Chapter Text
The witch was massive, big enough to cover several city blocks. The situation was delicate; the witch was not. The labyrinth was only expanding, and if it wasn’t stopped soon, it would claim dozens of lives, if not hundreds.
The grief seed that would be left over when it was dead would be a nice bonus, too. It hadn’t been too long since Sodachi last purified her soul gem, but the assurance that would come from having it dealt with was difficult to match.
She readied her bow and prepared to make the first shot. Once she let loose the arrow, she would have to act quickly. She couldn’t hesitate, because every second she waited might mean another life gone. So she waited for the perfect moment when she could—
“Oh, huh?”
There was a voice behind Sodachi, which made her jump. She nearly dropped her bow, and that was enough for the string and arrow to dissolve back into light. She turned in a huff to face whoever had interrupted her.
It was a woman in pink— no, maybe a girl. Judging just by her physical appearance, she seemed to be a few years older than Sodachi. At the earliest, a high school student, or maybe college. But Sodachi knew that looks could be deceiving, and that age wasn’t always what it seemed.
The girl’s outfit was ostentatious enough to be a magical girl, certainly. All sorts of frills and pinks. And— a bell, hanging around her neck, which Sodachi thought could be her soul gem. Her eyes narrowed, and she took a defensive posture.
In all of Sodachi’s years as a magical girl, she’d tried to align herself with other magical girls. She wasn’t as naive about the idea as she once had; if someone was friendly, she would work with them, but plenty of magical girls would stab her in the back for that kindness, so she had to watch herself. Certainly, this girl didn’t seem like a threat. She had an airheaded expression on her face, and if she saw Sodachi as a threat, she didn’t think much of it.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The girl tapped a finger against her chin. “I’m not really sure about that, actually. I’ve forgotten my name.” She giggled. “Sooner or later, I forget everything. Isn’t it nice?”
So the girl was an eccentric. Certainly made her seem more like a magical girl; Sodachi knew for certain that normal people didn’t become magical girls. But she still couldn’t be sure if this girl was a magical girl or not, so she had to ask.
“Are you a magical girl?”
The girl had to think for a moment again. “Yeah, that’s what the little white rat keeps calling me.”
Sodachi breathed a sigh of relief at confirming that, but she was still unsure of the girl’s intentions— Well, she wasn’t sure if the girl had any intentions. The ditzy act she was putting up wasn’t an act, this girl really was just that clueless. What she had said about forgetting things— Sodachi would need to ask her about that later. But for now…
“If you’re a magical girl, can you help me deal with this witch? We need to get rid of it fast before it becomes a bigger problem.”
“Oh!” The girl clapped a little. “Of course! Killing witches is what magical girls do, right? Let’s get right to it!”
Before Sodachi could stop her, the girl was leaping off the roof. That meant Sodachi couldn’t wait. She quickly fired off a handful of snap shots at the witch, then jumped after the girl.
By the time Sodachi landed, she was in the labyrinth. She held her bow in two hands as it shifted slightly into a scythe, then began running forward. The other girl was totally missing, but that was to be expected. Witch’s labyrinths could be odd places; either they would see each other again or not.
She started slicing into familiars as she progressed through the labyrinth. But as far as she ran, it didn’t seem like she was getting any further in. If anything, it felt like she was running on a treadmill, running in place.
Sodachi stopped to catch her breath, but as she did, the walls around her kept moving. She would need to think about how to deal with this situation… or at least, she would have, until the walls around her erupted into flame. They burned like wallpaper until the rest of the labyrinth revealed itself around her.
And on the other side of the wall was that girl.
But she didn’t linger on Sodachi. There were many more familiars surrounding the pair now, so the girl quickly got to work. She was pulling molotov cocktails from thin air and throwing them into the crowd. Most surprisingly to Sodachi, it was proving effective. The hoard was being culled, and specifically in the direction of the witch itself. It was almost like she was saying, “you go ahead, and I’ll deal with this.”
Whether or not that was her intent, Sodachi ran ahead. She had to act quickly, and having an ally with her didn’t help. She couldn’t predict what that ditzy girl was going to do. If she went and got herself killed, it would do nothing to help. Maybe she was good at fighting or maybe she wasn’t.
Sodachi didn’t even have time to think. A familiar on her left meant attacking her left. A familiar on her right meant attacking her right. She was a whirlwind of constant motion.
At the very least, when it came to familiars, Sodachi didn’t need to worry about the spotlight. They would find her whether or not she was visible. She wasn’t sure if they had a form of night vision or if they sought their target through other means. One way or another, though, there were constant threats assailing her.
The strange girl was helping a little, though. All those molotov cocktails getting thrown around cleared away a lot of the familiars, as it turned out. For the ones that survived, a ditzy girl causing explosions left and right was a perfect beacon. As a result, Sodachi could get away with a far lighter load than if she was doing this on her own.
If she was doing this on her own, she may have been outclassed. She had underestimated the witch.
The girl may have been too good a beacon. The encroaching familiars were only increasing. She was only a moment or two away from being totally overwhelmed.
Sodachi was cautious and defensive, and it would be fair to say she was paranoid in many ways. Those were the behaviors that were trained into every magical girl. But those things didn’t mean Sodachi didn’t try to be a good person. At the heart of all this was trying to protect people from witches. If another magical girl was in danger, then Sodachi should help her— at the very least, she should help as long as she knew she wasn’t going to be punished for it.
Sodachi couldn’t imagine someone as scatterbrained as that girl betraying anyone. Did she even know the word?
Sodachi had to save her.
And so, Sodachi leapt forward, scythe in hand. As fast as she could, she cleared a circle around the two of them. The scythe was well-suited for clearing out masses like that.
Once they were a little more safe, Sodachi turned to the girl. “I’ll keep them from reaching us. Focus on any familiars that are farther away, okay?” She pointed down the line. “I think that thing is the witch. Getting there is our priority.”
The girl nodded enthusiastically. But after a few moments, she asked, “Um, but what’s a familiar?”
Sodachi’s shoulders fell. Just how stupid was this girl?
Sodachi tried explaining the mechanics of witches and their labyrinths to the girl. She explained it in simple language, just to be sure, the same way a parent might explain something to a young child.
It seemed to work, though. By the end, the girl understood their goal.
Sodachi was not used to taking lead. She used her weapon as a bow first and a scythe second, so when it was an option, she preferred to stand in the backline. Molotov cocktails weren’t exactly a great weapon for charging forward. Instead, Sodachi cleared the path, while the girl kept throwing bottles every which way.
Eventually, they reached the witch. Their positions switched from that point; it was easier for the girl to throw bottles from closer up, while Sodachi was safer from far away, meaning she could use her bow again.
What felt like hours passed. Sodachi was well and truly exhausted. It felt as if the witch would never die, as if they would continue doing this forever.
That was, until out of nowhere, when enough was finally enough. All at once, the labyrinth vanished and the witch died. The city around it returned to normal. As it vanished, the witch was replaced by a grief seed.
Before the other girl could react, Sodachi bolted forward to grab the grief seed. Her soul gem was still fine. She didn’t need to purify it anytime soon. Still, she liked to keep a stash of grief seeds on her, just in case she happened to go through a draught of witches.
It was Sodachi’s impulse to run away. Now that the battle was over, she didn’t need to stick with that eccentric girl anymore.
Sodachi stayed. By this point, she had concluded that the girl was harmless. She didn’t need to flee to protect her own life. That meant she could let her curiosity play out.
“Hey.” Sodachi approached the girl, who was looking around like she didn’t know where she was. “You said you don’t know your own name? What’s going on with you?”
“Huh?” The girl seemed surprised that Sodachi was talking to her. “Who are you? You look kinda familiar.”
“Eh? What do you mean, ‘Who are you?’ We just fought a witch together!”
“A witch! You mean like one of those hags who casts spells?”
“...No. Not that kind of witch. What’s going on here?”
“That’s her power as a magical girl.”
Sodachi suddenly turned when she heard Kyuubey. The girl turned at the same time.
“Those bottles you saw her throwing contain a small part of her memories. The memory becomes the fuel for the fire. Once the fire has burned up, the memory is gone.”
“...Huh.” So she had forgotten their first meeting, from before the witch fight. All of that had been burned away in the battle. It was like they were meeting again for the first time.
“What, really?” The girl seemed shocked. “That’s crazy.”
“How are you just finding this out about yourself now,” Sodachi grumbled.
“I forgot!” the girl giggled.
“Anything Tsubasa remembers will eventually be burned away. This was her wish.”
“That’s a pretty crummy wish. Although, with how mine turned out, I imagine she didn’t intend for this.”
Kyuubey was silent about that.
“So… she literally knows nothing? Including about being a magical girl? How does she survive, then?”
“I don’t know!” Tsubasa said again.
“I know that. I wasn’t asking you.”
“I occasionally fill her in on information, if I think that her lack of knowledge would cause her harm. I don’t wish for any magical girl to be unfairly harmed by her lack of knowledge.” Then, without warning, Kyuubey stood up. “Goodbye.” Then it vanished.
Sodachi looked at the girl. “He said your name is Tsubasa…” She shook her head. “Knowing all that, I feel bad about leaving you on your own.” It went against her personal convictions, but despite that, Sodachi said, “Do you want to team up?”