upset that Shamiko's working so much lately?"

"I'm not sure why she's doing it... If she wants something, I'd be happy to buy it for her."

"That's the point, Momo. She thinks she owes you too much already, and wants to earn it herself. She's a very proud girl...guess it comes with being a demon."

"Hmm... Maybe you're right. I just don't want her to overdo it and wear herself out."

"Momo, you don't get it, don't you...?"

"What?"

"If you really want Shamiko to get stronger, then let her test her limits once in a while. Let her take on a challenge if she wants. Just be there to help if she asks for it, and catch her if she falls short. She'll only resent you if you keep trying to carry her all the time."

"...I see. Thanks for the advice."

"How are you so dense?"

Ugallu's voice came over the line in the background. "Mikan! Who's on the phone!?"

"I'm talking to Momo."

"Peach girl! Mikan's mom won't stop hugging me! She says I'm 'fuzzy!' And the food is awful! They put lemons on everything! I want to go hoooome!"

"Despite her complaints, she is having fun."

"Just a little!"

Momo laughed a bit. "Good to hear."

"Anyway, we're gonna stay through tomorrow, and come home the next morning on the first train. Papa's about to go drag us on a tour of the factory to show me what he's changed since I left, so I've gotta make this call short."

"I don't wanna go!"

"Get back here, you!"

Some crashing noises came over the line.

"Ugaga!? Ow! Let go!"

"Sorry about that. She's a slippery little weasel when she doesn't want to do something."

"Uga! Your dad's boring, Mikan!"

"Hmm... Well, I'm glad you smoothed things over with your family."

"Sorry for leaving you alone for the holidays, Momo. I had to do this, though."

"I must look pretty miserable if even Lilith tries to talk to me."

"Maybe Lilith can feel a little more at ease around you, now that you can't throw her halfway across town anymore."

"I still can, I'd just feel bad about it because now she'd actually be injured. The Ancestor Statue's a lot harder to damage."

Mikan laughed. "Well, I really needed to clear things up with my parents...seriously, they were messaging me fifty times a day until I agreed to come see them! Winter break was the only chance to get enough time off from school to do it. I'll be there for the New Year, though, and...next year I'll just stay there at home, with you and Shamiko..."

"It's fine, Mikan. I'm not upset, really. And I'm glad you get to see your family again... It's something I can't do..."

"Ahh... Say Merry Christmas to Shamiko for me, and I hope her family likes the gifts I got them!"

"Tell boss I said hi too!" Ugallu added.

"Let me guess, you gave them boxes of orange manjuu."

"Um...well...i-it's the thought that counts, r-right?"

Momo sighed. "...I'll let her know. See you when you get back, Mikan. You too, Ugallu."

"Okay, see you in two days. Say bye, Ugallu."

"Uga!"

A man's voice came over the line, probably Mikan's father. "Mikan, Ugallu, you ready?"

"Coming, Papa! Bye, Momo." Mikan hung up.

Momo put the phone down on the table in front of her couch where she usually left it.

I'm happy for her, she thought.

Momo picked up Shamiko's letter and read it again. It still made her heart flutter, but she was trying to decipher some meaning to it.

One phrase kept catching in her mind.

'This evening, allow depravity to lay claim to you...' She wants me to fall to darkness for whatever she has in mind tonight... Maybe a dream?

Momo reached up and touched the ornament on the left side of her head, a black sphere with a white angel wing sticking out—it was an outgrowth of her ether body, a representation of her physical and spiritual states. Once, it had been pink with a white wing.

However, half a year ago Shamiko had gotten herself trapped in a nightmare she couldn't wake up from, and Momo had refused to leave her that way. To save her dear friend, she'd given in to her inner darkness. To save the demon from an endless nightmare, she'd had to become a demon herself in spirit, and her hair ornament had become a black bat wing.

After Shamiko was safe, Mikan had then brought Momo back to the light by shooting her core with one of her magic arrows...but her hair ornament had stayed black with a white wing. It was a sign she now walked on a knife's edge between light and darkness...and she'd already fallen off a few times.

There was another option, though...

Momo got up, walked to the computer desk, and picked up a large five-liter jar that was sitting on it. She then pressed a button on a panel screwed to the wall labeled the "Ogura Button."

Almost immediately, a trapdoor opened in her ceiling, and a black-haired girl with large glasses in a black dress and cloak peeked down through it from above, with a creepily cheerful smile on her face.

"Momo! Always happy to help!"

Momo handed the jar up to her. "Sion...? I need another one of these...by Shamiko's request."

Sion Ogura reached down and took the jar. "Anything for Shamiko~! Give me two hours. I still have leftover ingredients from the last time. If it's her asking, this one'll be no charge."

The odd girl withdrew into the attic and closed the trapdoor again.

"Right...because you're not going to get her to pay seven-point-two million yen for it..." Momo grumbled.

The trapdoor popped open once more.

"Pharmacology research is expensive~ When you're developing any new drug, the first dose costs more than all the others combined!"

The door closed again.

Momo shook her head, her expression a gloomy deadpan.

"There's no privacy here..."

Escaping the barrier had brought them closer as friends, but Sion still really got on her nerves sometimes...

The afternoon was wearing on and the low sun was casting long shadows.

In a park along the edge of the Tama River, Lilith was attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to drag a pile of several full garbage bags to a nearby dumpster. A walking trail ran along the riverfront, with occasional benches every thirty meters or so. She'd spent the last several hours tidying it up.

"Grr...why is this body so weak!?"

A voice called out from behind her, on the nearby path.

"Hey! Shamicen! Got your hands full there? ...Cute hat, by the way."

"Who goes there?!" Lilith turned to face the voice. "Oh. Shamiko's friend... Anri, was it?"

"Heheh. Yep! Shami asked me to come by and check on you once in a while." Anri was holding two covered sturdy paper cups, one in each hand. "Care for an offering?" She raised one of the cups, with a silly smile on her face.

"I'm not amused—but I'll accept it." Lilith turned her back on the trash pile, walked over to Anri, and took the offered cup. "What is this?"

"Hot chocolate," Anri explained. "Might not be your thing, but something warm on a cold day is nice. Let's have a seat?"

Anri pointed at the nearest bench with her now-free hand. They both took a seat.

"Never tried this. What's it like?" Lilith asked as she removed the cup lid.

"Not fizzy, but I think you'll like it." Anri took the lid off hers and took a sip. "Ahh, hits the spot."

Lilith carefully took a sip of the beverage. "It's not soda, but I can see the charm of it..." She took a longer drink. "Nice and sweet, though. It's nice to try new things. Imagine my surprise when I found there were dozens of types of cola! I still don't know which one I like best!"

"Hehehe... So how's your new life been treating you, Shamicen? To think not too long ago you were a talking rock; you've really come up in the world."

"If I had really come up in the world, I wouldn't be down in the dirt picking up filth..." Lilith took a long sip from the cup. "At least the snake was reasonable enough to not expect me to labor every waking moment...the deal was picking up twelve kilograms of trash a day, no matter how long it takes. Some days I find some heavy stuff and I can finish quickly...but it usually takes five or six hours."

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much! You saved Shamiko, and you were the only one who could." Anri patted Lilith on the shoulder, then drank a bit of her drink. "She's really grateful, you know?"

"I know... I feel like we've been closer than ever since then." A smile came to the demon's face for just a moment. "It's been hard, though... I thought I had learned quite a bit about the outside world from the magazines I'd gotten through offerings, but now that I'm out here, I'm finding just how little I really understand. ...I'm out of my time."

"You'll get the hang of it, Shamicen! I'm rootin' for you." Anri gave a thumbs-up. "And if you've got any questions Shamiko can't answer about things around here, you can always ask me! Any friend of hers is a friend of mine."

"...I appreciate it." She downed the rest of the hot chocolate. "Mm. Not bad..."

"...You've got more friends than you realize." Anri finished off her own drink. "Say...if you've got to do this every day, why don't you try and make it a job and get paid for it?"

A puzzled look crossed Lilith's face. "...I don't follow."

"I mean, maybe you could get the city to employ you to be doing this? They clearly don't have enough people to take care of this mess. My mom's got some connections with the city council, want me to ask her to look into it? I can't make any promises, though..."

"I could get money for doing this? I could buy my own sweets? Go to Tama Health Land when I want?"

"Glad you got your priorities straight," Anri sarcastically said under her breath. "But yeah."

A wicked smile crossed Lilith's face. "Besides that, Seiko would treat me with more respect if I wasn't simply a freeloader in her home anymore..." She rubbed her hands together. "Yes... Perhaps this is worth considering..." She suddenly turned to Anri. "Tell me more." Her tail sprang to attention, curled like a scorpion's.

Anri looked at her nervously. "Whoa! ...Now I see where Shami gets it. You really are family! ...Like I said though, I'll let my mom know I've got a friend looking for work with some...unique needs, and we'll see if we can get the ball rolling. There'll still be some paperwork...and you're gonna have one really interesting résumé that might raise some eyebrows."

"I see..." Lilith's expression soured and her tail drooped. "...Now that I think of it, would that mean...I'd have to...wear some hideously unfashionable uniform? ...I...have problems...with conformity..." Her face deadpanned. "...If I do, forget it."

"Eh, I'm sure they won't make a big deal over it and make some exceptions. This town's full of weirdos; you fit right in!" Anri grinned, then pointed over to the pile of trash bags. "Well, how about I give you a hand with those, so you can get home?"

"You have my thanks."

Chapter Text

It was evening now, and the Cafe Asura had closed a bit early for the night after an extremely busy afternoon.

Shamiko wearily sat down on a chair in the staff room, after she'd changed out of her uniform and back into her normal clothes. She was worn out after handling over a hundred orders today.

Lico stood behind her, and patted her shoulder. "Good work today, Yuuko-han. It was our finest hour." She looked pretty ragged herself after having cooked for all of those hundred-plus orders today. Her pale hair was frazzled, and her fox ears drooped.

"Is it always this crazy on Christmas Eve?"

"Yep, it's one of the year's busiest days. Next week too...New Year's Eve, it's gonna be just as bad."

"...Well...if I made it through today...I guess I can handle anything this job'll throw at me."

"Today, you've been forged in the fires of hell an' emerged victorious!" Lico punched the air twice, alternating fists with each swing. "So I have something for you~"

The fox-eared girl took a small wrapped present from a nearby shelf, and gave it to Shamiko. "Here ya go~"

"Eh? A present?"

"Just a little somethin' I made for ya." Lico smiled with her eyes closed, tenting her fingers. "Go on, open it~"

Shamiko carefully unwrapped the package, then opened the hinged box inside. It contained a pendant; a small heart-shaped golden yellow leaf hanging on a thin brass chain. The leaf looked like an actual living leaf, but it was hard and felt like metal to the touch. Lico had probably enchanted it somehow.

"A necklace?"

"It's a good-luck charm. You've got the miko curse on ya really bad, worse than anyone I've ever seen who survived it, so this'll help ya a bit. Here, may I?"

Lico took the necklace and put it on Shamiko, clasping the chain behind her neck.

"It looks nice on you~" She smiled, wiggling her ears.

"Ah, thank you, Lico... I, um, didn't think to get you anything, though..."

"Don't worry. This is...in return for being my friend. I haven't had a lot of 'em over the years. It's hard to make friends when you have to keep runnin' from miko trying to seal you. That's as good a gift as any, so this is also my way of thankin' you for that. Today seemed the right day to do it."

"Ah...you're welcome!" Shamiko said. "...Anyway, I should hurry and head home, or I'll miss dinner. Mom's making something special tonight."

"Good night then, Yuuko-han. I look forward to workin' with you more next year~" Lico winked and made a fox sign with her right hand.

"Same here. Please look after me, too!"

They bowed to each other, then Shamiko put on her coat, picked up the bag with her uniform, put the box that had held the necklace in her pocket, and headed out to the lobby.

Her boss Shirosawa, a short tapir demon, was waiting by the front door.

"You did great considering how busy we were, Yuuko." He presented a thick pay envelope up to her with both paws. "Here's your pay for today, plus an extra bonus for your hard work this week. My gift to you."

"Ah, thank you, Manager!" Shamiko bowed to her boss as she accepted the envelope.

"I was surprised you asked for extra hours this week... How are you holding up?"

"I'm a little tired...but I'm all right. How's your back, Manager?"

Shirosawa leaned backward, then forward again, flexing his spine while groaning a bit. His species wasn't accustomed to walking on two legs and he always wore a medicated pain relief patch on his lower back. "A little worse than usual. It's been a rough week, with the re-opening and the holidays, but it feels good to be home again! I'm glad you're helping out, though I was a little worried you'd be overwhelmed taking on Honyu-dono's shifts for a week as well."

Shamiko smiled. "I'm all yours next week too, then school starts again and it's back to weekends only."

"Understood. I want you to take the day off tomorrow and rest, though. I'm predicting it'll be a quiet day...Lico and I can handle it ourselves." He adjusted his spectacles balanced on his snout. "I'll see you the day after; be here by nine forty-five as usual?"

"All right. Please look after me next year, too." Shamiko bowed to her boss again. "Good night, Manager!"

"Good night, Yuuko-kun. Be careful on your way home, it's almost dark."

"I will." Shamiko pocketed her pay, then left the cafe to head home.

The streetlights were coming on as Shamiko stepped outside. The sky was clear, and it was going to be freezing cold tonight. The sun had set a little while ago, but the western sky was still bright with twilight. Lots of people were bustling about the Tamasakura Shopping Center at this hour, many of them couples out enjoying the evening together, procrastinating last-minute gift-shoppers, or people just getting out of work and picking up a few things before heading home.

"So tired...as soon as I get home and eat, I'm gonna take a quick nap...going to need all the energy I can get for tonight with Momo." She yawned and stretched her arms. "I'd like to transform, but I feel like I'd freeze to death before I get back home..."

Patting the pendant under her coat and blouse, feeling it next to her skin, she gave a silent prayer of thanks for everyone who was looking after her these days. She then withdrew a familiar 'fork' from her pocket, turned it into a walking cane, then started heading home, slouching and leaning on the cane the whole way.

"The nerve of that woman to derogate me in such a manner!" Lilith grumbled as she closed the door to unit 202 with her tail, wearing a coat over her casual clothes. A covered plate of food was in one hand, the Ancestor Statue in the other. "I'm a dominator of dreams, not a delivery demon!" she protested as she walked next door.

She stood in front of the door of unit 203 for a good minute, steeling her nerves for this confrontation. Dealing with the pink magical girl never ended well for her.

"I wish I had something to stand on... Well, here goes..." She knocked on the door with the statue, then stepped back.

A moment later, it opened; her descendant's nemesis, and the greatest impediment to her own ambitions, appeared in the doorway.

"This is unexpected," Momo said.

Lilith extended the covered plate to Momo, a smug smile on her face.

"Magical Girl Momo Chiyoda! A token of pity, from the Dark Clan to you! Accept it with gratitude!"

"Um, right..." Momo warily took the covered plate, as if it contained a venomous snake coiled to strike.

"And another thing!" Lilith added, pointing with her now-free hand. "My precious descendant will arrive soon to share her burning passion with you! Prepare yourself, magical girl! Give in to her wiles and indulge in your desires; let her drive you to darkness! Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!"

"Your suggestion is noted. Good night." Momo started to close the door, a deadpan expression on her face.

"...You're not even going to thank me for the food?"

"Seiko made you do it, right?"

"Well, um...yes..."

"If someone makes you do something, you deserve neither blame nor praise for it. Give Seiko my thanks."

Lilith grumbled, then pointed angrily at Momo. "Don't think this means you've won!"

She turned away, but as she started to walk off, Momo grabbed Lilith's tail with her free hand. The demon turned to look back.

"W-wha...! Unhand my tail, you brute! It's bad enough you abuse Shamiko's; is hers not enough for you now?!"

Momo stared into Lilith's eyes.

"It's not about winning. ...We need to have a talk. Get in here." Momo dragged the demon into her apartment by her tail as she screamed, and shut the door.

"W-what are you going to do to me...!? Are you going to slit my throat and sacrifice my blood to your familiar!?"

"Why do you and Shamiko always make such ridiculous assumptions?" Momo let her tail go and pointed at the couch. "Have a seat while I put this in the refrigerator. I'm not going to have an appetite tonight, and I don't want it to go to waste...I'll eat it tomorrow."

Lilith hesitated for a moment, before Momo glared angrily again at her. "I said sit down."

"All right, all right, don't hurt me!"

She hesitantly complied, sitting with her statue resting in her lap on the closest end of the couch.

"I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." Momo walked into the kitchen with the plate of food.

Lilith took her tail in her hands and gently rubbed it where Momo had grabbed it. "Grr... This is going in the journal," she muttered. She warily looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings; she rarely ever thought to come into Momo's apartment, for good reason.

The first odd thing that caught her attention was a large jar half-filled with a blue-gray fluid on the computer table; a fist-size black lump floated in the ichor. She recognized it immediately.

She's actually going to do it!? Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh...you're more persuasive than I thought, my cute descendant.

Momo's cat hopped up on the table in front of the couch, staring at Lilith, as if judging her.

"Eheheh... H-hello...nice kitty...?"

Metako hissed at her.

"...We're never going to get along, are we?"

Momo returned from the kitchen, then stood behind Metako on the opposite side of the table, looking down at Lilith, her arms crossed and her expression neutral. Metako sat and observed.

"You know why I've been nice to you, even though you keep trying to stab me in the back?"

Lilith protectively held her statue to her chest. "You call throwing me...throwing this around all the time nice!?"

"I could have done worse. Well... Anyway... My sister tried to understand demons...she helped them, she did her best to get along with them...she considered Shamiko's parents her friends. She didn't think we were all that different. That's why she made this town a place where we could all co-exist. I've been trying to learn from her example, ever since I met Shamiko... Also, you're important to her...you're her family. She needs you."

Lilith hung her head. "Family..."

"When that mizuchi had Shamiko's soul and wouldn't let her go...you were ready to sacrifice yourself and take her place, weren't you...? That's something only family would be willing to do."

"I-I..." A tear rolled down Lilith's cheek. "If we hadn't done something, she'd have died in a few more hours... The idea of losing my precious descendant forever...it...it scared me! I would have done anything to save her. Anything..."

Momo nodded. "I was scared too... It was a problem I couldn't just punch away."

"Even though I ended up like this... I'd do it again. A hundred times over. She's...my friend...and the only one who respects me... It's not so bad living like this...now that I'm getting used to it..."

"I get that Shamiko needs to understand her powers...to learn how to fully use them responsibly, so she doesn't end up hurting herself or others. And she can only learn that from another dream demon...from you, Lilith..."

A proud smile crossed Lilith's face. "I'm the first and the best."

"The Light Clan might think your powers shouldn't exist, but I don't think what you two can do is inherently evil..." Momo said. "Like any power, any tool, it just is...what matters is how you use it. And Shamiko has only used her powers...to bring happiness to the people around her. To wash away nightmares that have been haunting people for years... To bring smiles to the faces of people who need it the most... To stop conflicts before they start. To make enemies into friends. And she learned it all from you...so you can do the same thing, if you'd just try it..."

"I see..." Lilith said, nervously clutching her statue. "Most of my power is still sealed...but I have the knowledge, though, and I can pass it on..."

Momo ran her fingers through her hair, looking a bit flustered.

"I don't think what she's done is wrong... In fact, I think it's exactly what she should be doing with her powers..."

"You think so...? Lilith asked.

Momo walked around the table and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Lilith—not too close. She clasped her hands in her lap.

"I see in Shamiko...and even in you...the potential to do so much good. To help so many people. To make the world a better place. Maybe even...bring the light and darkness back together, and end this stupid fighting we've been doing for practically forever. For that, I'll help her in any way I can..."

"You would...?"

"You're the most influential person in her life...so I want you to keep teaching Shamiko. Teach her how to do what she's been doing, but even better. Teach her how to help even more people...keep her on the right path. Then learn from her example, and maybe try doing something good with your own power. If you do that...I'll also help you in any way I can. You'll have my full support. I'm sure Mikan will, too."

Metako chimed in. "The time hath come."

"...W-what?!"

"I don't think you're nearly as bad of a person as you claim to be, Lilith... You do get under my skin a lot, but there's no malice in it; either you're just trying to lighten the mood, or you're trying to point out in your own way when I'm not being honest with myself, right?"

Lilith nervously laughed. "...That's...sometimes why I do it. I've...come to respect you a little bit." She pointed at Momo for a moment. "O-only as a worthy rival to my family!" She lowered her hand again. "And...if something happened to you...it would make Shamiko cry."

A look of exasperation spread across Momo's face. "And you don't think she'd shed any tears for you if you were gone? That's why I didn't go through with your plan to smash your statue..."

"No... She definitely would."

"You look out for Shamiko's well-being...and you just want what's best for your family, right? I know you want to give them back what they've lost...but there's more ways to do it than just taking it by force. When you give your best effort to help people...sometimes you get something even better back."

When people thank me for picking up trash...I feel...good. I like it, the demon thought.

"I...like being praised for doing nice things... It's not wrong to feel that way, is it?" Lilith asked.

Momo smiled a bit. "Not at all."

"I think I understand...a little bit..."

"Good. I've just got one more thing to say, then."

"...What's that?"

"I've told Shamiko something similar to this already...but I might as well say it to you too. In fact, for you, it goes double."

Momo stood up again, staring down at Lilith, with a grim expression on her face. Lilith looked back at her nervously.

"Why are you always so harsh on me!?"

"If you lead Shamiko down a dark path; if you make her start using her powers for evil... Before you can become the world's enemies, I'll seal her away myself. Then I'll put you back in that statue and throw it deep in the ocean where nobody'll ever find it again."

Lilith screamed, sprang from the couch, and shrank away from Momo. She backed into a corner, clutching her statue to her chest, as if it could protect her.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I'm still a magical girl. I might not actively be looking for wrongs to set right anymore, but when one's right under my nose, I'll deal with it. To protect the world...I'll do what I must. Though I'd hate myself forever for doing it..." Momo slowly walked towards Lilith. "As long as you're not a threat, you have nothing to worry about."

"Stay back! Stay back!" the demon shouted. She coiled her tail around herself.

"I don't want to hurt you or Shamiko. Don't make me do something I'll regret..."

Lilith cowered in the corner. "N-no...don't...don't...!"

Momo took a few steps closer. "She means more to me than life itself. And for her, I'll put up with anything from you...well, almost anything."

Panic gripped Lilith's face. "Don't... Don't hurt me...! Don't hurt her...!"

Momo closed the remaining distance, put her hands on Lilith's upper arms, and stood her upright.

"I'd rather be your friend." Momo gave her a friendly smile.

Lilith gasped. Her eyes shot open. "W-w-w-w-what are you saying, magical girl?!"

"I promise to keep you both safe...as long as you set a good example for Shamiko."

"Y-You will...?"

"Yeah... I'm really sorry I scared you...but I had to make it clear. Shamiko has a good heart, and I don't want that to ever change."

Momo let Lilith go, walked to the front door, and opened it.

"Go on home and think about what we've talked about. And tell Shamiko...I'll be waiting."

Lilith warily walked around Momo, her tail limply dragging. She avoiding meeting Momo's gaze as she went, and stepped through the door.

"...I will."

The door closed behind Lilith as her sagging tail cleared the doorway. Slowly, she walked back to the adjacent unit.

When she got to the door, she took a close look at the barrier taped to it. A thought occurred to her.

This isn't just for Shamiko's sake...? It's for me, too...? Momo...is protecting me...?

Lilith opened the door, walked inside, and closed it behind her.

"That took a while," Seiko said. "Did something happen over there? I thought I heard shouting..."

Lilith shook her head. "The magical girl and I...just had a little talk."

She walked to the 'Daddy Box', set her statue down on top, and sat down next to it herself.

"She didn't try to hurt you, did she?" Seiko asked.

"No... Quite the opposite...and she said thanks for the food."

She wrapped herself in the blanket she'd left lying nearby when Seiko had made her go deliver food to Momo. The old apartment was drafty, and the heater did little to help.

Maybe it's time for me to really make a fresh start...

The bedroom door slid open, and a half-awake Shamiko peeked out. "Um, wha-what happened? Did Momo do something...?" she asked.

Lilith sent Shamiko a thought with her telepathy magic.

'She's waiting... Good luck.'

Back in her own apartment, Momo picked up the large jar of medicine on her computer desk, walked to the panel labeled "Ogura Button", and pressed it again.

Two seconds later, the bespectacled mad scientist poked her head out of the trapdoor in the ceiling.

"Can I help with anything else!?"

"I'm taking this now."

"All right." Sion adjusted her glasses. "Remember, you can only take a few doses of that before your ether body builds a tolerance to it, then it's not going to work anymore—it won't trigger a controlled fall to darkness, and it won't stop your mana dissipation if you fall on your own. The longer you wait before you use it again, the slower it'll take, but I doubt you'll get more than five more uses maximum. It's not good for your core, either."

"I know, but Shamiko made it sound like this is important." Momo replied.

"You haven't...fallen on your own lately, right?" Sion asked.

"I've...slipped a few times since I decided to change my battle form." Momo had changed it to look like her fallen "Darkness Peach" form's outfit, just modified to operate with her normal light-based magical girl powers. Her old pink and white dress she'd used since childhood just didn't feel right to her anymore, and it had felt kind of embarrassing to still be wearing it as a teenager. The new one was more practical for getting physical, anyway.

"Momo, you can't have it both ways. Cores weren't meant to flip-flop and yours is growing more unstable every time you let your negative feelings get out of control. Every time it happens, it's getting harder for you to come back from it. One day, you're going to pass a point of no return...and you'll only have two options left."

"And those are...?" Momo asked.

Sion smiled, but it was a smile that didn't reach her eyes; it was her 'you won't like what I'm about to tell you' look.

"Make a permanent vassal contract with Shamiko, and accept the consequences...or disappear, and break her heart."

"I see..." Momo said.

"I would hate to lose you."

"As a friend, a financial backer, or a case study?"

"Yes."

"Sion... Shamiko and I are going to be doing something tonight...and I don't want you observing. Got it?"

Sion giggled. "...Enjoy your special night!" She backed away from the trapdoor, and closed it.

Momo sighed, then removed the lid from the jar in her hands.

She was already under a 'temporary' contract that made her become Shamiko's vassal-in-spirit while she was tipped to the dark side, which let Shamiko bring Momo along into dreams. Shamiko's dream powers were rooted in demon magic, and she could only bring blood relatives, vassals, or fellow demons with her.

Momo winced as she looked into the jar at the revolting fluid. "Well, here goes..."

A permanent contract, though...was a whole other matter. It would irrevocably turn Momo to darkness—no going back—but at least her core would be stable that way. But the biggest problem for Momo was that unless Shamiko's magic power was stronger than her own, she'd be brought down to the demon's level, losing most of her strength. Although Shamiko had gotten stronger, she was still nowhere close to surpassing Momo in anything.

Finally...Momo just didn't want to give up on her attachment to the light. Neither of them were ready for it.

She looked at Metako, her familiar.

"The time hath come, old friend. You probably don't want to watch this..."

She raised the jar to her mouth, and slowly started to drink the vile-tasting contents.

Metako growled, then ran out of the room.

Shamiko stood by the front door with her futon rolled up and tucked into her arms, wearing her long coat over her normal sleepwear. Though work had been frantic today, she was feeling better after a satisfying dinner and a short nap.

"Mom, I'm going to spend the night next door with Momo. I want to do something special for her..."

"Something...special?" Seiko asked.

"Don't give me that look, Mom. We're just going to be dream diving. You've seen how it works."

"Oh... Okay." Seiko smiled. "Yuuko... I just want you to know...as long as you give your heart to someone you truly love...I'll support your choice, no matter who it is."

"...Umm, thanks, Mom... I'm heading out. I'll be back in the morning."

Shamiko opened the door, stepped out, and closed it behind her.

Seiko sighed, looking over at her younger daughter Ryoko, sitting at the 'Daddy Box.' The Ancestor Statue sat upon it. She was reading one of Ogura's books on magic theory. It was still her dream to become her older sister's "tactician," but circumstances had called for a temporary change in focus.

"Ryo, dear...promise me you'll find a nice man to marry when you grow up? I'd like to have grandchildren someday..."

Ryoko looked up from her book to her mother. "Why are you...oh." She looked down at the box. "...Yuuko likes girls, doesn't she?"

Seiko sat down at the box with Ryoko, sighing. "I think it's just one girl in particular..."

Lilith came in from the kitchen with an open bottle of soda, wearing her 'My blood sugar level is dangerous' shirt and blue sweatpants.

"Hey, Seiko. If you're worried about the continuation of our family line, I could always teach Shamiko how I created my offspring... Well, when she thinks she's ready to be a mother, anyway..."

"You...created your offspring?" Seiko asked, turning to her.

"Look at this physique," Lilith said, indicating her petite stature. Both Lilith and Shamiko were short—about 145 centimeters—albeit the latter had a much more shapely figure. "You think I ever gave birth with a body like this? Best of all, if she does it my way, it won't matter who her partner is!"

She gave a sly wink and a grin, then her expression turned more somber as she walked to the box and sat down with her family. "Besides...it might be safer for her than the natural way, with her body as frail as it is...she'd only bear the soul, not the vessel too."

"Ancestor, not in front of Ryo! ...But tell me more later..."

Ryoko had already gone back to her book, and was trying hard not to blush from embarrassment. She knew "birds and bees" talk when she heard it.

Chapter Text

A cold winter wind blew through Banda Terrace, sending a shiver down Shamiko's spine and tail despite the long coat covering her. It was definitely going to freeze tonight.

She stood outside her apartment's door, examining the poster taped to it. Momo had warned her to never directly touch it. Considering what had happened with the last barrier, nobody wanted to find out what the new one might do. A lesson had been learned: don't mix barriers with chaos.

The one time she'd poked the old failing barrier with something, it had reacted by sucking her and Momo into some strange pocket dimension where everything was...wrong. They'd had to clean up a bunch of "bad ends" the barrier had prevented to find Sion and get out again. After clearing up all the distortions inside the barrier, and narrowly escaping the pocket dimension collapsing on them, the last piece of the barrier on her door vanished along with it.

"I should recharge it before I head over," she said.

They'd had to take refuge downstairs behind Asura's barrier, while Shirosawa and Lico were still running their temporary cafe out of the apartment downstairs. Momo had made this new barrier for her family's protection—but she had made it Shamiko's responsibility to reinforce it nightly with additional mana.

"This always feels weird, but it's gotta be done..."

Shamiko took her 'Whatever Staff' from her pocket, then held it up near the poster and focused her concentration on it, invoking a magic spell. A purple stream of magical energy began to rise from her fingers, swirling around the fork, turning pale blue, before flowing into the paper. Momo had taught her this spell in order to channel mana into the barrier without risking a reaction. Shamiko's demon powers weren't compatible with a protection barrier of the Light Clan; in order to reinforce the barrier safely, this spell took a bit of her dark magical energy and purified it enough for the barrier to safely absorb it.

"I wish Momo would teach me some actual attack spells already...or at least help me come up with my own..."

'Protect your family with your own power,' Momo had said, 'and let your magic grow even stronger by doing it.' Normally she recoiled at Momo's "training" efforts, but this was her family's safety on the line. She did this every night without hesitation or complaints, right before bed, since it made her feel sleepy. It was getting a little easier each night, though. Lilith was trying to get her magic stronger too, by having her use telepathy so much. It was rare when her Ancestor and the magical girl agreed on anything.

"Isn't my magic strong enough for that yet? I can do a few more things in reality now...that's progress, right?" She sighed.

Still, those two weeks her family had been unprotected and vulnerable had been terrifying. Something had happened with Momo and Mikan that was still bothering them, and they refused to talk about it with her, other than to say they had 'dealt with a threat'—which probably meant 'a magical girl was hunting for you.' Shamiko had a lot more appreciation for this little piece of paper now, and to Momo for making it, as well as a much greater understanding of why it was so important to her family.

The blue flow of mana into the barrier slowed down and spread out. Shamiko felt her magic being impeded.

"Oh...it's full."

She stopped the spell, lowering the fork. Momo had instructed her to immediately stop when she felt the barrier resisting her mana. That meant it was fully charged; trying to overload it would just wear it out faster, and weaken its effects.

"Ahh... There." Her family was as safe as they could be for another day or two.

She walked over to about the halfway point between the two apartments, stood next to the railing, looked around to make sure nobody was out and about that might be watching, then raised her fork again.

"Can I do it? ...Staff of Flames!"

The fork turned into a wizard's staff the likes of which one would find in a role-playing game, red and orange in color, topped with a red gem carved to look like a flame. She pointed it to the sky, focused intently on it, and the staff fired a sputtering of sparks and a tiny fireball the size of her fist. It got about two meters before it sputtered out.

...No. Not good enough, she thought. I can use the Staff of Healing, but...I can't protect myself with that... My power's not strong enough in reality yet...but it's slowly improving! I just have to keep trying...!

In her dreams, Shamiko could wipe out an army of thirty thousand of her Ancestor's training dummies in one night with her staff, in the form of magic weapons like this. In reality, she could barely make a few sparks. But up until a month ago, she couldn't even get her staff to take this shape in the waking world at all. Slowly, but surely, she was making progress...

The staff reverted to a fork again, and she put it back in her pocket.

She walked over to unit 203, the adjacent apartment, and knocked on the door. It was almost 9 p.m., as she'd mentioned in the letter.

No answer came immediately.

"Hurry up already!" She knocked on the door again. It finally opened, and Momo peeked out from behind the door, only showing the right half of her face.

"Shamiko...come in?"

"You don't have to tell me twice." She rushed in; Momo closed the door behind her as she tossed down the rolled-up futon, then took off her loafers and coat.

And then Shamiko finally noticed.

"W-w-what are you wearing?!"

Momo was wearing a thin pink nightgown, and her angel wing hair ornament had turned to a bat wing. She was blushing furiously. "I'm...I'm not sure I'm ready for this...but if it's you, then..."

Shamiko's face twisted into a snarl and she fumed. "What the hell did you think I came here to do, you filthy-minded magical girl!?"

"What?" Momo said, looking dumbfounded, and a bit disappointed. "So what are we doing...?"

"I was talking about... —I did it again, didn't I?" Her tail went limp. Back at the start of summer, she'd given Momo a letter that she'd intended as a challenge to a duel, but the wording made it sound more like an invitation to a date, and Momo had shown up dressed accordingly.

Momo walked over to her computer desk and opened the drawer. "Next time you write me a letter, Shamiko, just skip the poetics and be direct about what you want." She took out her 'Heartful Peach Morphing Stick' and changed her clothes with it back to a teal shirt and black sweat pants, then threw the wand back in the drawer and closed it.

"...Sorry. The first draft was even worse."

Shamiko walked up to Momo, stood right in front of her, looking up a bit to stare her in the eyes—the demon girl was half a head shorter than her magical girl companion—then raised her right hand and delicately stroked the bat wing on the left side of Momo's head. "At least you got the hint about this..."

"My stomach isn't going to thank me later for taking another dose of that corruption stabilizer drug."

A hint of a peach fragrance filled the air as Shamiko continued to gently stroke the bat wing on the left side of Momo's head. Shamiko couldn't help but take a deep breath of it. She found the scent captivating.

"Stop that." Momo blushed again, gently pushing Shamiko's hand away.

"I needed you to do that, because we're going to be diving into my dreams tonight..."

Shamiko turned her attention back to her futon, and started unrolling it in the open space in the middle of the small apartment's main room.

"I'm going to take you to visit Sakura..."

Momo's eyes went wide. "Visit Sakura...?!"

"Since her core is inside me, and I can't bring her back to you...I'm going to take you to her."

"Shamiko...!"

"...Let's get to sleep."

Using her demonic powers of dream manipulation, Shamiko projected herself into a representation of her subconscious mind. Once she was there, she invoked her magic and transformed into her Crisis Management form; purple light enveloped her, and her sleepwear was replaced with the skimpy blue outfit that showed off a lot more skin than she cared for. Shamiko then pulled Momo's consciousness into her dreams as well, as soon as the magical girl was also asleep and dreaming.

The two of them now stood in a dark and empty hospital hallway, lined with rooms for patients, all empty, dark, and locked.

Momo was already in her fallen "Darkness Peach" form, clad in a short pink top, black skirt, thigh-high stockings with a heart cutout above the knees, ankle-length black boots, and a long black cloak with a pink inner surface. She held a black katana in her left hand. The only difference between this and her normal transformation now was the bat wing on her head.

Already, Shamiko's eyes were lit up at the sight of Momo's bare midriff, with the scars on her hip; her hands reached for Momo's stomach, her tail eagerly wagging.

"Control yourself, demon!" Momo grumbled.

Shamiko relented in her lustful advance, holding her hands to her chest. Her tail drooped. "Sorry..."

"Wait... This is the nightmare you couldn't wake up from, isn't it?" Momo asked.

"...Yeah. This is...my repressed memory...from when I was little, and in the hospital," Shamiko said. "Because the hospital is where I met Sakura, this is where we'll find her..."

Shamiko looked one way down the hallway, then looked back the other way.

Momo warily looked both ways up and down the hall. "It looks safe enough for the moment..." She pushed the katana into her cloak and it vanished into a magic extra-dimensional storage space she'd created within the cloak. Shamiko knew she carried around several days of food and water in there as well as her sword...and who knew what else?

"Last time, I ran around lost until she kind of found me... I think I have the right place this time... Sakura? Are you here?"

A voice spoke within Shamiko's mind.

'Yes... Hello again, Yuuko. I can't see you, but I can feel that you're close.'

A joyous smile lit up Shamiko's face. "I hear her! She's here!"

"She is?! I didn't hear anything..." Momo said.

"...you didn't? ...Well, I suppose it's natural you're not going to hear a voice in my head..."

The first time Sakura had spoken directly to her mind, at Mikan's old family factory, nobody else had heard her, and Momo and Mikan had thought Shamiko was imagining it then too.

"Sakura, can you show yourself...?" Shamiko called out.

'I can, if you help me pull myself together the way you did last time. Your magic is stronger now, so I'm recovering faster, but I'll still probably only be able to appear for several minutes...'

"You are hearing something I don't, aren't you?" Momo asked.

Shamiko nodded. "Umm...I'm hearing her in my mind, and not my ears..."

"I see... I guess that makes sense...her core's in you, after all."

'Is someone there with you?'

"Yes! Momo's here too! ...She wants to see you!"

'Momo...? Momo's here?!'

Shamiko pulled out the fork again, holding it in front of her, concentrating on sending her magic power to the presence she felt nearby.

To Momo's surprise, a white glowing mist began to condense around them. It was gathering, forming into a humanoid shape...

'It's working. Keep going, Yuuko!'

Momo looked warily at the congealing mist. "Wait, what is that...?"

Shamiko was focusing intensely. "Almost... munya... Come on...!"

With a flash of light, the mist solidified into the form of a woman with long black hair, in a pink and white dress and black stockings. She was standing in the hallway with Momo and Yuko, facing away from them. It was Sakura Chiyoda...Momo's long-missing sister, who's residual core was now within Shamiko, keeping her alive...

"I did it!" Shamiko shouted.

Momo's eyes widened in amazement, her mouth agape. The uniform their new guest wore was...very familiar...

"Perfect! Oh, wrong way...!" Sakura said. She slowly turned around, and her eyes widened in astonishment at the sight of who was standing there...

"Momo...?!"

Momo rushed forward to hug her. "Sis!"

Where Momo's hands made contact with Sakura's arms, though, they slightly phased out, becoming indistinct.

"Ahh, Momo, you'll have to be gentler, I'm not quite solid~"

Momo quickly let go. "Oh, sorry! Is...is it really you, Sakura...?"

Sakura smiled. "Momo...look at you... You're all grown up... You're taller than me now..." Her smile then turned to puzzlement. "And you're...a dark magical girl now? ...Has Yuuko been a bad influence on you?"

Momo shook her head. "No...well, maybe just a little..."

"Umm...she's...my vassal..." Shamiko said nervously. "It's the only way I could get her here..."

"I did this to myself, sis... I lost my way a long time ago... She showed me a path that suited me better...and I chose to follow it." Momo said.

"And what happened there...?" Sakura pointed at the scars on Momo's left hip.

"Old battle injury. It was...a few years after you...left."

"Has Yuuko been taking care of you like I asked her to?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah...she's great...she really is... I wouldn't still be alive, if not for her," Momo said. "Umm...it...it really is you, right? I'm not imagining this? What...what did we do on my fifth birthday?!"

Sakura's expression turned pensive, as if recalling something. "Your fifth birthday? Yes, I remember. It was a beautiful, warm early spring day... We got up early, ate breakfast, then we went to our favorite hilltop to watch the sun rise. After that, we went to the temple to pray for another good year... When we came home, I gave you your present...a cat doll that I'd been making in secret. You looked so happy... Your smile was so beautiful."

"I still have that..." Momo said.

Shamiko stood silently and watched, tears of happiness starting to flow down her own cheeks. This moment was all theirs, and she didn't want to ruin it. Wait...she could do more! She took her staff, and focused, diverting her mana to strengthening Sakura's self-projection, the same way she'd gotten her to appear in the first place.

Momo deserves every possible second together with Sakura...they haven't seen each other in ten years, she thought.

Sakura continued. "After that, I made you a birthday cake. You blew out your candles, we ate half of it together, and saved the rest for the next day. You tried to give Metako a slice... He said thanks, but no thanks, sweets were bad for cats." Sakura laughed a bit.

"Yeah...he still talked back then..." Momo lamented. "Now he's basically just a normal cat, and all he ever says is his old catchphrase, but he says it at oddly appropriate times...so I think his mind is still somewhat there..."

Sakura pouted. "Metako...oh, poor thing. He must miss me so much... Anyway...I had to do some work on my thesis, but I put you on my lap while I typed, and we talked about what you wanted to do now that you were a magical girl, and how I planned on training you so you could do it. Later that evening, we went to dinner at your favorite restaurant. You just had a bowl of soba noodles...then six bowls of ice cream. Never could get you to eat right..."

So Momo's been a junk food junkie from the start? Shamiko thought.

"You fell asleep at the table, so I carried you home and put you to bed with your new doll..." Sakura trailed off. "It was a wonderful day."

Momo's usual unshakable composure crumbled, and she...started crying.

"It...it really is you...!" She gently hugged Sakura, crying over her dear sister's left shoulder. "I...I missed you...so much...!"

Sakura returned the embrace. "Momo... I'm... I'm so sorry..."

Shamiko was crying herself, in awe of this outpouring of emotions; ten years of loss, longing, and sorrow being transmuted to joy before her very eyes. Despite that, though, she kept focusing on maintaining Sakura's form as best as she could.

"W-why did you do this...?" Momo finally asked, after a good minute of silent sobbing.

"Because an innocent little girl who'd just barely turned six years old was suffering for no reason other than having an ancestor who made some bad choices," Sakura said. "Because she was dying for no reason other than not wanting her baby sister to share her fate. Because her father swallowed his demonic pride and begged me to save her life, saying he'd do anything, sacrifice anything, for his daughter..."

Sakura looked over Momo's shoulder at Shamiko. She was the "little girl" Sakura had saved...

"...and it was in my power to do something about it."

"But how did things end up this way?" Momo asked.

"The world isn't as kind as we'd like it to be..." Sakura said, her voice sullen. "You can't stand up for what's right without making some enemies...and I made quite a few by making this town a safe place for everyone..."

She looked back to Shamiko. "Yuuko... I wasn't the one who sealed your father, but it's my fault all the same, because I wasn't able to protect him... I let him down. I let your family down. But at least...the person who did it...will never hurt anyone else ever again..."

Shamiko gulped. "I...I think I understand..."

Sakura smiled. "If the day comes when you can safely remove my core without any risk to you, I promise I'll find a way to help you unseal Joshua. I owe you so much more, but it's the least I can do..." She turned back to Momo. "How's your friend doing? That Hinatsuki girl? I wish I could have done more for her too..."

"Mikan? Actually...we broke her curse, using your notes... She's fine now."

"You did?! That's wonderful! That's...one less thing for me to worry about. I'm very proud of you two..."

"But, Sis..." Momo said, "...why are you here? Inside her?"

"When you lose your body after you use all your magic...when you become a core...your memories start to vanish, until all that's left are your regrets and an urge to try to fix them...and for me, it was how I'd failed Joshua...that the only way I could make it up to him was to save Yuuko...in the only way I had left to me..."

"You...didn't even remember me while you were a core?" Momo looked hurt.

"I didn't...I couldn't...!" Sakura closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears. "How could I have forgotten the most important person in the world to me...? It's a terrible experience, Momo... Having everything you are stripped away, driven only by guilt... Never let it happen to you...!"

"I might have found out for myself...if she hadn't saved me..."

"I finally realized what I'd done after I'd given my core to Yuuko...when I had access to her mind, and was able to think straight again... But it was too late..." Sakura said. "All I could do then...was pray...pray that fate would somehow bring you two together...that it would bring me back to you, Momo. Seeing you two here, together, now I know...that my prayer's been answered..."

Sakura leaned forward against Momo, hugging her.

"I'm so sorry... Things never should have turned out this way...I should have been here for you... I ruined both of your lives...!"

"If you hadn't done what you did, I wouldn't have had a life at all!" Shamiko said.

"And I wouldn't have had to become as strong as I am now..." Momo added.

"I see...so you both made the most of it..." Sakura smiled a bit. "But it still doesn't make it right..."

"Sis...there's a couple of things I need to ask..."

"What is it, Momo?"

"The barrier...the one you made for Shamiko's apartment... It's gone. It withered away. I made her a new one, but it doesn't last more than a few weeks...how did you make yours?"

"Shamiko?" Sakura asked? "Is that Yuuko's nickname or something?"

"Uh, yeah," Momo said. "Her demon name is 'Shadow Mistress Yuuko', but that's a mouthful, so I shortened it, and it kind of caught on..."

Shamiko grumbled. "...I'm used to it."

"Do you want me to call you that too, Yuuko?"

"Umm, ah...actually...I don't think I could take my savior using a silly nickname!"

Sakura giggled. "Okay, then... Seiko picked that name for you, right? I think I see what she was thinking..."

"...Huh?" Shamiko looked puzzled.

"But to answer your question, Momo..." Sakura continued, "It's all in my notebooks. I don't have much time with you, and...it would take too long to explain. You'll have to find it in there yourself."

"I see...then how can we get Shamiko strong enough so that she doesn't need your support anymore?"

"That's... I can't give you a complicated explanation for that either, and that's not written down anywhere...I'm using Yuuko's mind as a medium to project myself...and she doesn't have the words to describe what I want to say..."

Shamiko growled, fuming. "I know I'm dumb, okay? Don't rub it in!"

"Just help her to grow stronger in every way you can...and let her help you overcome your own weaknesses. You'll find the answer if you work together...but she'll need you, and you'll need her. Both of you need to become as strong as you can possibly be."

"That's...going to take a really long time, isn't it?" Momo asked.

"It's going to be very difficult, for both of you, but it's within your reach...so don't give up."

"But...by then...I'll be even older than you are... You won't be my big sister anymore..."

"You want someone to take care of you again, don't you...? Then just let Yuuko be your 'big sister' from now on, then!" Sakura smiled.

"What? But she's...so short..." Momo quietly said.

"I heard that!" Shamiko shouted. Just mentioning the height difference between them made her temper flare.

"What did I tell you about judging people by appearances, Momo?"

"...don't do it." Momo sulked.

"She's older than you, and she takes care of you. That's all that matters, right? ...I don't want you to be alone anymore, Momo." Sakura took Momo by the shoulders and spun her around to look at Shamiko. "I won't stop you from trying to help me—and I hope you don't give up trying—but don't overlook what you have right now...right in front of you..."

Sakura raised her voice for Shamiko to hear. "Yuuko, I'm entrusting Momo to you. I want you to be her family now, okay?" Sakura smiled warmly, pointing at Momo. "Give her the support that she needs...and all the love that she deserves."

Momo turned back to Sakura. "Sis, you can't be serious...!"

Shamiko gave her best sinister smile, baring her fangs, clenching her left fist while holding her fork in the right. "You've got nothing to worry about! She's my vassal, after all! She belongs to me! I won't let anyone else have her!"

Sakura giggled. "Yuuko, you sounded just like your father... He'd always call Seiko his 'precious treasure' and say he'd never let anyone else have her... You've turned out to be a lot like him."

"Sis, what...?" Momo had a pained 'why are you doing this to me?' expression on her face.

Sakura lowered her voice to a near-whisper. "If she's calling you her vassal, she already considers you family. She cares for you more than you know, Momo...the whole time we've been talking, Yuuko has been diverting her mana to me to help keep this body stable a little longer, all for your sake. Otherwise, I'd have already vanished by now...I don't have much time left."

Momo looked over at Shamiko, finally noticing her strained expression, and how she was intently focusing on her staff. Momo turned back to Sakura.

Sakura leaned in close to Momo, whispering in her ear. "Momo... here's my final lesson for you. Demons...have trouble expressing positive feelings...they're greedy and possessive by nature, but that doesn't make them bad... When a demon tells you something like 'you're mine' or 'you're precious' or 'you belong to me,' they're trying to say, 'I love you.'"

Momo gasped and blushed.

"There's more to it than that, of course... Figuring out the rest is your homework!" Sakura smiled a bit and winked. She stood up straight again, then looked down at her feet. She'd become translucent from the knees down.

"It looks like I'm almost out of time..." She took Momo's hands in her own, gazing into her eyes. "If you can...come see me again on your birthday, Momo. I've missed too many of them already...and I don't want to miss any more. You too, Yuuko. You have to come together anyway, right? Aren't your birthdays about six months apart? So let's meet again twice a year...?"

Shamiko didn't answer; as she saw Sakura fading away, she redoubled her efforts to try and keep her around.

Just a little bit longer...!

"Okay..." Momo said. "I'll be looking forward to it..."

Sakura had faded away from her waist down, and the rest of her was slipping away.

"See me off with a smile, Momo. Smile for me like you used to, when you were little."

"I...okay...!" Momo smiled. She was forcing it, but she smiled, despite her tears.

"That's better... I always loved to see you smile." Sakura smiled herself, as she slowly faded away. "I love you, Momo... Goodbye for now... Until we meet again..."

And then she was gone.

Momo lowered her now-empty hands, and fought back the tears.

Shamiko fell to her hands and knees and began sobbing, loudly enough to startle Momo a bit.

Shamiko heard Sakura's faint voice in her mind one more time.

'Thank you Yuuko...for letting me see my dear little sister... I have to rest now... We'll speak again...'

Chapter Text

Shamiko looked to be in more despair than Momo had ever seen from her. "...I'm...I'm so sorry...! I-I couldn't...I couldn't give you any more time...!"

Momo slowly walked over to her, knelt, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Shamiko...it's only because of you that I got to see Sis again at all. Thank you... Thank you so much... Now come on, stand up..."

With Momo's help, Shamiko slowly stood up, but her tail still hung limp.

Momo held her arms out to her sides. "Go ahead and touch. I know you want to. You're such an incorrigible demon..."

"Huh?"

"Just for a moment. You deserve a little reward..."

Shamiko immediately put her hands to Momo's tummy; her tail immediately perked up, and a smile of guilty pleasure came to her face as her cheeks reddened.

After about twenty seconds, Momo pulled Shamiko's hands away. "Okay, that's enough. Time to get out of here."

The demon pouted.

Almost as if on cue, clicking, sliding, and tapping sounds started coming from the hallways around them...

"Sounds like your nightmares are coming out, Shamiko... I think we might have to fight our way out of here..." Momo said.

Shamiko looked around nervously, her tail jaggedly kinking up. "I... I d-d-didn't think about this... Umm..."

"We need to find an exit, fast." Momo looked one way, then the other, down the hallway. "But which way do we go?"

"...I-I can find it!" She held the fork out in front of her. "Staff of Navigation! Find a way out!"

The fork changed to a stick, and began spinning in the air. It slowed until it came to a stop, pointing generally down the hall behind them and to the right.

"That way!" Shamiko said, pointing with her right hand in the same direction as the stick.

"That again? It worked before..." Momo said. "I'll trust it."

A low ominous rumbling sound echoed through the halls.

"W-what was that?" Shamiko whimpered.

Momo drew out her katana from the cloak. "I'll get you out of here, Shamiko. I won't let you be trapped in your nightmares again!"

"I-I'm not helpless! And I'm not afraid! We'll...we'll fight our way out together!"

"You look tired...are you sure you can fight?"

Shamiko seized the staff and raised it above her head.

"CHEAT WEAPON!" The staff became a giant black fork, longer than she was tall, with three barbed tines. She took it in both hands, wielding it like a spear.

Shamiko gazed into Momo's eyes with a determined look. "I can do it if I'm with you!"

Momo smiled. "All right...you want to do this together, then...? Let's find that exit."

Let me show you how strong and brave I can be now, Shamiko thought.

They set off down the hall, in the direction the staff had pointed. After just a minute, they had their first encounter with Shamiko's fears made manifest. An IV infusion pump and drip rack rolled on wheels down the hallway, heading right for the two of them.

Momo stopped and looked at Shamiko, then at the approaching medical apparatus, then back at Shamiko.

"Shamiko...show me that you can handle this. Defeat that one on your own."

Shamiko clenched the giant fork, raising the tines to waist-level. "I...I can do it!"

It drew nearer. The tubes hanging from the bag of fluid rose up like vile translucent serpents coiled to strike, needles extending like fangs.

"TAKE THIS!" She thrust the fork into the machine's display panel. The entire device simply dissolved into a black mist when the tines made contact, which dispersed into a cloud, then faded away completely.

Her face lit up with exhilaration. "I... I did it! I can fight them...!"

Momo clasped Shamiko's shoulder, beaming a proud smile. "Yeah. You did it."

Shamiko flashed a triumphant smile herself. "I can do this! I'm...I'm not weak...! I can fight! I can fight with you...!"

"Then I think it's for our first joint battle together...partner." Momo smiled, then lowered her hand and resumed walking, beckoning Shamiko to follow at her right side. The demon matched her pace, fork ready to strike, her tail wagging in excitement.

They rounded a corner, turning right, and two more IV drip stands were waiting for them, rolling menacingly towards them.

Momo slashed at the one on the left, chopping it clean in half; the pieces faded away and vanished. Shamiko stabbed the one on the right, and it disappeared in a puff of black mist as the fork made contact.

"See?!" Shamiko half-said, half-gasped, leaning on her fork. "We're...we're fighting together!"

"It's about time."

"L-Let's...keep going!" Taking her fork in both hands again, Shamiko walked forward, her gait unsteady, but her tail still waved excitedly. She'd always wanted Momo to see her as a strong, reliable ally, and now she was getting a chance to prove she could be one. Momo stayed by Shamiko's side, katana at the ready in her left hand.

Two syringes that skittered and skulked on four glassy legs rounded a corner up ahead of them, advancing on them.

Momo hesitated as they approached, not sure to deal with such a small enemy.

"No! Go away!" Shamiko shouted. She smashed the syringe charging at her with the flat back of the fork, dissolving it to mist.

As the other was about to skewer Momo in the ankle, she merely kicked it away, sending it flying into a wall and shattering on impact. The pieces faded from existence before they hit the ground.

"Those...reminded me of something..." Momo said. The sight of the Ancestor Statue crawling about on four long legs, like some freaky insect, apparently still bothered her enough that something similar in shape could unnerve her as well.

"Momo...?"

"I...I'm fine now." The wariness faded from her expression. "I just noticed...when you attack with that fork, it's erasing these things, where I have to actually break them. That really is a cheat weapon, isn't it?" She snickered. "Are you a cheat after all, Shamiko?"

"I-I...no! Um...!" Shamiko stammered.

"I'm kidding. When you're at a serious disadvantage, you can't afford to fight fair. Keep it up." Momo gave a thumbs-up.

"Roger!"

"...But if you ever cheat in a duel with me, I'll throw you into next week."

"...I'll remember that."

They resumed walking, turning left at the next corner.

"You can use that thing pretty well. It's kind of like a spear in that form... Maybe it's just the right weapon for you, Shamiko."

"You think so...?"

"Yeah. It doesn't take a lot of strength to use a spear well...it's more about being fast and accurate."

"Hmm..." Shamiko looked the fork over.

"Want to add some weapon practice to your training regimen? I don't have experience with using a spear, but we'll figure something out for you."

"...O-okay!"

Moving further down the hallway, they passed several perpendicular hallways with small rooms between them. The side halls were dark...if anything was down there, they couldn't see it...

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Momo said. "Keep an eye out behind us, Shamiko."

"O-okay... I don't like this, either..."

Shamiko watched over her shoulder. A moment later, she saw something moving in the shadows, emerging from a side hallway behind them.

"Look out!" Momo shouted.

An animated IV stand rolled out to attack, followed by a giant person-sized syringe bouncing on its plunger, filled with green liquid, topped by a meter-long needle.

"There's more behind us!" Shamiko cried out.

"They ambushed us...! Shamiko, I'll leave the ones behind to you!"

Shamiko nervously raised her battle-fork as the giant syringe bounced up to her.

"Needle... No... NO!"

She clumsily swung at the ominous fluid-filled tube and it turned to black mist on contact.

Behind her, she heard shattering glass and flowing liquid, but didn't look back. The IV stand drew near, dangling cords tipped with needles thrashing like cobras, seeking flesh to sink sharp fangs into.

"STAY AWAY!" she screamed, stabbing at the menacing machine, similarly unmaking it with a glancing blow.

She turned to find Momo staring down at the broken wreckage of two similar opponents, the pieces fading from existence in the dream, yet the green fluid remained on the floor. It had a foul, acrid smell.

"Ew. What is this stuff...?" Momo asked, backing away from the slowly spreading pool of green gunk.

"L-let's not touch it." Shamiko carefully walked around the spilled fluid. "A-are these things...getting smarter?"

"It...seems that way. I guess I can rely on you to watch my back, though."

"Huh?" Shamiko raised an eyebrow.

"You can do more here in dreams than in reality, right?" Momo remarked.

"Well...yeah..."

"Since we're in a dream, I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have at my side here."

Shamiko gave Momo a warm fanged smile. "Momo... T-Thanks...!"

Stepping well clear of the noxious goop, Shamiko glanced around at the multitude of hallways around them. "Maybe I'd better check the direction again..."

"Yeah," Momo agreed. "Good idea."

Holding the fork again, she shouted, "Staff of Navigation! Find that same exit again!"

The fork turned into a plain stick again, spinning for a brief moment before pointing to their left and slightly forward.

"That way?" Shamiko looked left. "This doesn't tell me how far it is, but I think we're getting close..."

She reclaimed her staff and returned it to the tall pitchfork form it had been in a moment earlier.

"The last time we were here, Lilith made us a way out so we didn't have to go far. This time, we're having a lot more trouble..."

"I'm sorry..." Shamiko sulked. "...I might be able to mess with other people's subconscious minds, but I can't do much of anything about my own. I think I'm immune to my own powers... I can't change anything but my staff."

"So when it's your own subconscious, it's basically 'look, but don't touch?' Is it even safe for you for us to be in here?" Momo worriedly asked.

"The biggest danger is getting lost and not being able to get out...and I've already done that. I wasn't afraid to come this time, though...because you're here with me!" She smiled.

Momo smiled back. "Because of me, huh...? Well... Let's go left at the next hall. I think you're right about getting close."

Turning the corner at the next hallway, they saw three huge person-sized syringes bouncing towards them on their plungers, foul green liquid dripping from their meter-long needles.

"I-I-I'm... I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU ANYMORE!" Shamiko shouted. She ran ahead, brandishing her giant fork and swinging it forward through all three syringes, each of them vanishing into mist as the demonic utensil made contact, leaving no mess behind.

Shamiko doubled over from the sudden exertion, leaning on the fork for support, gasping for breath, then fell to her knees.

"Shamiko!" Momo ran to her side.

"I...I can still fight...just give me a minute..."

"All these things with needles...?" Momo pondered. "Shamiko, I think I know what your worst fear is now..."

"I-I'm not... I'm n-not..." the demon protested, as tears formed in her eyes. "I...I...when I was...in intensive care, I was...getting ten, fifteen injections a day... IT HURT SO MUCH!" She wailed.

Momo knelt and put her right arm around the demon. "Shamiko..."

"There were days...I wanted to...just give up...just let it all end...but Dad always told me...'Don't give up!', so I didn't...no matter how much it hurt..."

"I'm sorry, I didn't..."

"Don't you pity me, magical girl!" She stood up, breaking loose from Momo's arm, then spun around and pointed accusingly at her, her tail arched like a scorpion's. "I know what you're afraid of most now, too! You're afraid of losing the people you care about! That's why you won't let anyone close to you, and try to do everything by yourself!"

The flummoxed look on Momo's face said enough: Shamiko was right on the mark.

Momo stood back up. "I won't tell anyone what you're afraid of, if you do the same. It'll be our little secret. Okay?" Momo asked.

"...Deal." Shamiko wiped her tears away with her sleeve. "...Let's keep looking for that way out."

They wandered for another few minutes, making several more turns when the halls dead-ended at a junction, encountering more menacing medical equipment animated with wicked intent. Shamiko fought them bravely alongside Momo, but with each strike of her fork she got a little slower and weaker as her "cheat weapon" drained her limited reserve of magic power.

At last, they finally emerged into a large empty room with an abandoned information desk in one corner; it could have been a waiting room, if there were a few dozen chairs to go with it. Across the room, the two dream divers saw a pair of double doors standing wide open at its far end. An intensely bright white light shone from beyond the doors, brightly illuminating the room, but making it impossible to see past the doorway. It was a way out of the dream.

But in their way stood a dozen more giant syringes and IV drip stands...and Shamiko was almost out of strength. Maintaining her staff in a "cheat weapon" form was hard on her, and she had already used up most of her magic keeping Sakura stable for as long as she did before they'd begun their escape. The only thing keeping her going was her determination to show Momo that she wasn't weak and useless, but her stamina was spent.

"That's the way out... but there's a bunch of them...in the way..." Shamiko lamented. She was wobbling on her high-heeled boots, and could barely hold her large fork at all, let alone attack with it.

Momo put a hand on Shamiko's shoulder. "Shamiko, you can barely stand... Let me handle them. You're out of strength."

"I'm...I am not!"

"You don't have to lie to yourself. You're a lot stronger than you used to be, and you have a really strong will. You even faced your worst fears just to do something nice for me. But I think your body's at its limit..."

"I...can still..." Her staff reverted back to its normal size and shape, as she'd used up too much of her mana to maintain its combat form. She leaned against the wall.

"Shamiko! Stop. You did great...but a vassal has to protect her Shadow Mistress from everything; sometimes even herself."

Shamiko grumbled. Momo only called her "Shadow Mistress" because she knew it annoyed her...but she really was out of strength. It was taking all that she had left just to maintain her Crisis Management form. She wasn't going to let that fail too; that would have betrayed her weakness.

"Fine..." she hissed. Two can play at this game, she thought. She pointed her staff at the manifestations of her nightmares. "Go forth then, vassal, and destroy them in my name...!"

Momo snickered. "As you wish, my Shadow Mistress." She raised her katana, and rushed at the nightmares with astonishing speed, rampaging through and striking them all down in a few seconds. The broken pieces slowly faded from existence.

"That was...that was so cool!" Shamiko gasped. "...waaaaait a minute..."

Momo stashed her katana into the unseen storage space in her cloak and bowed in a flourish to Shamiko, smiling smugly. "Your victory, as promised, oh Shadow Mistress."

"Why, you...!" She snarled. "You were holding back the whole time, weren't you?! What are you playing at!?"

"I wanted to see how much stronger you've become...so I let you test yourself. But now that you're all spent, it was time to get serious."

"Grr..." Shamiko stumbled towards Momo, her tail dragging limp on the tile floor, slowly putting one foot in front of the other.

"...I'm very proud of you, Shamiko."

Shamiko stopped in her tracks. "...What?"

"You made a dream of mine come true tonight," Momo said, warmly smiling.

"...Isn't this a dream right now, though?"

"Sakura was no dream... She said things you couldn't have possibly known about. I'd dreamed of finding her, of seeing her again... My search is finally over."

"I wish I could have given you longer to be together..."

"Shamiko...what do you dream of? You know, when you're not poking around in other people's dreams, and you just let yours happen...what do you see? What's the one thing you want most?" She quietly added, "Besides me."

"It's...embarrassing to say it..." Shamiko muttered.

"Then don't tell me; show me." She pointed at the fork. "Make a silly sign or a fan or something, like you usually do when you have something you want to say but can't say it...I want to know what your biggest dream is, Shamiko... If you could change the world any way you wanted, what would you do with it...?"

Shamiko looked down at the floor, then at her staff. She held it up in front of her, and concentrated for a moment. The fork became a fairly large signboard on a stick with a lengthy paragraph on it. Shamiko held it in front of her, hiding herself behind it from navel to nose, blushing. Her tail fidgeted nervously.

A world where everywhere has the peace we have here,
Where everyone can get along if they want to,
Where everyone can be friends with anyone else.
Where our differences don't matter anymore,
Where Light and Dark are just empty words.
Where I don't have to live in fear and hide behind barriers,
And you don't have to worry if our next day together is our last.
A world where you don't have to be the strongest to protect me,
So all you have to do is become mine.

Momo's smile brightened as she read it...then she giggled at the last line.

"I told you it was silly," Shamiko muttered from behind the sign. She lowered it, then turned it back to a fork, still blushing.

"No, it's not! It's a wonderful dream. It's just what I'd expect from you...it's a dream worth fighting for."

Momo walked up to Shamiko, and took her empty hand in her own, clasping tightly.

"So as your nemesis...your friend...your vassal in spirit... I'll do everything in my power to help you make it come true."

Momo lifted their clasped hands together to Shamiko's mostly-exposed chest, and gently pressed them to her heart.

Shamiko's eyes went wide. "Huh? Wh-wh-wh-wh-what are you doing...!?"

"I swear it on my sister's core," Momo solemnly said.

"Wha-"

"You swore on your father's box you'd stay with me...and you have. So it's my turn to make an oath to you."

Shamiko nervously backed away after a few seconds of stunned surprise, looking up to meet Momo's gaze, but she didn't let go of her hand. Her eyes started to water.

"Momo... I... I..."

Too flustered by her feelings contradicting her nature to put her thoughts into words, Shamiko again turned to her trusty shape-shifting staff of chaos to be her voice. The fork turned into another smaller sign in her hand, this time with only a single sentence on it. She raised it in front of her chest, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

If you'll stay with me in the darkness, I will be all the light you need.

Now it was Momo's turn to blush. For all of Shamiko's pure, simple, and honest feelings, it was easy to forget she was still a demon. Behind those golden brown eyes lurked an innocent shadow, cast by a warm and gentle darkness, but still a darkness intent on engulfing the object of her desire, corrupting it, twisting it to suit her own liking. And when she wanted something bad enough, she'd never give up pursuing it.

"You already are, Shamiko... As long as you're the light of my life, I'll be your shield...but I can't be your sword until you're strong enough to wield it...or the world is safe enough that you'll never need to use it."

"Huh...?"

Irritation spread across Momo's face. "...If you don't get it, then forget it."

"No, I get it... I'm just surprised...that you said it that way...you're usually so blunt."

"You're a bad influence, demon."

They both laughed, though Shamiko's laugh was more than a bit sinister.

Shamiko smiled nervously. "I always try my best for you...though it feels like it's never good enough..."

Momo returned her smile. "As long as you keep trying your best, and keep striving to do better, that's good enough for me."

"I won't give up..." A bit of confidence crept into Shamiko's smile. "...On anything."

Momo gestured to the waiting open doors, illuminated from beyond by a brilliant light.

"Shall we? There's just a little more. We'll do it together."

Shamiko tightened her grasp on Momo's hand. "Yeah...together..."

Hand in hand, they passed through the doors, though the glare hurt Shamiko's eyes. With the last of her strength, yet with her transformation and pride intact, she walked alongside Momo into the blindingly bright light.

It was a bit after midnight.

Lying together in the same futon, they both woke up simultaneously, and they both sat up at once. However, Shamiko immediately toppled backward and slumped into her torus-shaped pillow again with an exhausted moan, her eyes a blank stare, her long red hair scattered wildly.

Momo turned to look down at Shamiko.

"Shamiko... The first time you met Sis... she asked you back then to take care of me?"

"It was the first thing...she wanted me to do... She threw in 'protect the town' as an afterthought. It was my promise to her...since she saved me."

"So that explains it..."

Shamiko weakly sat up again. "You're going to be my true vassal someday...not 'temporary' or 'in spirit'...mine! Forever! I won't let anything get in the way of that...!" She feebly pointed at Momo. "Especially not your self-neglect!" She let her arm fall limp back at her side. "I'm the only one who gets to defeat you, magical girl...!" She lay flat on her back again with an exhausted sigh, her eyes half-closed.

"And you're the only one I'll accept losing to, demon."

Momo sat there for a moment, with just a hint of a smile on her face.

"...Momo?"

She lay down again, resting her head on Shamiko's left shoulder, and wrapping her left arm around Shamiko's chest in a gentle embrace.

"She really is in there..."

"Eh?"

"Thank you, sis..." Momo said quietly. "For everything you've done for me... For always looking after me..."

"Momo...was that to Sakura...?"

"To both of you."

Shamiko grumbled.

Under the covers, Momo felt Shamiko's tail gently wrap around her waist.

"Just remember what Sakura said; you're all mine now...!"

Momo snickered.

"I love you, too."

"Eeh!?" Shamiko's eyes shot wide open.

"...Good night." Momo closed her eyes; a smug smile was still on her face.

The weight of Momo's head and arm resting on her was already growing uncomfortable, but Shamiko didn't have the strength—or the heart—to push her off.

"Don't think this means you've won...!"

Shamiko closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep again...

But she was smiling, too.

Within a dream of her own, Lilith sat upon an opulent cushioned bronze throne, wearing her old outfit she'd used as a basis for Shamiko's Crisis Management form. To her right side, a mirror and a clay bowl of fruit sat upon a polished bronze table. On the armrest sat an anachronistic plastic bottle of soda.

Around her was a temple lifted from the pages of antiquity—and her memory. The baked mud-brick walls and columns making up the temple were smoothed and engraved with inscriptions and murals of great battles. The temple was on a high mound in the middle of a city on the coast—"Ur," they'd called it—a great city for its time with tens of thousands of people. A river ran past the city as it emptied into the sea, the rough ocean waters glistening in the late afternoon sun, as a cooling sea breeze gently blew inland. The hundreds of buildings other than the great temples and palace of the city were low, squat, ugly structures, built mostly of mud brick buildings, and beyond the city walls, cultivated fields and packed dirt roads stretched to the horizon.

Lilith picked up the cola bottle and took a long sip from it. "Ahh...the good old days... All that was missing was this." She shook the bottle just a bit.

She didn't have her sealed space and its on-demand comforts to enjoy anymore, but now that she had to sleep like everyone else, she could at least craft her own dreams to have whatever she wished there, to be wherever and whenever she pleased. After a long day of toiling over trash, here she could still truly relax.

"Wonder how they're doing...?"

Lilith put down the cola bottle, picked up the bronze mirror—a dream mirror—and gazed into it.

In the mirror, she had seen earlier that Shamiko and Momo were together in a shared dream. Now they were separate again; each in a deep, dreamless, normal sleep. That could only mean they'd successfully escaped Shamiko's subconscious.

"Oh...? They're out?"

A proud smile crossed her face.

"I won't be needing this, then."

She carelessly tossed the mirror aside. It vanished in a small flash of light before hitting the floor.

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh...well done, my cute descendant. I think you're about ready for my next lesson...!"

Lilith picked up the cola bottle again, leaned back, closed her eyes, and sighed in contentment.

"...But not tonight. You've earned a good night's sleep."

Very early the next morning, Momo slowly got up out of the futon and disentangled herself from Shamiko's tail. Judging from the dim light coming through the window above her couch, it was just before sunrise. She felt for her hair ornament. It was back to normal—or at least what it had been earlier; the drug had worn off.

"Shamiko?"

"...mmm, just a few more hours, no work today," the exhausted demon mumbled. She curled her tail close to herself and pulled the covers back over her face, leaving only her long red hair and horns sticking out from under the blanket.

"Sleep tight," Momo whispered.

Metako had curled up next to Shamiko, his back to her side, fast asleep himself on the edge of the futon.

He definitely senses Sakura in her, Momo thought.

Shamiko was asleep again within thirty seconds. She could fall asleep in moments at will, anytime or anywhere, when she needed to...or wanted to.

Momo looked down at the sleeping dream demon on the floor in front of her, and smiled.

I think I'm finally starting to understand her...just a bit.

Quietly, Momo walked into the bedroom, filled only with a weight set, some simple exercise equipment, and a pile of boxes that she'd never bothered to unpack when she moved in back in the summer. Carefully, she opened a specific box sitting in the corner, and sifted through its contents, feeling for something soft among the smaller boxes and books within.

I know I brought it with me... I think this is the right box.

Something made of fabric was buried down near the bottom. She took hold of it. Was this it?

She lifted out the thing in her grasp.

There it was; a stuffed white cat doll. It had black buttons for eyes, white yarn whiskers, and a thin pink and white scarf around its neck. It was similar in design to Tamasakura, just more like an actual cat, and not anthropomorphized.

Sakura had given this to Momo on her fifth birthday; had made it with her own hands.

Momo had never shown this to Shamiko; had never even mentioned it. There was no way the demon could have possibly known about it, or what Momo had done on her fifth birthday, long before they had ever met. Even if she had tried to spy on Momo's dreams, she wouldn't have gotten far enough to learn about it that way.

That really had been Sakura.

Still holding the little cat doll, Momo walked back out to the couch and sat down on it, looking over the slumbering demon and familiar. She leaned back, and hugged the doll, the way she'd done long ago, after Sakura had disappeared, and she had been alone every night...

She'd finally gotten to see Sakura again, to touch her, to talk to her...

One way or another, they would meet again...and Momo wasn't alone anymore.

Shamiko really had fulfilled her deepest desire, after all...

The End