Chapter Text
Dear Mifuyu,
I think there may be a chance… That my wish killed Kanae and Mel. It’s my fault Mel died. It all happened so I could live. Her death may be how my wish to survive was granted. That thought terrifies me. I think I should avoid getting involved with others. But you… Mifuyu… You’re the only one… You’re more than a teammate to me. You’re the one person I can call a partner. I want to stay with you until the very end. These are my true feelings. Forgive me for being so weak.
From, Yachiyo”
“I read your letter, Yachan.”
Yachiyo put down the magazine she was reading and looked over to Mifuyu. It didn’t take Mifuyu very long to come see her about it at all, but that wasn’t really a surprise. “I see… What do you think?”
Mifuyu frowned. “Do you really think your wish killed Kanae and Mel?”
“I don’t know. There’s a chance it didn’t, but it’s not a chance I’m very willing to risk, which is why I’ve decided I’m going to break up the team.”
She’d asked Kyubey about it earlier, and he’d said it was a possibility, but he couldn’t say for certain. Apparently, while Kyubey grants Magical Girls’ wishes he doesn’t exactly control how they manifest, so it was still up in the air whether or not her wish was killing her friends. Still, better safe than sorry.
Mifuyu sighed. “I thought you’d say something like that. I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this, but I can’t say I’m very surprised. Our team hasn’t been the same since Mel died, and you’ve been going out on solo hunts a lot more lately.”
“I’m sorry, Mifuyu. Even so, will you stick with me to the end, even knowing that doing so may end up leading to my wish killing you?”
Mifuyu giggled. “Don’t be silly, Yachan. I’m not going to leave you behind. And even if I did die, I would never let you see it happen.”
“So you’ll stick with me then?”
“Of course. But even as I do so, don’t expect me to just abandon Tsuruno and Momoko, okay? While you may plan to cut them out of your life, I have no intentions of doing such a thing.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to. Honestly, I’m just relieved you agreed to stick with me at all. Truth be told, I don’t know what I’d do without you in my life. You mean the world to me, Mifuyu.”
“I think I could say the same about you, Yachan. No matter what, you’ll always be my very best friend.”
And yet, Yachiyo wished to be so much more than just a friend to Mifuyu, but she knew that would never happen. As far as she could tell, Mifuyu was straight, at times even painfully so. For as long as she had known her, Mifuyu had always eaten up anything with a love story in it, and dreamed of finding a man of her own. And, thanks to Mel’s fortune telling, she finally had, so even if Yachiyo did have a chance before, she certainly didn’t now. But it was okay, even if she couldn’t have Mifuyu the way she wanted to, just having her there was enough.
“Thank you, Mifuyu. Say, can you promise me something?”
“Sure, what is it, Yachan?”
“Promise me you won’t tell Momoko and Tsuruno why I’m breaking up the team. I’d like to keep it a secret from them, if that’s okay.” “Okay, I promise.”
The next day, at school, during lunch, Yachiyo took Momoko and Tsuruno aside to give them the news. It wasn’t easy news to deliver, but it needed to be done. And so, she took a deep breath, before telling them.
“I’m breaking up the team.”
“WHAAAAT?!” Tsuruno cried.
“But why?” Momoko asked.
“There’s no need for me to answer that,” Yachiyo replied, before turning and walking away.
Despite her avoiding Tsuruno and Momoko for the rest of the school day, when it came time to go home, Yachiyo found Tsuruno following her as she walked home.
Yachiyo looked back at her. “You don’t need to hang around me anymore. I told you that I broke up the team.”
Tsuruno clung to her arm. “But I want to! Just because the team’s broken up doesn’t mean we can’t hang out as friends, right?”
“Let me rephrase that: I would rather you not hang out with me anymore.”
“But Master Yachiyoooooooooo, why?!” Tsuruno pouted. Yachiyo found it rather pitiful, and it was almost enough to make Yachiyo rethink pushing her away, but for Tsuruno’s own safety, she had to do it.
Yachiyo pulled her arm free from Tsuruno and started walking quickly ahead of her. “There’s no need for me to answer that.”
Yachiyo avoided interacting with Tsuruno or Momoko for the rest of the school year, and eventually, she and Mifuyu graduated from high school. It was a bittersweet feeling for Yachiyo, saying goodbye to the school she’d gone to for most of her life, but she was ready to move on.
“The nice thing about being a senior is we get to start spring break a bit early,” Mifuyu remarked to Yachiyo, the day after they graduated.
“Yeah, we should make the most of it while we can, before we start college in a few weeks,” Yachiyo agreed.
“I agree, what do you say to a picnic at the park?”
“That sounds nice.”
About an hour later, the two were laying down on a picnic blanket at Kaihin Park, enjoying some sandwiches that Yachiyo had made. It was a clear, sunny day, excellent for a picnic, and Yachiyo couldn’t help but think the sun shining down on her made Mifuyu look even more radiant than usual.
She looked over at the book Mifuyu had brought to read. “Five Women Who Loved Love? Isn’t that one a bit raunchy?”
Mifuyu blushed. “Yes, but it’s really good, I promise!”
Yachiyo sighed. “You and your romance books...”
“Oh come on, it’s normal for a girl to be interested in romance. Honestly Yachan, if it weren’t for that letter you sent me when we were 14 about having a crush, I would have assumed you weren’t interested in it at all.”
Yachiyo rolled her eyes. “Not everyone is as crazy about romance as you, Mifuyu.”
Besides, it wasn’t that Yachiyo wasn’t interested in romance, it was just that between being a lesbian in a heteronormative world and the person she was interested in being Mifuyu, she had little interest in discussing her love life with her, nor was she interested in reading any of the heterosexual romance stories that Mifuyu ate up.
“Oh come on, plenty of girls love love stories. There’s a reason so many shoujo manga are romance-focused. Although you know, speaking of your crush, you never did tell me who he was. Do you even still have feelings for him?”
Yachiyo blushed. “Um…”
“I’m taking that as a yes. You know you may have missed your chance to confess to him now that you’ve graduated, right?”
“Can we please change the subject...?” Mifuyu clearly had some misconceptions, but Yachiyo was in no hurry to correct them, nor did she wish to confirm them either. She just wanted to avoid the subject altogether.
“Fine, fine...”
Just then, a familiar voice interrupted them. “Yachiyo...?”
Yachiyo turned to see the source of the voice. It was Momoko. With her were Kaede and Rena, a couple of younger Magical Girls from their school that Momoko had taken under her wing. Since they were here, it must have meant that school had been let out already. “Momoko? What are you doing here?”
“Visitin' the park, same as you. Is there a reason that you’ve had no trouble hangin' out with Mifuyu since breakin' up the team, but won’t even give me or Tsuruno the time of day?”
“There’s no need for me to answer that.”
Momoko became visibly frustrated. “There you go, saying that again! What’s your deal, huh?”
“There’s no need for me to answer that.”
“Grr, why I oughta-”
“Please,” Mifuyu interrupted. “Can we not do this here?”
“Right, sorry Mifuyu,” Momoko said, before turning to Kaede and Rena. “Come on, let’s go find another section of the park to hang out at.”
And with that, Momoko and her group left.
“It hurts me to see you two fighting like this. You used to get along so well.”
“If pushing her away and making her hate me is what it takes to keep her safe, then I’ll do it.”
“And yet you don’t push me away.” Yachiyo looked at the ground, hugging her knees to her chest. “I probably should, but I’m too selfish to let go of you. If I didn’t have you, I think I might go mad from loneliness...”
Mifuyu chuckled. “You call it selfishness, but personally I’m glad for it. I would hate to lose my best friend.”
“Well I’m not going anywhere. If I die, my past will lose its meaning, so I’ve resolved to live on.”
Though really she wishes she’d never made her stupid wish in the first place. Maybe then Kanae and Mel would still be alive. Maybe then she’d be able to be happy. But she can’t let their deaths have been in vain, and so she lives on.
She just hopes her selfishness in wanting to keep Mifuyu around won’t end up costing Mifuyu her life.