Chapter 12

Sayaka ran her hands through her hair in frustration as she tried to figure out how to react. This was the last thing she was expecting or hoping for on her first day.

"Captain, I don't see how we can make that work. I got fired there, and for good reason."

"No one's happy about this Miki. No one. But Himura isn't getting the same results you were. And things are going to shit again if these are back in production, and there's no way Kurosawa doesn't have something to do with this."

Kyoko would kill me.

"I can't get back in there. The girl who fired me hates me."

"Sakura Kyoko?" Ryo raised an eyebrow skeptically. Sayaka didn't like the way he said her name; like he knew something about her.

"Yeah. Sakura Kyoko. She owns the club now." Sayaka's posture got ridged. She had never spoken about Kyoko at work like this before, and she didn't like starting now. Something felt traitorous about it, even though Kyoko's name had come up many times before during their "surprise visits", much to Kyoko's chagrin.

"It doesn't seem like she hates you. Hell, I'd even say you guys seem pretty close." Ryo's eyes were fixed on hers. She felt like she was being pushed back in to a corner, and she should choose her next words carefully. Is he interrogating me? Everything you say can and will be used against you.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that."

"From what I've heard, you've spent a lot of time at her penthouse when you were out on disability. Most of the time, actually."

Sayaka's emotions immediately switched from scared to indignant.

"Have you had people following me? Why?"

Ryo sighed as he leaned back in his chair, carefully studying her; it was profoundly unsettling.

"Himura, could you give us a minute?" Sayaka had almost forgotten Ayumi was even in the room. Her former partner nodded and left, politely closing the door behind her. Sayaka couldn't tell if she was grateful to have fewer potential jurors evaluating her in the room, or if she was resentful for losing the only back up she may have had. They had had their squabbles, sure, but in the end they became partners and put each other's lives in one another's hands. Well, Ayumi put her life in Sayaka's hands; to be honest, Sayaka would have been just fine in the line of fire without her. It was the principle that counted though.

"Miki, we're all under investigation right now. We're the ones who started the corruption investigation, but that doesn't mean we're in the clear either. I've worked with bad people before, and you don't seem like one of them. But fuck Miki, everything that's happened to you so is so damn suspicious and it's hard for no one to wonder."

Sayaka gaped like a particularly dumb goldfish.

"What?"

"You've got to see what it looks like, right? You're an addict, and you did hard shit. You're buddy-buddy with someone who is at least known to know them. You got shot under the weirdest fucking circumstances anyone has ever seen. You had to have been a target. You know who the most common cop targets are? The dirty ones. No one in their right mind targets regular good cops for no damn reason; if they do that to try to 'send a message' or some bullshit like that, they're psychopaths asking to get hunted down."

Ryo's words barely registered in her head. They almost sounded muted. All she could hear was her heart pounding.

"You're going to be questioned by the investigator right after this. It's going to be ugly. They're going to drill in on every single thing I just said. Do you understand?"

"…yes." She understood that all of her colleagues thought she was corrupt.

"Keep something in mind, Miki." He asked as he stood up and walked towards to door to see her out. She got up and followed obediently, but she was on autopilot. This isn't how she thought her first day would go at all. She looked up at him with blank, uncomprehending eyes.

"If you tell them about your undercover work, I'm going to say I knew nothing about it. You were going rogue. It'll be your word against mine. I don't want it to get to that.

The door closed quietly behind her. At her desk, she could see an older man in a crisply pressed suit with curly grey hair and a brief case waiting for her. She could feel the eyes of her fellow detectives and officers on her, all thinking what Ryo was; that she was dirty; that she was the mole.

She was trembling as the weight of Ryo's threat registered in her disjointed mind.

She didn't have a single ally or defense here.

What did I do wrong?

Kyoko ran her hands through her hair in frustration as she tried to figure out how to react. She settled on kicking the couch. That quickly proved to be a mistake when she heard the telltale snap of the wooden frame cracking. She cursed and quickened her pacing.

Fucking Yoshikuba pulled a power move to show off that they shouldn't mess with him. It was impossible to deny the coincidence that NMPD busted a shipment of Diamonds right on the New Mitakihara side of the border the night that they refused to grant his ridiculous request.

They had been too cocky about how they went about their refusal though; clearly, this man took as much care of his pride as dead man Kurosawa did. Shouldn't the so-called brilliant Chief of NMPD have a shred of sense, knowing the fate of the first man to make that mistake?

She had been hoping to get a good few hours' extra sleep, even though she'd had an amazing five hours' rest. They were going to have an emergency meeting instead. She was willing to bet Sayaka was having an emergency meeting about the exact same thing at her job.

Kyoko had an ugly sneer on her face throughout the entire drive. She pondered her options.

The first one that came to mind was to kill him. He was a loose cannon. NMPD seemed to be full of "lenient" cops anyways, so they would probably be able to find a replacement quickly enough.

The second would be to give in to his demands and give him a cut.

She wanted to figure out a third option. She wondered if they could threaten him…maybe she could show him a bit of magic to put him in his place.

No, that wouldn't work. On some level, he would have had to have wanted to not get a cut in order for her enchantment to work. Maybe if she was lucky, he was already more scared than he seemed, and was hopeful for a peaceful resolution. She doubted it though; he would be able to put them all behind bars if he wanted to, and he knew it.

She hoped the others had better ideas than her.

The Club looked so deserted during the day. It was, of course; it was just a phantom of the hedonistic hellhole it became at night. Kyoko never realized how much tasteless graffiti had made its way onto the walls since she took over. She couldn't be bothered to make a mental note to have it cleaned.

Sango looked like she was about to piss herself when Kyoko walked past her into room B. She followed behind as silently as a mouse, though Kyoko was going to dismiss her; she wasn't welcome for something like this.

"GET OUT!" Tomi shouted, clearly not keen on inviting the girl in either. At first Kyoko thought he was talking to her until she saw him clearly aim the glass he was holding at Sango's head. He threw it hard too.

Kyoko had to move fast to catch it. Without her magic, she never would have reacted quickly enough to stop it.

The action still had at least part of its intended effect. Sango screamed as she ducked. Kyoko growled, not dissimilar to an angry dog.

"You will never threaten any of my staff again. I don't care what the circumstances are. Understand?" She spoke lowly to Tomi. His face was beet red and he was shaking in anger. They maintained that fierce stare down for a few moments until he sat down. He still looked furious. He looked so much like his recently deceased cousin that it surprised her that she had never noticed the remarkable family resemblance before.

Kyoko turned around slowly to walk over to Sango. She put a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Take the rest of the day off. It's best you're not here." She had never seen Tomi lash out like that, especially against a staff member of the Club; he was clearly not in his right mind. Knowing Sango, she would be a nervous wreck for the rest of the day and it would rub off on everyone else when they came to work. She nodded, tears streaming down her face, and left.

"I'm not starting this fucking meeting until she's out of this damn building!" Tomi darted out of his seat. For a moment, Kyoko thought he was going to attack her again until she realized he was carefully checking for bugs. He had been generally calmer since Kurosawa was arrested, but clearly some of his paranoid habits remained. It never hurt to be a bit paranoid though; someone had to be.

To appease her anxious business partner, she walked Sango out of the building and made sure the entrance was locked behind her. She rolled her eyes as she did it, but she had learned long ago that it was better to just give in to the smaller demands to avoid a big fuss.

"There. Are you ready now?"

The man clearly was not. He was practically tearing apart her couch cushions looking for surveillance devices.

"You've searched everything. You're fine. Cut it out." Watanabe looked impatient. "We need to do something fast."

"Yeah, but what?" Kyoko fired back.

As it turned out, they basically had the same two ideas she did.

"If we kill him, both cities are going to go mad trying to find out who did it. It's too likely it will lead back to us. It was bad enough after the attempt on the detective, and no one really knows who she is." Kurosawa reasoned.

"Yeah, but it was never released to the press that anyone had planned in advance to kill her. They all thought it was just a bust gone wrong. If he were to die in the regular course of duty, or it looked like an accident, it could work." Watanabe argued back. Kyoko's fists clenched as they casually talked about the time they tried to off Sayaka, her Sayaka without getting her permission first.

"Yoshikuba's a Chief; he's a desk jockey. How the hell could he be killed in the regular course of duty? A lethal papercut?!" Tomi was losing his cool again.

"Not if he just disappears. We know who can make that happen." Kurosawa looked at her meaningfully. "We can make it look like he resigned or went on vacation."

"How long until they see through that though? Taking an early retirement is the oldest cover up in the book!" Tomi sighed. "Let's give him what he wants for now. Give him a cut."

"Are you fucking crazy?! He barely does anything!" Kyoko snapped.

"No, but when he does do shit, this happens! And if we lose him now, we'll have no one who has actually agreed to be committed in either department. Let's give him a cut and make him feel like a big man. In the meantime, we'll look for someone better and more reasonable to deal with. When we find someone…then we'll revisit our first set of choices. Until we have someone inside who could cover it up, at least."

The others glared at their hands, as if it would somehow make the situation better. Watanabe poured himself another glass of whiskey before chugging it.

"Fine. You're right. Let's do it. Give the greedy fucker a cut until we have a better hand."

The others nodded, albeit unhappily.

"Any chance that detective of yours could be persuaded?" Watanabe didn't sound like he seriously meant it; it was more like he was just shooting the breeze.

Kyoko snorted, but there was nothing funny about the thought. "You want to try, good luck."

She couldn't wait until they got Yoshikuba and Goura out of the picture.

Sayaka tried to regain her composure as quickly as possible. She took a deep breath, wiped a stray tear away, and walked with false bravado to her desk.

"Detective Miki?" He seemed like a pleasant man. Very gentle and unassuming. Like a spider web.

"That's my name! Can I help you Sir?" She was going to be just as kind and innocent; she could play that game. She tried her best to pretend she didn't know what he was there for…or what he suspected she did.

"I'm Agent Namito from the Federal Bureau. I was requested by KPD to come on by and ask everyone a few questions. Do you have a few minutes?"

"Sure thing. Do I need to bring anything?"

"No, just yourself is fine. Please follow me. We have a room in the basement."

Sayaka felt her gut lurch. Unless they were going to be in a supply closet…they were going to be using an actual interrogation room. They meant business.

She swallowed but kept her plastic smile on her face as they went down. They said nothing in the elevator ride or for the rest of the walk that was over way too soon.

Sayaka hated the basement interrogation rooms. She used to love the thought of the dark rooms with a single bright light that you could flash in a suspect's face. The intimidation would make the crooks crack and confess to every crime they ever committed, and reveal all of their accomplices who would then be arrested and brought into the same interrogation rooms. And the cycle would repeat until all crime was eradicated, in a perfect world where only a finite number of people could have evil intent. There were only good people and bad people, and she was one of the good ones.

That wasn't how it worked at all, of course. She remembered Miyamoto's interrogation well; too well. She had been perfect under pressure. She didn't break until she wanted to give them what they needed. Intimidation only seemed to work on people who had done minor infractions; the ones who weren't the real enemies; the good people.

Sayaka was terrified that intimidation was going to work on her brilliantly.

The light was already turned on when they went in. The mirror that was so obviously a window showed her fragile façade, ready to break at a moment's notice. She looked up. She had to squint. It really was painful to look at the light.

"Thank you for coming in Detective Miki. The date is February 24th, 2027 and the current time is 8:44 AM." Only? The conversation with Ryo had felt like so much longer than ten minutes.

"Detective, I want to explain to you what is going on. You are not under arrest or being disciplined in any way. The Kazamino Police Department has launched a corruption investigation on its own free will. I have been brought in as a consultant to conduct interviews with every member and staff of the Department. Findings of this interview will be recorded and included in a final report. You will not be individually named for anything you say regarding another member's conduct. This interview is just for regular procedure. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." She wasn't sure if she should be formal or pretend to be casual. Being formal felt slightly easier, just because it felt more natural. She didn't like that this interview was clearly encouraging squad members to rat each other out; it must have been a witch hunt while she was gone; and she was the only one not around to defend herself.

"Have you been off duty?"

"Yes." She didn't like him asking questions he already knew the answers too. She felt like she was playing right into his trap. They weren't leading questions per say, but they seemed irrelevant.

"For how long?"

"Four months."

"Why?"

"I was shot in the course of duty; one bullet grazed my shoulder and the other hit me near my upper spine. My superiors were worried my past with addiction may have played a role in it."

"What were you addicted to?"

"Heroin."

"How long were you using heroin?"

"A little over two years."

"When was the last time you used heroin?"

"Nine hundred ninety-seven days ago."

He looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"We calculated the number of days a few months ago and found out it was close to 1000. I figured I'd stop counting days after that." She looked down sheepishly. She worried it made her look like she was dreading every day without it.

"Congratulations Detective. That is quite an accomplishment." He gave her a smile that was tainted with pity. She took it, but didn't like it. Pity was better than accusation though.

"Thanks."

"So you were not taking heroin at the time you were shot?"

"No sir."

He nodded and jotted some notes down.

"Do you have any ideas as to why you might have been shot?"

Sayaka pursed her lips and thought about it. She had never really put too much thought into it. That's probably the best way to play it anyways.

"Honestly, I just figured I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unless they were trying to get revenge for the Miyamotos or one of the shipments I found or something like that. I really don't know though." She shrugged and did her best to come off as clueless as possible. At least it's true though. I have no idea what happened.

He looked at her for a moment longer than she would have liked. He jotted some more notes down.

"How have you travelled to the Station in the past?"

That question surprised Sayaka.

"Uh, well I always took the subway."

"How did you get to work today?"

Sayaka's heart sped up a bit. She knew where he was going with this. He noticed the new ride.

"I took my motorcycle in."

"Oh, which one is it in the parking lot?"

He was playing dumb. There were only two motorcycles there; hers and Ryo's. And everybody knew Ryo's; he was obsessed with that monstrous black machine. He'd even named it 'Bella'; people had thought he was talking about his girlfriend in the past based on how lovingly he spoke of his bike.

"The white and blue one."

The investigator whistled in appreciation. "It looked nice. Very, very nice."

"Yeah, it is." She nodded and smiled, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. She knew what he was thinking: there was no way a cop her age who was making her salary for as little time as she had would be able to afford something like that.

"It looks like a luxury model. When did you get it?"

Sayaka refrained from cringing. This was going to sound bad. "About four months ago."

"Before or after you were shot?"

"After."

"So you got a luxury model motorcycle shortly after you were shot in the spine?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember how shortly after?"

Sayaka felt rigid. She knew how shortly after. And it looked suspicious as fuck.

"Sometime within the next week." She muttered resignedly. It had actually been the next day, but she wouldn't admit to that. She knew how bad it looked.

"The next few days after you were shot in the spine, you bought a luxury motorcycle." He looked at her with a deadpan expression. Sayaka could tell this guy must have a killer poker face.

"No..." She couldn't keep the cringe off of her face. She knew how bad this was going to be.

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't buy it. I got it as a gift."

The man looked mildly surprised.

"A gift?"

"Yes."

"Who gave it to you?"

Sayaka was so, so tempted to lie and say it was her parents. But she knew she couldn't drag them into this, and trying to remember every lie she told in a corruption investigation would come back and bite her hard in the ass later.

"My friend."

"What is your friend's name?" He already knew who it was.

"Sakura Kyoko." She hoped he somehow wouldn't recognize the name, or at least wouldn't press it.

"Sakura Kyoko? The owner of Club KYO?"

She should have known he would have focused on that. If other officers were allowed to dish on their colleagues, she was sure some of them would have talked about how she and Kyoko were "close", as Ryo put it. She didn't think it mattered, but it seemed to bother Ryo some; if it bothered him, it probably bothered others.

"Yeah. Her."

"Haven't you investigated her establishment before during the course of duty?"

"Yes, we went there sometimes. Her business is known to have small amounts of drugs pass through it. We think its patrons selling to other patrons without her knowledge though. We've checked pretty closely."

"Who has checked pretty closely?"

She had checked the rules of conflicts of interest closely; if she were searching a family member's premises, or a romantic partner's, it would be a conflict. Just a friend? No big deal, but it was pushing it.

If one wanted to call Sayaka and Kyoko 'just friends' would be a whole other debate.

"Me. Himura. Maybe a few others since I was off duty. But I was generally involved in some of the searches."

"Do you believe that was appropriate?"

It was appropriate because the Club was being investigated in other ways; Ayumi was undercover there. But Sayaka wondered if he knew that or not. Ryo's threat still rung in her head.

"At the time, it seemed fine because it really didn't seem like there was anything going on. But looking back on it…I shouldn't have been involved. I should have realized that and it was a serious oversight on my part. It had not been intended as any form of obstruction of an investigation, but I can see how it would be perceived as such. I will gladly stand down on any investigations potentially involving Club KYO or Sakura Kyoko." She gave an apologetic bow out of habit.

The man nodded and seemed to accept this.

"A luxury motorcycle is quite a gift to give a friend."

Sayaka blushed. She didn't know how to explain it.

"We're very good friends." She felt lame saying that, but it was the only way she could describe it without explaining magical girls and coming off as schizophrenic.

"I have heard through various means that there are some patrons of Miss Sakura's establishment that have connections to some of the more severe crimes in the region. Are you aware of anything of the sort?"

Sayaka wasn't sure how to play this.

"There are none that I am personally aware of, but I would not be surprised if there were. I have heard from Officers and Detectives that there have been matters worth investigating in the past, particularly when it was under former management." She hoped he couldn't see her clenching her hands underneath the table.

"So you do not believe that Miss Sakura is connected to any of it?"

"I don't know. I've never investigated her and I guess I never should." She shrugged and tried to give a charming smile, but it looked more like she was in extreme agony and trying in futility to be optimistic. She knew Kyoko did petty stuff like steal baked goods, but she would never do anything on the Kurosawa's level. So it wouldn't matter if someone else investigated her; they wouldn't find anything.

"And how did you two meet?"

Her hands were starting to bleed. She dug her fingernails into them too hard. Her magic mended her skin, just for her to break it again; it was a waste of magic, but it was somewhat soothing.

"Actually, it was when I gave her a ticket at Kazamino Central Park. She had been caught stealing a 400 yen taiyaki. Then I ran into her a few more times; once on the street on the way to the Station for evening work, and once at Club Toki when it was still operational. We became friends after that." She left out some crucial details, sure, but they were all real non-magic events.

"And from this friendship, she gave you a luxury motorcycle as a gift after being shot?"

When he puts it that way, it sounds so bad. She cringed again. Sayaka was worried that it might make Kyoko look guilty for something she had nothing to do with.

Sayaka took a deep breath in. She only had one option, and she wasn't proud of this.

"Things have…err…changed between us recently. It started shortly before the shooting."

The man raised an eyebrow. He didn't understand. Sayaka flushed with embarrassment and looked at the corner of the room.

"There's a reason I don't have a boyfriend."

The man blinked once. Twice. Three times. His mouth opened. He got it.

"Oh. I see." He flushed too and cleared his throat before scribbling rapidly. It looked like he underlined something five times. Sayaka imagined it might be the word 'LESBIAN'.

"Erm, so you are in a…romantic, let's say, relationship with Sakura Kyoko now."

Sayaka's face felt like it was on fire. "Something like that."

"So she gives you gifts."

"Yes."

"I understand." He wrote some information down. "So if we called her today and asked her if she were in a romantic relationship with you, she would corroborate it?"

Sayaka buried her face in her hands. Kyoko would probably agree to it to cover Sayaka's ass…and then never let her hear the end of it. Or it could lead to a conversation in which someone's feelings got hurt. Either way, Kyoko would cover for her, but it wouldn't go well for Sayaka.

"Yes, she would. She's more open about it than I am."

"I see. And did it begin when you were still investigating her establishment?"

"No, Sir. It was shortly after I was shot. I guess nearly dying makes you more…" She hated herself so much for this, she wanted to crawl out of her own body "…more determined to follow your heart."

More questions passed like that. Nothing that was nearly as alarming as the first bit. Explaining copious amounts of parking duty and how that led to an appointment to the OCU was difficult to get around, but it worked with minimal lying. It seemed like all of the accusatory parts were out of the way.

She was dismissed after thirty minutes. It felt so, so much longer than that. Either she had gotten lazy and used to sleeping every three hours (she joked that she was sleeping for both her and Kyoko, but the redhead didn't find it particularly funny when she was exhausted), or she was having an absolutely shitty day. It was probably a terrible combination of the two. Her legs felt like they were going to give out beneath her as she walked away from the dark interrogation room down the equally foreboding hallway. It was so strange to see no other rooms in use. She was completely alone and her footsteps echoed.

She was grateful for the noisy bustle and natural light from large windows that the first floor brought. It was easier to drown out her thoughts. She checked her email.

She only got through clearing a fraction of them before Ayumi came to her desk.

"Captain wants to see you." The girl looked solemn. Sayaka wanted to curl into a ball and cry. This day was not going her way. She got up to go see him again, but she had absolutely no energy doing so. She closed the door behind her. She wasn't stupid enough to assume this would be a casual conversation.

Ryo looked just as rigid as before.

"Please sit down, Miki."

She obeyed. She didn't know what he was going to say, but she assumed it was going to be bad.

"You are being reassigned from the OCU until further notice. You'll be on light duty for the next while. It's not a disciplinary action."

She felt like she had been slapped in the face. Her eyes well up with tears, but she tried fruitlessly not to show it.

"Can I ask why?" Her voice threatened to break as she asked it.

"Investigator recommendations. He mentioned something about a potential conflict of interest and a personal safety concern."

"Personal safety?" Her voice cracked.

"Miki, this might only be temporary. And it's the best way of doing things. It was basically decided a month ago that you wouldn't be staying on OCU for much longer after you got back. This is the least damning reason why, and we might be able to get you back on after all this bullshit blows over. We all figure there is a reason why you got shot, and you're being reassigned to keep you safe."

Sayaka broke down and sobbed. A month? They knew for a month they would get rid of me and no one warned me?

Ryo didn't look uncomfortable per say, but he didn't look like he was enjoying this.

"My hands are tied Miki. I need to do what the Investigator recommends to the letter. We need a clean report sent out to the public. If we get a clean report out…it's going to make New Mitakihara look damn bad and they'll have to be investigated themselves."

Sayaka wondered how much of this was that he wanted to make sure the Forces were clean, and how much of this was a political game.

"You can go home for the day Miki. We need you to turn in your phone for examination. They will also be checking your email and computer. If you want, you can come back in on Monday. I don't think we'll have anything ready for you by tomorrow anyways."

Sayaka nodded and moved to dismiss herself from the room. She expected so many things to happen when she got back, but not this. Nothing like this. Ryo moved to guide her to the door. He grabbed her upper arm firmly as she reached for the door handle.

"If I wanted to stop it…I could have." He whispered in her ear.

Her eyes widened. Her heart pounded. She looked up at his face. She never realized how much taller and more imposing than her he was.

"C-Captain?" What the hell is he getting at?

"I can still change this if you want me to." His voice stayed low.

She was flustered. She had done her best to keep her nose clean. She evidently hadn't to date. And yet now…now she felt like she was a dirty cop, being offered a deal. She never would have guessed this deal would come from her own boss though.

"Get me information from that Club, Miki. It's how you got on the unit the first time. It's how you can get on again. But parking duty is a nice, simple life. An easy life. A lot of people might like that. Maybe you would too?"

That thought had crossed her mind many times before. But now…now the thought felt hollow. I always want what I don't have.

"Let me know on Monday what you decide."

He shut the door with a resounding slam behind her.

Kyoko tried to regain her composure as quickly as possible. She had nearly choked on her water. She wasn't expecting to hear anything from Sayaka today, other than annoying blabbering of how great it was to be back on the job.

Blue: If anyone asks, we're girlfriends. I'll explain later. I owe you dinner.

Kyoko blushed madly as she tried to come up with some sort of witty reply. Nothing was coming to her though. She settled on glowering at her screen.

When Lady came in to her office trembling like a leaf, it meant she looked way too pissed off and unfriendly. Pretending to be nice tired her, but the thought of trying to replace staff because they were terrified of her tired her more.

"Everything's fine."

"No, it's not. James told me about what that…that coward did! What if he leaks something about the Club?"

Kyoko stuck a piece of pocky in her mouth and leaned back casually in her chair, hands laced behind her head. She pretended to be relaxing.

"Then we leak something about him. Tit for tat, ya know? He's got a reputation to lose. We're a shithole and never pretended to be anything else, right?" She grinned, though it was forced. This was a bad situation all around, but she still had a few aces up her sleeve.

Enchantment magic, a lack of evidence, and a good cover up were all wonderful things.

Her subordinate seemed to accept that and visibly relaxed. She still looked nervous though.

"How long do you think his cut will keep him happy for?"

"Damn, your boy toy's got quite the mouth on him, doesn't he?" Kyoko chewed her pocky slowly. She wasn't surprised, but she sure as hell wasn't impressed by how much he told. It seemed like a good way for information to get to the wrong people…like the Black Dragons, the Yakuza, or the Police.

"He tells me because I'm not like the others. You know that." Lady seemed so confident in this belief. Kyoko heard Watanabe, the hound, had "companions" in every place he lived. He spent a great deal of time in Kazamino, but he was gone more than half the time. Kyoko had absolutely no intention of delving into Watanabe and Lady's romantic life; their bed, their business.

Kyoko grunted. She didn't know how else to respond. Thankfully she didn't have to because her phone buzzed with a text. She quickly glanced at it to see if it was anyone important but didn't get a chance.

"Kyoko?" Rei knocked hesitantly on the door and opened it. Kyoko rolled her eyes. Why knock if you're just going to come in anyways?

"Yeah?"

"There's a man in a suit here to see you. From the Provincial Bureau, he said."

Kyoko raised an eyebrow. In her seven years with the Club, she had never seen someone from the Provincial Bureau before. Feds a few times, almost always municipal though. Lady looked alarmed too.

"Yeah, send him up."

Lady looked at her petrified. "Do the Provincials do anything with drugs? Oh god, are they on to us?"

"There is no us, just me, and there's nothing going on here anyways. Calm the fuck down, get out of the room, and don't make a scene." Kyoko glared. She didn't know who dealt with drug trafficking and crimes, but she assumed they all did and they all wanted to take her down. Some would say that seemed paranoid, but it was better than letting you guard down and getting busted and killed for a stupid reason. Like tax evasion.

A man with curly gray hair and a navy suit walked in to the room. Lady gave a particularly wooden bow as she left. Kyoko couldn't stop herself from shaking her head at the woman who thought she was much more involved and badass than she was.

"Sakura Kyoko?"

"That's my name. What can I do for you?" She made a point of checking the time on her phone. She wasn't being very friendly, but she was being cooperative.

The man seemed to smile a bit, as if hearing something nostalgic about her greeting.

"My name is Agent Namito. I have been hired as a consultant for the Kazamino Police Department. Part of my role is corroborating what I hear in interviews at the Station. I was hoping to ask you a question that is rather personal. I apologize for that sincerely."

"If you're sorry about it, why are you asking?" She put another stick of pocky in her mouth. "Either don't ask the question or don't be sorry that you're asking it."

The man seemed dumbfounded by her critical response.

"Er, yes. Sakura-san, how would you describe your relationship with Detective Miki Sayaka?"

So this is why we're "girlfriends" now.

Kyoko couldn't pretend it didn't hurt a bit, but she ignored it. She was sure Sayaka was going to have one hell of a story to tell later.

"You're right, I don't see how that's any of your business. What's it to ya?" Kyoko crossed her arms to look unimpressed.

"It's not much of anything to me. I just need to confirm something Detective Miki said. It is up to you if you would like to answer." To a gullible bystander, he seemed genuine. Kyoko knew this guy's type though. They seem nice, but their minds are working at a mile a minute, analyzing everything you thing you say, every facial expression, every gesture. She suspected coming straight out and saying they were girlfriends might even look more suspicious; she wouldn't have thought KPD would be the kind of work environment that would be overly supportive of a relationship like that.

She was pretty sure she'd have to say something about how she and Sayaka were involved. She didn't like it. Are they on to me?

"She's special to me." She glared at the man as she said it. "And I hope whatever it is you're playing at isn't going to hurt her in some way."

"Of course not. So you are close friends?" He wrote something down in a note pad.

"We're more than that." Her glare intensified.

"How so?"

"Do I need to tell you the best ways to make her have an orgasm? For fuck's sake, read between the lines a bit!" She snapped at him.

The man went beet red. "Ah, no, of course not. I think that is all I need." He rushed to pack up his note book and get out of there. As he was scurrying out of the room, Kyoko smirked.

"In case you were wondering, she loves hickeys! It's why she has to wear scarves all the time!" She yelled after him with a wolfish grin. The man didn't turn around and walked away faster. When he was out of sight, Kyoko started to laugh.

She texted Sayaka back: "Damn right you owe me dinner. Make sure it's expensive! I deserve something nice after that."

Sayaka checked the text on her phone. She gave a light scoff, but couldn't bring herself to respond or do anything more than that. She sat fully clothed in the bath tub her apartment. There was no water in the tub; just her. The tub was almost too small for her and could use with being scrubbed. The fluorescent lights of the bathroom were showing off every soap scum mark. Her ears were ringing.

There was a reason she stayed at Kyoko's more often than her own. Everything about Kyoko's was better. It was spacious, well decorated, and luxurious; it was furnished by someone who had too much money but no guarantee of tomorrow to bother saving any. It was the home of someone who was living every day like it was her last.

Sayaka's apartment looked like it belonged to someone who just didn't give a fuck about living anymore.

She took a swig of vodka right out of the bottle. She didn't feel like she wanted any, but she drank anyways. It seemed like the right thing to do in this situation: drink alone in a dirty bath tub she hadn't used in over a month. She stared vacantly at the faucet across from her. She could see her distorted reflection: the light coat of mascara she'd put on this morning had smudged badly.

She took another swig.

How the fuck did this happen?

In hindsight: yeah, she shouldn't have been involved in any checks of Kyoko's Club. She knew that there was nothing funny going on there, but that kind of thinking was dangerous for a detective to have. She shouldn't have accepted that damn motorcycle. Getting kicked off the unit seemed like too much though.

Hell, getting kicked off the unit seemed like total bullshit. Sayaka worked harder than anyone else there; she had the best fitness scores and the highest amount of majors busts per year. And she did all of this on top of being a freaking magical girl. No one else had even half of her determination, courage, strength, or sheer dumb luck. They must have all piled up against her because they were jealous of her and she wasn't there; an easy target. She gripped the neck of the bottle tightly; there was a very real possibility she could make it shatter if she didn't let up.

An easy life.

She chuckled mirthlessly. She knew she could never have an easy life, just by virtue of being a magical girl. When she first contracted, the stress was too much. Way too much. She remembered longing for parking duty again.

But now that she was getting it, it felt awful. After she had learned how to cope with being a magical girl and a detective…she made it work. And it was amazing. It wasn't easy, but she really felt like a superhero. Sure, being a magical girl made her superhuman anyways, but the two roles; one in the supernatural, putting witches to rest; the other in the human world, protecting the innocent from criminals; it was incredible.

She'd finally started to feel like a good person.

Now, parking duty felt like nothing. She wasn't saving anyone. She wasn't protecting anything. She was at most inconveniencing them. She wasn't doing shit to redeem herself on parking duty.

She thought of every girl who must have been abducted by the Miyamotos. She thought of every family torn apart by the Kurosawa's drugs. She thought of every person Watanabe must have done God-knows-what to. She thought of every person cheated by Hideki.

She thought of every person like Madoka she didn't save.

She took another drink as more tears streamed down her face, creating a black trail from her eye to her chin behind them. She tried to steady her breath and failed. She whimpered. She checked her soul gem and noticed it was quite murky; she was wallowing in self-pity, potentially to the risk of others if she should for some reason crack and become a witch.

She was so pathetic. She wondered if Kyoko would forgive her for going back in as Rin. She doubted it. She wondered how much she cared.

If Kyoko has cleaned up the Club like she said she would, she shouldn't. Right?

Kyoko checked the text on her phone. It was odd; the Chair of the Church Committee wanted to talk to her personally. Usually she was just included on group texts.

She had finished up the orders for the Club and there was nothing else she had to do for the illegitimate side of things. It was only 1 PM and she could probably drive back to her place to fit in a half hour nap before hunting. She could spare a few minutes.

The phone rang twice.

"Hello Sakura-san. How are you?" He sounded tersely pleasant as always; he didn't enjoy their conversations any more than she did.

"I'm fine thanks…how are you?" Sayaka had told her a few times she should try improving her small talk. 'It will make you more approachable!' she said. It felt weird and like it was wasting time though. Besides, what would Kyoko do if the guy actually wasn't fine and wanted to talk about it, and she didn't really care? Would she be expected to listen then? That sounded awful.

"Actually…" Oh fuck here we go. "Things are…strange, Sakura-san. That's why I wanted to talk to you." He sounded exasperated.

"What's going on?"

"My secretary told me she has been getting strange phone calls all week about the Church. A woman screaming that she wanted it torn down. She seemed to think she had a right to say what should happen to it. She's been threatening to sue, even."

Kyoko hadn't seen that coming.

"What the hell?"

"Yes, that's what we are wondering too. I just wanted to ask you, because you seem to be related to the Sakura family and the Church had been their private property after the Minister was excommunicated. Are you familiar with someone by the name of Aki Sakura?"

"Aki Sakura? Like first name Sakura, surname Aki?"

"Yes."

"Does she understand that the Church belonged to a family with the surname Sakura, and not just anyone with the name?" Kyoko wanted to be annoyed, but something felt wrong. Her stomach lurched and her head started to throb. She heard echoes of metallic pounding in her ears, getting menacingly louder.

"The woman sounded hysterical and not well. She's probably just insaaaa" The Chair's words faded into obscurity. Gargled, distorted voices she didn't recognize whispered unintelligible things.

The pounding wouldn't stop. She thought her brain was going to explode. She wanted to vomit.

Stop, stop, stop, just make it stop!

The world stopped spinning and she was in pure darkness.

"Kyoko?" A voice as gentle as bluebells asked her; she somehow associated her with the smell of apples and cinnamon. Kyoko couldn't see her face but she heard her clearly.

"No…no, I don't know who that is." She said, like in a daze. She blinked and woke up a bit more. "I don't know who she is."

No response.

"Hello?"

She checked her phone. She wasn't on a call with anyone. It was 2:48 PM. She was slouched in her chair.

She blinked again. What the fuck?

Her soul gem had gotten darker.

There was knocking on her door. Sayaka didn't want to answer it. She hoped they would go away.

She wanted to sit alone and pity herself. Just for a day or two. Even if the tub was making her neck hurt.

The lock turned and the door opened anyways.

"Sayaka? Are you in here? I saw your bike outside, and was wondering if you were home…" Kyousuke. Sweet, innocent Kyousuke.

She was pretty sure she didn't want him to see her like this. She closed her eyes as more tears streamed down her face and her lips trembled. She must look like a mess. She hoped he would assume she wasn't home and would leave.

"Sayaka? Sayaka! Sayaka! Are you alright?" He was trying to jostle her awake. She couldn't get out of this.

She opened her eyes to prove she wasn't dead.

"Are…are you…" He looked like he was choking on his words.

"I'm fine, Kyousuke. Just had a rough day is all." She spoke clearly, albeit slowly. She didn't want to slur her words. He exhaled in relief.

"You're not high." He had such a kind smile. She couldn't help but smile back, even if it was a sad smile.

"I'm not. Just a bit drunk is all. Want some?" She held up the bottle of vodka that was almost empty. It had been almost full when she started.

"Sayaka, it's only 3 in the afternoon."

"Well it's 5 somewhere." She took another swig.

"In the middle of the ocean." He gave her a wry smiled and took a swig. It surprised her.

"Since when did you start drinking?" He had never had a thing against alcohol from what she knew, but she didn't really know him to drink either.

"Since I could walk and started going to parties without worrying about ramp access." He took another swig and sat down, back against the cupboard underneath the sink and knees to his chest. Sayaka's bathroom wasn't particularly big and paled in comparison to the ridiculously luxurious one Kyoko now had. Sayaka knew from experience that two or eight people could easily fit in that ridiculous ceramic paradise.

"I thought it was too early for you to drink, Mr. Righteous."

"I'm done classes for the day, and you're a bad influence." He chugged the rest of the vodka. His face contorted in disgust. "Oh this is terrible."

Sayaka laughed. "It's the cheapest shit I could find."

"Yeah, I can tell. If you're going to insist of drinking alone in your tub, let me show you something that's actually good." He shook his head like that would somehow wash the taste away. "So why are you drinking alone in your tub?"

Sayaka sighed. She tried to keep from crying. It didn't work.

"I got reassigned from OCU. I'm back on parking duty. I don't know when or even if I'm going to be put back on. Hell, they might even fire me."

"What! Why? What did you do wrong?" He looked stunned. She appreciated that someone else didn't expect it either. It seemed like all of her colleagues did, and thought she was a criminal. Maybe Kyousuke was just too innocent and didn't see the dark in her that everyone else seemed to. She explained the shooting, Kyoko, and the motorcycle. It was likely confidential information, but fuck it, she was drunk. Her words were so slurred, he could probably only understand about half of it.

She didn't say anything about the offer to get back on if she went back in undercover again. She at least knew to keep that part secret.

"That's…that's awful. I'm sorry Sayaka. I can…well, I can see where they're coming from, but that's still not right. It's not like you were the only one checking out the place, right? So it's not like it could have been only your fault if you missed anything."

More tears fell, but she didn't sob. She was pretty sure she was going to get dehydrated soon.

"It's more that they don't trust me. They think I'm the dirty cop."

"That's crazy! Of course it's not you! You're the best person I know. If they can't see that, then they are terrible detectives for not being able to see what's right in front of them." He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. She smiled and sobbed a bit.

"Thanks Kyousuke…that really means a lot." Her voice was thick with tears. "But they're the ones whose opinion counts."

He sighed. He got to his feet, but stumbled a bit. The vodka clearly had more of an effect than it appeared. He hoisted her out of the tub.

"Get up. We're watching one of those dumb comedies you like. And drinking some water. And ordering a pizza for delivery." He was holding her close to him. Someone else watching could have assumed they were lovers, and not one drunk childhood friend helping a drunker, more maladjusted one.

"Since when did you know how to cheer people up, oh mighty oblivious one?" She smiled, but she was grateful. A distraction could be a good thing.

"I had to do things like this for Hitomi a lot." He rolled his eyes with a fond smile. The amiable atmosphere shattered.

This was the first time since Kyousuke and Hitomi had broken up that he said anything about her. She talked about him all the time though.

"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense." Sayaka felt awkward as she pushed herself out of his gentle grip. She stumbled a bit, but made her way to her ratty second-hand couch relatively gracefully. Kyousuke followed behind her unsurely.

"Did…did I say something wrong?"

"No! No, of course not. It's fine. It's just…it's the first time you've mentioned Hitomi since you broke up is all."

"Oh…should I not have said anything?" He looked as though he felt like he was walking on thin ice. Sayaka wasn't sure whether he was or not.

"No, no, it's completely fine. I mean, you and Hitomi were together for a really long time, so if anything I'm glad that you're talking about her now, and I didn't have to be the one to bring her up. She's doing well, by the way. Really well. She's started going outside more. We went the library, a café, the movies…uh…lots of places!" She was overcompensating for any betrayal she might have committed.

"That's great to hear." He smiled genuinely. "I'm glad she's doing better. I don't think she'd be doing this if we stayed together. We're both better off on our own now."

Sayaka cringed. Hitomi didn't feel the same way at all.

Neither of the two friends said much beyond figuring out what they wanted on their pizzas and choosing which movie to watch. Sayaka fell asleep at some point. When she woke up…she and Kyousuke were basically snuggling on the couch underneath her old blanket. She blushed. Hitomi would be so, so pissed if she saw us now.

Actually, no. She would just be heartbroken.

Sayaka tried to get herself out from underneath his arm without waking him up. He looked so peaceful, like a sleeping baby or lamb or some other ridiculously adorable childish animal. It was weird to think of him as being an essentially grown man.

Her door slamming open rudely interrupted his sleep and any kind of caution she was trying to take in not waking him up. Sayaka was terrified that Hitomi was there, somehow sensing that she was being inappropriate with her ex.

She was relieved, and then somewhat terrified again to see Kyoko walking in and looking fairly unimpressed.

"We've been together for five hours, and you're already cheating on me."

"Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, babe." Sayaka stretched to wake up, trying to make a joke of it all. She was still pretty drunk. Kyousuke was very evidently not ready to wake up yet, and had the dumbest expression on his face that she'd ever seen.

Sayaka felt her eyelids being pulled open. She saw pissed off red irises glaring into hers.

"Are you high right now?"

"No! God, you're the second person to ask me that." Kyoko recoiled at the smell of her breath. Sayaka assumed she didn't have to explain she was actually respectfully drunk, thank you very much.

"Why are you drinking? You never drink."

"You don' know me." Sayaka slurred. She meant to do it ironically…but she was a bit too effective and it just came off as genuine intoxication.

"I'm not fucking around Sayaka. First it's alcohol, then it's drugs. Why the hell are you drunk at 5 pm? Didn't you just get off work?"

The reality of the day came crashing down on her. She sobered up quickly. Her lips trembled before she started crying. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"What? What happened?" Kyoko was alarmed, arms raised like she was trying to placate a feral dog. Sayaka knew Kyoko struggled at handling emotions. She was actually good at dealing with others, no matter how convinced the red girl was that she had the emotional intelligence of an average rock.

"I got kicked off of the OCU. Because I know you." Sayaka had to struggle to keep the resentment out of her voice. Why do you have to own such a sketchy place?

"What." It wasn't a question. Sayaka couldn't place the look on Kyoko's face, but it was something dark.

"They thought I might be in a conflict of interest knowing you."

"Am I under arrest, or even under suspicion for anything? Why the fuck should you knowing me mean anything?" She was getting louder and angrier and something else Sayaka was too drunk to figure out.

"I don't know! Your club is super fucking shady and I had to investigate it almost a dozen times! It's hard not to have you under suspicion and I never should have been the one investigating anything to do with you. It was a total conflict of interest." She could genuinely admit that; it probably wouldn't help her get her job back though.

Kyoko's eyes darted around the room. She was thinking.

"Why did you tell them we were girlfriends?" Sayaka felt like Kyoko was accusing her of something with that question.

"They noticed the motorcycle. And they found out you gave it to me right after I was shot. I couldn't explain that we're fucking mag-" Sayaka stopped and looked at her couch. Kyousuke was watching them with owl eyes. After a moment, he noticed they were both looking at him and he scrambled to look the other way, trying fruitlessly to pretend he wasn't eavesdropping.

"Oi, pretty boy! Get outta here! Me and my girlfriend need a few minutes. Lovers' quarrel. Out!" Kyoko shooed him out. He obeyed, but seemed disappointed to not be watching. Must look like a soap opera. The door was shut behind him and Kyoko locked the door.

"I couldn't tell them we're magical girls! And giving a friend a luxury model motorcycle the week after she was shot in the spine looks sketchy as hell otherwise!" Sayaka whispered it in case he could still hear. Kyoko growled and wrung her hands through her hair. She didn't seem like she was mad at Sayaka per say, but Sayaka couldn't tell for sure.

"Am I under suspicion for anything?" Kyoko actually looked scared.

"I don't know, but you're fine. It's not illegal to own a club that people do illegal shit in if you've done everything you could to stop it. You're not a bad person. You've done nothing wrong, okay?" Sayaka was actually pissed that she was the one who had her career pulled out from under her feet, and yet she was the one consoling Kyoko. To make things worse, it didn't seem like Kyoko was comforted at all from what she thought were very comforting words.

"What's wrong? Spit it out." Sayaka made it evident that she was not pleased to ask the question.

"Hm? Nothing. Nothing. So what happened today, exactly?" Kyoko was preoccupied. Sayaka couldn't quite figure out what the girl was thinking, but she could tell when she was only partially paying attention. She explained the story anyways, whether Kyoko was fully listening or not.

"I just felt so judged, you know? Like, I know this sounds bad, but I've done way more than them, but I'm the one getting shit. Yeah, they don't know half of what I've done for them at the Club or as a magical girl, but I did a lot! And what kind of appreciation do I get? None. Absolutely fucking none. And they don't trust me at all! They've taken my passcodes, my phone, some of my keys that they don't think I need anymore-"

"They took your phone?" Sayaka didn't appreciate the interruption.

"Yeah, everyone had to turn theirs in. Some computer geek is going to check it out and give it back to me. That wasn't the worst part though, the worst was the fucking Captain! I mean-"

Sayaka cut herself off. If she said something about the ultimatum, Kyoko would know that the Club was definitely still under suspicion.

Would Kyoko mind? Like, there's nothing to hide, right? But maybe a heads up would be good, just for the sake of not creating any bad blood.

No, that would support the idea that she was compromised in doing her job. If Kyoko was doing illegal things, she would be okay with looking for it and taking action; she was a detective, it's her damn job. If she made any sort of exception like that, her reassignment would be completely justified.

She looked over and could see that Kyoko was clearly not paying any attention at all. She was pacing.

"What's the problem now?" Sayaka didn't make any effort to hide her irritation. She didn't feel like she had to be considerate of Kyoko's feelings in this.

"Sorry, I've got to go. I just got a text from work. Five girls have called in sick on the same night and I need to help them figure shit out. We'll talk later. Don't worry about work, everyone there is an asshole." It sounded like a cheaply rehearsed line which Sayaka was sure she'd heard Kyoko say at least a few times before.

There are more assholes in my life than just them…

"Need me to fill in for a girl?" Sayaka asked with a wry smile. She figured she might as well test the waters.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Kyoko didn't look amused at all. "Are you going to go hunting with Yuma tonight or take a night off?"

"Night off. Just in case I'm still a bit drunk." She felt pretty sobered up, but she couldn't imagine how much shit she would get in if something went wrong and she'd been drinking earlier; whether the alcohol was at fault or not…it wouldn't make her look good.

Kyoko didn't look particularly pleased with her answer either, but she accepted it.

"Drink some water. Aren't your parents coming soon for your group therapy session tonight?"

Sayaka's stomach dropped. She had completely forgotten. Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"Brush your teeth and they'll never know. Take it easy."

She didn't wait for a goodbye.

Sayaka was unsettled by that conversation, but she couldn't place why.

There was knocking on her office door. She actually got up and let them in.

She treated the other Council members with respect.

Kurosawa Tomi looked petrified.

"What the hell is this, that the phone with the bug in it is being investigated? What did you do?"

"Nothing! I did absolutely nothing. KPD is investigating everyone and apparently, people were trash talking Sayaka because she knows me and they'd done some "randomly selected" searches on the Club or some shit like that. She's off OCU and they took her phone to investigate it. They took everyone's phones to check them out."

"All they have to do is take out the battery and they can see the fucking chip!"

"I get that. What I need you to do is figure out a way to find that fucking phone and get the chip out. It was your idea that we put it in there in the first place!"

"If you could have just stayed away from the cop like we all told you to, none of this would be happening!" He was on the verge of shrieking.

"And if I stayed away from that cop, we'd have lost two more shipments and had the KPD on our asses way before this."

"They're clearly thinking that Miki botched the checks of the Club. How do you know they won't come by knocking more?"

"Who cares if they do? We don't have any product here. We have nothing to hide." She shrugged it off, angrily though. "What we do have to hide is that fucking chip. Can you get it or not?"

Tomi cursed into his hands as he buried his face. He raked his fingers down his skin, leaving nasty red marks behind.

"I don't know who at KPD would have it. I don't really have good connections there. The only person who could help us is-"

Kyoko's cell started to ring. She had a bad feeling about it. Her feeling was well deserved.

Yoshikuba.

"Sakura here." She answered.

"Hello Kyoko. I hear about Miki's reassignment. That's a shame. It's a waste of good talent. How's she doing?" His concern almost seemed genuine. It made it seem like it was dripping with mockery and insincerity all the more to Kyoko.

"What do you want?" She growled. She didn't have to pretend to play nice if he wasn't.

"I'm sure you're all upset about last night's failed shipment. I do want to make it clear that I did not make anyone put a check point there. I just didn't stop it from being there is all." Kyoko could picture his nonchalant shrug over the phone. She wanted to punch in in this face. "But, out of comradery, I have gotten the chip out of Miki's phone. Thankfully for you, NMPD is assisting the investigation in checking some of KPD's IT systems as an outside set of eyes."

Kyoko couldn't believe how dumb they were, letting the other department which could have just as likely been the source of corruption, do some of the work for the investigation. But she was damn grateful for the oversight because it saved their asses.

"I was just wondering what you wanted me to do with it. Would you rather I give it back to you or destroy it?"

Kyoko scowled.

"What's the catch?"

"What do you mean?" She couldn't tell if he was actually perplexed or faking it from his tone.

"What's the catch for you helping us?"

"I'm getting a cut for this very reason. So what do you want me to do with it?"

His response did nothing to ameliorate her mood. "Give it to Tomi."

"That will be arranged."

She heard a dial tone. She hung up. She picked up a little glass pencil holder and chucked it at the wall with an angry roar, shattering it. She breathed in and out deeply, chest heaving with every breath. She turned to Tomi, who watched with furrowed brows and a scratched face. Kyoko sighed in resignation and leaned against her desk, crossing her arms.

"He won this round."

Tomi sighed.

"We won this round. Not just him. We got the chip. That's what counts." Tomi sounded at least irked that they needed his help, but he was being rational; Kyoko could admit that; she just didn't want to. The shards of glass made a tinkling sound as she pushed them aside with her boot. She sighed.

"Yeah. Whatever." She was being a petulant child; she knew that. But Tomi wouldn't say anything to imply that he thought so too; Kyoko made him way too much money, and she had talents that terrified him. There hadn't been any real loyalty for a long time, nor was there any need for any. Kyoko had Sayaka and Yuma to be loyal too; that was it.

Her eyes went downcast as she thought of how broken Sayaka seemed today; she had no idea what hit her. And Kyoko didn't give a damn about that when it happened; she was scared about saving her own skin, and keeping her happy lie going.

Is this what happiness feels like?

Hell, Kyoko had gone over there looking for comfort for herself. Whatever happened earlier that afternoon wasn't normal. She hadn't had a magic attack in months, but even that felt different. It only felt like one time before.

"Do you know who Aki Sakura is?" She wanted to change the topic. She wasn't sure if the name would mean anything to Tomi either.

"No, I can't say I do. Why?"

"No reason." She shrugged it off. Maybe she wasn't important. Kyoko ignored whatever nagging feeling it was that was making her head throb; she could think about it later.

She was grateful when her phone buzzed again for some sort of distraction. A text from Kenji, Sayaka's father.

Kyoko had gotten to know Sayaka's parents more over the past few months; they were absolutely lovely people and she couldn't help but envy Sayaka for having them. Not only did the blunette have parents, but they were supportive and attentive. And alive, which was a bonus too.

But Kyoko always felt a twinge of guilt talking to them, especially Kenji. The older couple had such conviction in their opinions, but neither Sayaka nor Kyoko gave them even a fraction of the entire story so they were ignored.

It's not like they told Sayaka the full story either. Kyoko was in a strange position, in that both generations of the family talked to her about the other. Kyoko knew that Sayaka had stolen lots of money from them when she was in the worst of her addiction, but tracked every expense and paid it back with tips she made at the club.

She also knew that the Miki parents' finances were in complete disarray, even though Kenji ran a bookkeeping business. They were so behind on debts that they didn't even want to know the exact amount they were in debt. Kyoko knew this because Kenji had come to the Club early one night and gotten drunk; he had originally gone to try to recruit the Club as a new client and he let everything spill.

Like how the doctor was advising his wife to lose forty kilos because her blood pressure was too high and she was at risk of developing health complications. Like how their sex life was falling apart because his wife refused to "make love anymore" because she felt too ugly. Like how Fumiko was tired all the time because she kept having nightmares of Sayaka dying. Like how he hated himself for insisting that Sayaka was the only child they needed and convinced his wife to have an abortion when Sayaka was four years old, because if they'd had the child it might have made losing Sayaka less painful. Like how Kenji had reluctantly accepted the idea that he was going to outlive his daughter many, many years ago while his wife had not. Like how he had started a new set of pills to treat a worsening anxiety disorder he hadn't told his wife about, and it reminded him eerily of how Sayaka's addiction had started.

Like how he didn't think his bookkeeping business was going to survive because too many of the businesses he worked for had owners who were closing up shop to retire or couldn't compete with new technology.

Like how he was desperate to have her as a client, as the only wealthy businessperson he could think of to ask who might have use for his services.

Kyoko said no; officially because the former owner still had a share of the business and did the books himself; unofficially because she couldn't have an innocent set of eyes figure out just how cooked her books really were; if anyone looked closely enough and actually attended the club, they could see that the margin she was reporting on alcohol was not possible to be making unless she was serving worthless toxic water to customers.

To be fair, most of the alcohol she sold, as she had been told numerous times by Kurosawa, was pretty shitty.

Still, something had changed between Kyoko and Kenji after that night and they talked often.

He wasn't her father, but he was a pretty good substitute. She wasn't a therapist, but she was also a pretty good substitute.

Kenji: Have you talked to Sayaka today? How was her first day?

Kyoko tapped back quickly, giving him the bullet points about how it was a disaster and she got reassigned. Kyoko wasn't surprised that he was cautiously excited.

She smiled fondly at his next text: they were going to throw Sayaka a surprise party on Sunday: her 1000th day being clean. He wanted her to distract her while they set something up at Sayaka's apartment. It seemed like the only thing the couple looked forward to was these milestones Sayaka was reaching in her recovery. It was a dangerous bet to stake their happiness on.

Kyoko could take Sayaka out for a witch hunt or something easily. She would let Yuma in on the plan too; get everyone involved.

"You know you can't pretend there isn't a problem." Tomi's posture was tense. Kyoko guessed that this had been on his mind for a while. She bit her tongue; she wanted to lash out at him, insist that everything was fine, and focus on Sayaka's surprise party. She'd dug her head in the sand before though, and it led to the Church getting in such poor condition that the City was going to tear it down.

"Yeah. I know."

"What are you going to do?"

Kyoko glared at the glass shards on the floor, like it would somehow be intimidated into solving her problems for her.

"I don't know. Keep Sayaka away from here. See if we can do something to get her off the Force. Her parents have wanted her to get another job for ages; maybe we can convince her or something." Kyoko didn't even believe her own words. If Sayaka was passionate about something, trying to get her to change her mind was about as easy as stopping a rampaging rhinoceros.

"It sounds like the KPD is suspecting you now."

"They'd be stupid not to. But they won't find anything. We're as clean as a nightly cesspool can be." Somewhat clean; they kept paper-based records, but they were shoddy, coded and easy to destroy. Even though they reeked of dirty business, you couldn't figure them out as they were. The Club had never had an audit done, and Kyoko planned on upholding that proud tradition.

"Why are you so insistent on keeping her around? What are you getting out of this?" He crossed his arms. Kyoko had a sense of déja vu from when her father would try to get Kyoko to explain her anger towards something that he thought seemed irrational. It pissed Kyoko off to draw a comparison between her Father the clergyman and Tomi the suck up crook.

"It's complicated. But it's my life; I can handle the shit that comes with it."

"It's not just your life, it's all of ours. If you get nailed for something, you can't expect everyone to go down with you." His patience was breaking, whereas her father's rarely wavered before she made her contract. Kyoko let out a subtle smile. It was refreshing to see the difference between this man and her father after all.

"And you won't. I'm not a rat."

"Kurosawa wasn't either, and look where that got him."

Kyoko let out a bark of laughter.

"I'd like to see someone try to pull that shit on me. I'd kick their ass, and you know it." It wasn't false bravado; it was true. Hell, her magic could get her out of being arrested if she needed it. She could get a new ID and start a new life if she had to. She hoped it wouldn't come to that, but she'd lived on the street before and could do it again.

She ignored any concerns about the logistics of having Yuma around for the time being.

"I believe you. I do. I trust you know what you're doing-"

"Don't lie to me." She glared, but it didn't have much malevolence behind it.

"I'm not lying. You've pulled off things that can only be described as magic. But there are a few of us, myself included, who think whatever you have with Miki's a time bomb. What if you say the wrong thing and she figures things out? She's one of Goura's lapdogs. We'd be locked up in two seconds flat."

"Sayaka wouldn't do that to me." The blue-haired girl didn't care about Kyoko the same way Kyoko cared about her. She knew that, and it felt like it was just a fact of life that was meant to be. But the girl wasn't a snake; she was more like a dog than anything, and was fiercely loyal to anyone she decided was worth it.

Sayaka may not love Kyoko that way Kyoko wanted her to, but she would still have her back.

"Maybe not to you, but to any of us? Yeah, she would."

Kyoko couldn't argue with that.

"I'll figure something out. Soon. Don't worry." Her glare lessened as she sighed in resignation. Balance was key, and she couldn't completely neglect one of her responsibilities in favour of the others.

Tomi seemed to accept it, though Kyoko could tell he didn't completely believe she would…or maybe could carry through.

"You're such a nag. You were such an obedient bitch to Kurosawa. What happened to you?" She stated it as an impartial observation, with no judgment as to whether his change in demeanor was a good or bad thing.

"You're different than him. I was afraid of him." Tomi looked away from her. He was uncomfortable.

"And you're not afraid of me?" She walked to the other side of her desk to see if she had a snack she could munch on in one of the drawers. She was starving.

"I am. In different ways." He wouldn't meet her eye. She watched him carefully.

"How so?"

There were a few moments of silence. Tomi was choosing his next words very carefully.

"I was afraid of telling him what he was doing was wrong. I'm afraid of giving you bad advice. It's a better kind of fear."

Kyoko pursed her lips as she pondered that. She sat her in her chair and leaned back.

"Is it bad that you're afraid of me?" She was genuinely curious. She would miss the money if things went south and she lost her connections with them, but realistically she would be okay. She still remembered how to rob ATMs. She still had her own stash hidden away. And she could magically produce copies of herself, enchant others, transfigure stuff, and make spears appear out of nowhere. Overall, she was pretty set.

"No. I'm afraid of Watanabe, Hideki, and Kurosawa too. You should be too."

Kyoko laughed again.

"Are they afraid of me?" She smiled in an almost condescending way.

"Yes, but not for good reasons." He started fidgeting. He was getting nervous. She was testing his loyalties, albeit inadvertently. "You're no Suki. You weren't bred for this like her or any of us were. You have some amazing talents Kyoko. No one can doubt that. But your priorities are all wrong; that Church, Miki, the Sakura family. That's what scares them; not your talent, but that you're a loose cannon. It's not a good reason for them to be afraid of you."

Any mirth she may have felt dripped away quickly.

"So what should my priorities be? The money?" Her face twisted in an unflattering way, showing her increasingly foul mood.

"Sure. The money. The business. Your sister. Put them in whatever order you want. She was why you started all of this, if I remember right."

Kyoko flinched. Sometimes the reminders that she was forgetting Yuma too often were harsh.

"The Church is why I've gotten so deep. Don't blame Yuma for that."

"There's nothing and no one to blame for any of this but you." He smirked as if gazing fondly at a child who had said something adorably naïve. "But I'm talking about you starting here at all."

Kyoko grimaced. There was very little from that time she could think positively of; back when she had actually been loyal to the man who had become her business advisor.

It was the most aggravating game of 'which came first: the chicken or the egg?' Kyoko had ever had the misfortunate of being caught up in. She wasn't going to break her promise, no matter what; but this was proving way harder than she thought it would be.

Yuma was a basket case. It was impossible for her not to be. She had been beat up by her family her whole life; became a magical girl for the sake of helping a street kid she'd just met; saw countless people who she couldn't save die; and went up against the worst witch known to magical girl kind. All of this happened within a few weeks.

There was nothing stable in her life. Nothing consistently good. They drifted from town to town, hotel to hotel, convenience store to convenience store, day to day. The only constant so far had been that it was her and Yuma against the world. They were in a sort of equilibrium that let the months pass by quickly.

She wanted something good for Yuma. Something normal, like neither of them had ever known. She was going to give Yuma a home, not just a hotel for a night. She was going to let Yuma have friends. She was going to let Yuma be everything Kyoko never could.

It was a conversation a few nights ago that had given Kyoko her resolve. They were sitting in the penthouse of another atrociously expensive hotel. The thunder was booming outside as the honking of cars echoed; angry drivers protested delays beyond anyone's control. There was a single king-size bed. Kyoko was lying down on top of the covers, ready to fall asleep at the blink of an eye.

Yuma wasn't. Yuma sat on a cushioned window sill, knees pulled to her chest, the irregular lightning highlighting shadows under her haunted cerulean eyes; eyes that were way too old for the girl's actual age.

Kyoko sighed in defeat.

"Hey brat. Are you coming to bed or what?" She would have thought tonight would be a welcome treat. They usually hunted witches all night, but took the night off because of the torrential downpour outside. The thunder clapped again.

"I'm okay. You can go to sleep."

Kyoko made an aggravated noise that was muffled by the massive pillows.

"Quit being so dramatic, dummy. What's eating ya?" There were so many possibilities that Kyoko couldn't figure out just one.

"I'm okay. You can go to sleep." Yuma muttered, petulance creeping into her voice. Kyoko groaned, getting out of the bed that had been oh so welcoming. She sat down behind Yuma, flopping onto the window sill gracelessly. She threw a tired arm over the girl, pulling the child's back against the side of her chest. The girl flinched out of instinct, but quickly relaxed.

"We're not playing this game tonight. Tell me what's on your mind."

Yuma was silent. Kyoko wondered if the girl was pretending to be mute. She'd done it a few times before. Shortly after Walpurgisnacht, Yuma went almost two weeks without saying a word. The only way Kyoko had known that Yuma wasn't mad at her was that she would curl up next to Kyoko for hours at a time. Kyoko was grateful the girl had never done that since.

"Why do you keep me around?"

Kyoko blinked in surprise. She wasn't expecting that.

"'Cause you're stuck with me. Just the way God made it."

"So you don't want me?"

Kyoko was used to reassuring the girl. This wasn't an uncommon conversation for them.

"Of course I want you. That's why we're still together."

"But you said I'm with you because God made it that way. What if you don't want it that way?"

"There are plenty of things I've done or didn't do, even though God wanted me to do something else. I don't play by his rules. I decided I want ya, which is why I'm keeping you. Do you want me to let you go off in the wild or something like that?"

Yuma was quiet again. She started to tremble. She was crying.

"I'm scared, onee-chan."

Kyoko wrapped her other arm around her, pulling her into a tight hug from behind.

"Why?" She was quiet. She was never sure what the answer to that question would be. Why did people turn away from her father? Why did her father beat her mother? Why was Yuma's family so awful to her? Sometimes it was easier to never know people's motivations.

"What if one day, you don't come back?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno. A witch killed you. You become a witch. You realize you're better off keeping grief seeds for yourself, because I can't fight alone and they're wasted on me."

This girl had a major inferiority complex that drove Kyoko nuts.

"That third one's never gonna happen. Believe me, Yuma; I am so much happier with you here than I've been in a long time." Kyoko was serious; she only called her pseudo-sister by her real name when she was. "Do you know what it's like to be completely alone?"

Yuma shook harder and nodded. Of course she knew.

"Now I'm not. Because you're here. And that means a lot to me. So as long as you want to be here…you will be."

"I'm scared because I never know what will happen tomorrow. I never know when tomorrow will be the last. I don't want to be alone again. I can't be alone again. I can't. I can't." Her voice was almost an inaudible squeak. Kyoko was happy Yuma's back was against her; she didn't want to scare her vulnerable ward further by letting her see her tears. Kyoko kept a stiff upper lip, but her tears fell quickly into Yuma's messy hair.

"I can't promise when the last tomorrow will be. I'll never be able to. But I promise…" Kyoko wanted to promise something, anything that could make things easier. "I promise that you'll be able to know most of what will happen tomorrow. Someday. Soon. We'll have a normal life."

Yuma squeaked something, but Kyoko couldn't understand it.

"Huh?"

"We'll never be normal."

"We can try our damned best."

Which was what led Kyoko to here; trying to get an apartment so they could stay in one place instead of moving nomadically. If they were going to stay in one place, she needed a job because someone would catch on eventually if all of the ATMs in the area kept getting broken in to.

It was hard to get a place without a job. It was hard to get a job without a place.

Somehow, miraculously, she found one. It was an insanely overpriced piece of shit; probably because she had no ID and they figured she was a little criminal. It was a reasonable assumption for them to make.

She needed money; more than they had. Kyoko regretted wasting the money they got on expensive hotel rooms. And evidently, Kyoko wasn't the only one busting into ATMs; a bunch of them had guards now. Kyoko was afraid of stealing money, in case she would get in trouble with the cops and have to run; then her whole efforts of having a stable place for Yuma would be for naught.

She needed money fast and she wasn't sure where to get it.

The whole past week had rained almost nonstop. It fit her mood, at least; that was the only good thing about it. She left Yuma at the hotel with a notepad and some crayons; stuff that was easy to steal and could keep her busy for a while. She didn't want Yuma to see her struggle to provide for them.

Kyoko had a whole new understanding of her father.

It was way past dark. Most places that were hiring turned her away as soon as she entered. Kyoko supposed her jean shorts, boots, and worn green hoodie were not particularly professional. She hated how much she could understand why people wouldn't trust her or give her a chance.

She didn't need these people to give her a chance for her; she needed them to give her a chance for Yuma.

One gas station run by a Filipino couple with heavy accents seemed to consider her. After what felt like a game of Pictionary, Kyoko understood what her job would be, the hours, and the pay. It wasn't good. She would be working over forty hours a week which could go to witch hunting and would barely be able to cover rent. She'd need another job to pay for food.

Trying to be a responsible citizen was complete and total bullshit.

Even if she started at the gas station tomorrow, she wouldn't be able to make the first months' rent. It was humiliating; she had lost before she even started.

She leaned against a lamp post and let herself get drenched. She looked like a drowned rat.

A rusty brown car pulled up to her. The driver was a middle-aged man with a potbelly who had lost most of his hair. Kyoko would have believed someone if they said he was a loser living in a basement apartment after his ex-wife came out with the better end of things in a divorce proceeding.

"What are you doing out there? You're going to catch a cold." He didn't sound patronizing, but he didn't sound like a caring man either. He was just stating a fact.

"Looking for a job." She was factual back. The man was right though; standing still was just going to keep her jobless and sick. She pushed herself away from the post to keep going. She was delving further into sketchier parts of town that might be more open to employing someone like her.

"How much do you charge?" He kept his eyes fixed on her face. The eye contact was intense and making Kyoko feel vaguely uncomfortable. It seemed like he was offering her money though.

Kyoko's stomach dropped. She was dumb and couldn't see the signs when she was twelve, but she was fifteen now and understood all about that kind of stuff.

She looked down and furrowed her brows. She tried to suppress a shiver at the thought.

But she needed money. Fast.

For the life Yuma deserved.

"20,000 yen." That would cover the shortage she had. She and Yuma could afford the first month's rent and security deposit with what they had that way.

The man nodded and leaned over to open the passenger door for her. She got in the car. She was glad it was raining and she didn't have an umbrella, because her tears blended in well with the rain drops. It was a scrap of dignity she could keep.

She wondered if her father would be proud of her for doing this for the sake of someone else, or if he would be disgraced.

The man pulled into an alley. He instructed her to pull her pants down just enough and bend over into the back seat. Kyoko appreciated that she didn't have to look at him or kiss him. As soon as the man started thrusting, something broke in her. She didn't cry. She just focused on a stain on the floor, bracing herself with the back middle seat's head rest to not fall forward. She had no emotions. She just waited for the ordeal of losing her virginity to be over.

She felt full in a strange, gross way. The man's grunts and incessant huffing behind her told him that he was very out of shape. She had found trashy opened pornographic magazines in alleys before and flipped through them out of curiosity. The women in them seemed to love this. She didn't understand the appeal. If she didn't have a heightened pain tolerance from her wish, this might have even hurt physically.

There was an impatient knock on the window. The man jolted in surprise; the sudden movement in the wrong direction make Kyoko wince. She wasn't embarrassed to be caught though; she didn't feel like she really understood the concept of shame anymore; her whole life had been shame for years, well before she had contracted.

The man hurried to tuck himself back into his pants. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights and wanted to run, but did not want Kyoko in the car with him.

Kyoko held out her hand. "I'll leave when you give me my money."

The man swallowed and nodded, rushing to pull out a wad of bills. She counted them first to be sure. The man was furiously red and impatient for her to get out of the car. When she was satisfied, she did. The car sped off as soon as she closed the door.

She looked behind her at the man who had interrupted them. She pulled up her shorts and did them up. She was grateful for the early finish, not because she needed saving but because it was an unpleasant experience. The man looked to be in his early thirties and remarkably average: average height, only slightly taller than her, average build, even an average looking face. He had a short blonde hair, which was the only thing even potentially not-average about him. Kyoko generally had pretty good memory when it came to faces, but she would be able to forget his easily.

She didn't appreciate the judgmental glare he was shooting at her. He raised an eyebrow.

"You look awfully young to be doing that sort of work."

"You look awfully old to be giving a damn about what I do." She shot back and started to walk away. She had what she needed. She didn't need to hang around. She wanted to go back to the hotel and have one last shower in a nice place before she and Yuma settled into their piece of shit for an apartment.

The man put a stern hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Do you know where you are?"

"Some shithole I'd rather not hang around."

"You're outside of a gentlemen's club. My gentlemen's club to be exact. I hope you understand why this can't be your spot. I've never seen you around here before, so I'll just give you a warning this time. But you can't do that kind of work here again. Do you understand?"

She didn't, but she didn't really give a damn. She let him know as much. The man sighed and looked down.

"Wha-wait, were you a virgin?" He was looking at her shorts. Kyoko looked down. She finally felt the familiar sense of shame through her numbness. Her shorts were stained with blood.

"None of your damn business."

The man shook his head at her. He didn't look like he was pitying her, but rather chiding her which was something she strangely appreciated.

"Come inside. You can get cleaned up." He looked her up and down. "No offense, but I'm guessing you don't have a lot of clothes. You might as well not ruin the ones you have."

He was right. She accepted it with a childish shrug. They went in through a door with no handle that was held ajar with what looked like a very shiny and high heeled black leather boot. She could feel a bass pounding as soon as she entered.

She looked at the dark room around her and her jaw dropped. It looked like a dressing room for actresses she'd seen in movies before with mirrors surrounded by incandescent lightbulbs. There was a mess of opened makeup and clothes thrown around the room, scanty costumes thrown everywhere. There was barely any floor or counter space visible.

"Don't mind the mess." He muttered through gritted teeth. He seemed stressed, but not at her. She didn't care. She was grateful to be inside a space that wasn't as confined as a car. She stood awkwardly in a little space, surrounded by thongs as the man opened some drawers and lockers, looking for something.

"Can't find anything in here…" He was still annoyed. Without her enhanced hearing, she wouldn't have been able to decipher what he was saying. "Thirty women and not a single one thinks they make enough money here to buy their own damn- ah, here we go." He threw a pad at her. "I have a stash for them in case of emergencies. Some of them abuse that, I guess."

Kyoko flushed and nodded. While she needed them for her own periods, it was never something she liked to think about. Growing up with a religious household did things like that to you, she supposed. He threw something else at her. She caught them: a pair of jean shorts, very similar to the ones she was wearing; these were darker though.

"No one here wears them. They might fit you."

"I can't pay you for these." She felt uncomfortable.

"I'm not asking you to buy them. I'm giving them to you."

"Thanks, but I don't need charity." She hadn't been given something in so long. It felt strange to take it. She had internalized the values that her father had instilled in her, like that if there are others who are worse off than her, she shouldn't take gifts that could go to them. She stole from stores all the time, but that was different; they didn't mean to give those away, so she was taking from people who could afford to buy them and were therefore better off than her.

The man rolled his eyes. "It's not charity, they're going to get thrown out anyways. No one wears them and they're taking up space in here. We need empty space more than we need more clothes. If you don't want them, just throw them out." He gestured vaguely to the alley. "Do you drink tea, or hot cocoa?"

Kyoko held the jean shorts to her. If they were being thrown out, she could keep them.

"I like sweet tea." She was ready to bolt as soon as the man left the room. She was surprised and disappointed to see him fill up an electric kettle in the corner and grab a mug from an overcrowded shelf above it.

She felt like she should like hot cocoa, but had absolutely no desire to drink it. She used to prefer hot cocoa but for some reason…after her family died, she couldn't stand the stuff.

The man seemed to notice that she was eager to leave. They sat in uncomfortable silence as the water finally boiled after what felt like an eternity.

He presented her with a Hello Kitty mug with a birthday cake flavoured rooibos tea bag.

"I want you to sit down for a minute, alright? Then you can go." He cleared some room on the table behind him to lean against. Kyoko pushed a bra off a chair and sat down.

"I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't do with your body, alright? It belongs to you. But I can't let you do that outside of my business. This is a strip club, okay kid? Women get naked in her, men get horny. Strip clubs are legal. Dancing naked is just fine. Brothels aren't. Do you know what a brothel is?"

Kyoko shook her head. She didn't like this conversation. She felt innocent in ways that she hadn't in a long time. This man understandably didn't assume she would be naïve about these sorts of things, considering what he had caught her doing just minutes ago.

"A brothel is a place men…well, people I guess, go to buy sex. Anything penetrative, really. The cops always suspect that respectable establishments like mine offer those kinds of services to get extra money, and they watch me like hawks because of it. If there is anything that even looks like that kind of funny business, inside or out on its premises, they'll be up my ass like a big black dildo. You get me?"

Kyoko understood everything but the last part. She wasn't sure what a dildo was or why it had to be big and black. She nodded anyways.

She heard a siren go off. She got up, ready to run. Were there cops nearby? How did they get the cars inside the building?

The man smiled at her like she was a kindred spirit. "Not cops, just a break in the shift. There might be some girls coming in so just-"

The doors to what looked like the inside opened and a flurry of pounding music, chattering, and sweaty naked breasts entered the room. There were only about ten or fifteen women, but they seemed like a much larger crowd than that based on the volume of their tittering voices. Kyoko made a point of looking down at the ground. The lacy underwear that looked like it was missing its crotch area did nothing to settle her nerves. She drank her tea quickly, even though it scalded the inside of her mouth.

"Who's this cutie? Are you a new girl? Thank god! Tomi, it's about time you hired someone, we're dying out there! It's way too busy!"

Kyoko couldn't help but look up at what she was quite certain was a man, but with very large breasts and dramatic makeup. They were wearing nothing but a tiny lavender thong that was tacky as hell; both tasselled and glittery. He…she had a very low voice and big blonde curls…as well as very, very big breasts. Kyoko had trouble looking away. She had never seen anything like them.

The woman looked down at her. Kyoko quickly averted her eyes, trying fruitlessly to pretend she hadn't been gaping.

"Oh sweetheart, don't worry. I got them this big so people would stare." The woman winked at her. Kyoko didn't look up at her.

"Tomi…how old is she? You're usually pretty good with picking new girls, but this one looks like…well, you know…"

"She's total jail bait. She's not working here. I found her outside. I needed to bring her in here for a chat and she'll be on her way."

"Just because she's young, doesn't mean she can't stand anywhere near our Club. She's not doing any harm."

"First timer." He glanced down towards Kyoko's crotch where the blood stain had gotten a bit bigger. It wasn't noticeable unless you looked for it. The big woman did and gasped. She was pitying her.

Kyoko couldn't place if it was rage or embarrassment that was welling up inside of her. Probably both.

"Oh darling…Tomi, why'd you interrupt her and her boyfriend?"

Kyoko scowled. The man, evidently named Tomi, snorted mirthlessly.

"I have a feeling her and her boyfriend John just weren't meant to be."

Kyoko had no idea how Tomi knew the guy's name was John. She didn't know they knew each other and had assumed the man was Japanese. Kyoko had never actually met anyone named John before.

"Oh…" The woman seemed to understand something Kyoko didn't. She turned to Kyoko. "Did you at least get good money for it?" Kyoko started to growl.

"That's not the fucking point of this because we don't do things like that here, right Naomi?"

"Hey, I'm still on shift. My name is Lady, thank you very much. But really, I hope you charged at least 50,000 yen for your first time. A lot of men would pay lots for a pretty young virgin like you." She bopped Kyoko on the nose, completely unintimidated by what Kyoko figured was her threatening nature. Everyone else seemed to be scared of her.

Wait, 50,000 yen?

She looked down, angry at herself. She sold herself for cheap.

"WOOO! Count it, bitches! 100,000 in tips in two hours!" A pretty girl with glamorously curled black hair and pouty red lips…and not much else….got up on the table, waving a fan of bills around. Kyoko's jaw dropped.

"H…how much?"

"Pfft, I've made more before." Lady sneered. A few of the other women in the room seemed to do the same, sulking as they drank their bottles of water and wiped the sweat of their faces with cosmetic-stained towels that they threw on the floor. Tomi glared at them.

"Ladies, it's not a competition! And remember, clean up your stuff when you're done with it! Even if you try on the outfit and decide it's not for you, put it away on the rack please!" He yelled and was plenty audible. No one seemed to listen.

Kyoko wanted in on this place. 100,000 for two hours and she didn't have to have actual sex? She could do that.

"OI! PICK UP YOUR SHIT WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH IT AND DON'T THROW IT ON THE GROUND. PICK IT UP AND PUT IT AWAY." Kyoko roared, specifically at the brunette who carelessly tossed her towel on the floor. She listened and quickly put it into an overfilled laundry hamper. Everyone else followed suit.

Kyoko puffed up her chest and crossed her arms. After Tomi and Lady had disregarded her as intimidating in any sort of way, it was good to see she wasn't just a dumb little kid. She looked over her shoulder. Both Tomi and Lady looked impressed.

The siren sounded. A look of alarm passed over Kyoko's face and her bravado immediately shattered into a million tiny humbled pieces. All of the women finished up their water, one or two of them changed, and went back out. It was back to being only Tomi and Kyoko in the room. It suddenly felt eerily larger and silent.

"I need a job." Kyoko's shoulders slumped and she made herself small. She didn't know how to approach things like this. She was sure there was some sort of etiquette…but that was just something that never clicked to her, no matter how hard her parents tried.

"Listen, I can't hire you. You seem way too young." He was speaking loudly. Oddly so. And his voice sounded wooden and rehearsed. Kyoko looked up at him with sad eyes. She was immediately confused.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright and that you understand that you cannot do those sorts of things here." He beckoned her to follow him. "I'm afraid you'll have to come back in a few years."

He took her outside and quickly looked around. He nodded to go deeper into the alley. She obeyed. There was another door around the corner that would be easy to miss if you didn't know where to look for it. It seemed like overkill; it had both a deadbolt and a keypad. He unlocked the dead bolt, entered in a code after made her look away, and then then went in. It was a cramped spiral staircase; the designer looked like they wanted to use the bare minimum amount of materials to make something that counted as stairs. Kyoko almost got dizzy going up to the third level based on how tightly coiled around they were to fit. He had the same ritual to open the door at the top of the stairs.

The hallway was about as decorated as the stairwell was. They took an immediate turn into yet another locked door. This room had almost nothing in it. A few basic chairs and a table. Not even a phone.

He closed the door and did a quick check under all of the furniture and the walls. Kyoko could recognize that they looked soundproof.

This guy was taking absolutely no precautions.

"Alright, let's talk." He let out a quick exhale of relief. "How old are you?"

"Nineteen." She lied. She figured eighteen would sound too cliché and she had to be legal.

"There are no bugs here. Tell the truth."

Kyoko furrowed her brows. She couldn't figure this guy out.

"Fifteen."

Tomi nodded.

"What do you need money for so badly?"

"To rent an apartment."

"Things not going well with your parents?"

"Not really. They're dead." She glared at the corner of the room and crossed her arms, almost like she was trying to hold herself. Tomi nodded. She couldn't read his expression.

"No inheritance or anything?"

The question made her head hurt and she wasn't sure why.

"There was no money. Or all money went to charity. I think." She didn't know. She just knew she was on her own. "We were pretty poor for most of our lives." Tomi seemed skeptical but accepted it. She hated how personal this interview was. She'd never had an interview before, but she hated it.

"So where are you living?"

"Hotels. The streets. My Dad's old church. Anywhere we can find."

Tomi looked at her like he had too many questions to ask. He shook his head. Kyoko wasn't always good at reading people, but she was pretty sure he thought she was the weirdest girl he'd ever met.

"We? Who's with you?"

"My little sister." Kyoko bristled talking about Yuma. She didn't want her to be associated with any of this.

"So you're fifteen and she's younger than you."

"Yeah."

"And you're living on the streets."

"Yeah."

"Why isn't your social worker doing anything about that?"

"My what?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

"Your social worker. The person who works for the government to make sure kids like you don't become outlaws and street rats."

Kyoko realized that the people who had visited her family after that time she was twelve were social workers. She preferred not to think about them.

"Not doing a very good job, I guess."

"I guess not." Tomi muttered. "So you're not in an institution or group home? No foster family?"

"No. We don't need one."

"How old's your sister?"

Kyoko sneered at him. "Shut up."

"I'm not accusing you or anything. I'm just asking. This will be my last question about her, I promise."

"She's seven."

"She's seven and she doesn't need a foster family or someone?" He looked at her incredulously.

"I thought you said that was your last question about her!" Kyoko snapped nastily. She quickly pulled herself back in and counted to ten, taking deep breaths. "Sorry." She thought she sounded lame saying that. He accepted it though.

"Are you in school?"

"No. Don't need it." She hated admitting that she wasn't educated. She didn't want people to think she was dumb.

"What's your name?"

Kyoko debated giving him a fake name. She decided against it. She had already told the truth on everything so far.

"Sakura Kyoko." She said it like she was confessing to some crime.

"Sakura…like the Sakura church? The one from two years-" She knew he was talking about when her father did what he did.

"Yeah that one." She cut him off. She'd lived the story; she didn't need him repeating it for her. He gaped at her.

"Come back tomorrow at seven pm. Knock on the side door. Don't let anyone see you." Kyoko swallowed a taste of salty bitterness on her tongue. That sounded way too familiar to her. "Lady will let you in and give you instructions. I'll give you a shot."

Kyoko felt instantly better that he wouldn't be alone with her. She wasn't sure if Lady was much better, but she wasn't as scared of him…her…them?

"And if you want the job, I need the name and a picture of your little sister. I don't need to meet her. I just need the photo and a name."

Kyoko was ready to attack him. What the hell would a guy like him, running a place like this, need Yuma's photo and name for?

"If you don't want to, that's fine. But I can't give you the job otherwise."

Kyoko was quaking with anger and something else. She clenched her fists. She breathed deeply.

She needed this. Yuma needed this. She and Yuma both needed this.

"Yuma." Kyoko's voice almost broke as she glared at the floor, tears welling up in her eyes. "Her name is Yuma."

"Sakura Yuma?"

Kyoko swallowed. She didn't say anything to correct or affirm his assumption.

"Think about it. If you're not here tomorrow with the photo, I'll know your answer."

Kyoko didn't sleep that night. She looked at Yuma, who for the first time in weeks was sleeping soundly, tucked under her arm. Yuma had waited up for her, until nearly four AM. She'd sensed Kyoko's distress from so far away. It terrified Kyoko that she had that skill; she was never truly alone; it was almost disturbing.

She told her she got the money for the new place. Kyoko lied and said her distress had been that she was so nervous in the interview and didn't think she would get the job. Yuma was thrilled.

Sweet Yuma was so naïve. Kyoko wanted to keep it that way.

She felt like she was tricking Yuma when they got their photos taken in one of those little booths in the mall, printing off four photos of the two of them. Yuma was laughing and making funny faces in each one. She loved them so much. She wanted to make a scrapbook with them. Kyoko insisted on keeping one for herself.

She took that one where if you looked closely enough, you could see that she was crying. She didn't want Yuma to look too closely and notice it.

She felt like she was making a pact with the devil when she handed the photo to Lady that evening.

"Aren't you two cute? You don't look much alike though, do you?" She mused innocuously. Kyoko didn't say anything. Kyoko ended up spending the evening cleaning up the dressing room and organizing it. She shouted orders at all of the girls as they came in.

None of them dared disobey and they followed the new rules religiously.

This went on for some time. Kyoko was making significantly more than minimum wage, but nothing like 100,000 yen in two hours like the boaster had. Kyoko had to practically beg Lady to let her try out the pole; Kyoko knew she probably didn't have the rhythm the others did, but her strength and familiarly with her spear could make her pull of some amazing acrobatic feats that none of the others could dream of.

Lady thought she was humouring her when she agreed to let her try.

Then Lady had to practically beg Tomi to let Kyoko be trained to go on the pole.

"We are so short-staffed and she has the most amazing potential I've ever seen! You have to see what she can do! It's like she doesn't get tired either, it's incredible!"

Kyoko managed to wow him too.

She was stunned when he, the one who was so concerned with having jail bait anywhere near the Club, agreed almost instantly. Lady mentored her and she caught on fast. She didn't like to think of herself as being a naturally good stripper, but the tips were coming in fast. She was able to buy furniture quickly.

Tomi asked her for individual photos of her and Yuma, but they couldn't smile and had to have a white background. She didn't like it, but she accepted it. Nothing bad had come of this yet.

Tomi surprised her with a gift on her three month work anniversary: fake IDs for her and Yuma. Kyoko's name became Misaki for some reason, but she was still a Sakura. Yuma became Sakura Yuma and Kyoko, or rather Misaki, was her legal guardian. Tomi even helped her register Yuma at the local elementary school.

She and Yuma still fought witches three nights a week. But she was able to help Yuma with her homework most nights, buy her crayons and crafts supplies legitimately, and make her food other than microwave meals.

She was learning too. Lady had taken it upon herself (definitely 'her' as the pronoun, as Kyoko had learned) to teach Kyoko. On top of learning about pole dancing, she wanted to make Kyoko more cultured and literary. Lady didn't like the fact that the only book Kyoko seemed to know was the Bible. Kyoko was happy to watch the movies Lady loaned to her, but wasn't as thrilled with the books as she should be.

Lady was hell bent on her learning about Shakespeare for some reason. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing, all of them. Kyoko glanced through the titles she recognized, but the unnecessarily complicated way of telling the story frustrated her. There were explanations for what each person was saying, line by line; why didn't they just have the basic Japanese explanations, instead of the over-the-top 'classic' ones or whatever shit it was trying to be? Languages evolve; the publishers should just get with the times!

The Bible was different though. The Bible was written by God, so they couldn't change how it was written; even if it was hard to understand sometimes.

Kyoko was afraid to admit it, but she was proud of herself. She was providing a decent life for Yuma. She was providing a decent life for both of them, completely legitimately.

The Club had given her a whole new lease on life she never thought she could have.

Naturally, it had to come to an abrupt and miserable end. And it would not go out with a whisper, but rather with a bang.

Kyoko had gone upstairs to give the list of inventory to Tomi. Just a few short months ago, she would have been the one doing it. Now that she was one of the dancers, she had more important things to worry about, like her pole lessons.

The bass was booming from downstairs. It had become like something of a soothing metronome for her.

The bang went off in perfect time with one of the thumps of the bass. Kyoko had heard gunshots on TV before; never in real life. It wasn't as deep a sound, and it didn't have an echo…but it was somehow more ominous. She could still recognize what it was.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god, Yuta, what did you do? Why? Why here? Yuta…" Kyoko could hear Tomi whimpering in room B. The third floor had private entertainment rooms that Kyoko had never been in. Only the top senior girls got invited into them; newbies were too likely to screw things up if they went in.

Kyoko pushed the door slightly ajar. The view wasn't pretty. There was a man slumped over in the couch; someone could believe he had just fallen asleep sitting up from having one too many shots.

The splatter on the wall behind him would tell that person that they were wrong.

"He was a rat, Tomi. This is how you deal with rats." A voice Kyoko had never heard spoke calmly to Tomi.

"But…but not here. Not in my Club, that's associated with me. There's a dead body in my Club. If…someone's going to see this, and everything's over. I'm over. You're over. The business is over. Everything's over."

"Nobody will see this. It's fine, just-"

Everyone and everything stopped. They heard it and so did she.

Sirens. Not from the end of the shift.

Police sirens.

Someone else had heard the shot too.

"Oh god. Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no. We're going to be like him. We're going to be like Uncle-"

Kyoko heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh hard. Tomi got slapped.

"Pissing yourself won't do anything. Just…just help me hide him." The man ordered.

"How…where…"

Kyoko opened the door. She wasn't thinking. She was on auto-pilot.

If this Club got shut down, she would lose everything.

She had an idea though. She pulled out her soul gem and took a deep breath. She kept it hidden behind her back. She focused on the soul gem.

She was in luck.

There was a witch nearby.

"I'll take the body. Just cover the blood on the wall." Kyoko was calm. She'd seen bloodshed before. She'd seen humans be smashed, gutted, and devoured by witches.

She'd found her own family stabbed, burning, and hanging.

This was nothing.

"Ky…what are you doing here? You need to get out of here, now." Tomi looked like he was about to vomit. Kyoko couldn't blame him. The first body she'd seen, she actually did puke.

"Trust me. Just cover the wall."

"It's all yours." The man stepped back, pulling Tomi with him. Kyoko finally got a good look at him. He looked somewhat similar to Tomi; they had the same face. He was older, bigger, and balder. There was something about him that seemed crueler than Tomi though.

Kyoko didn't like him. She didn't like him one bit.

But he was cooperating, which was the only chance they had at keeping the Club from being an investigated murder scene. Tomi seemed convinced that it would ruin them if it did. Kyoko believed him; she trusted that he knew what he was talking about.

Thankfully, there was an ugly floor rug that was probably stained with all kinds of fluids she would rather not try to identify. She pulled it out from under the table in the middle of the room. She rolled the dead man in it. She didn't look at his face. She didn't need to be able to recognize him.

She sprinted down the back staircase with the load on her back. Once the door at the top of the spiral stairs closed and she knew she wasn't being followed, she wrapped a diamond lattice barrier around the body and made it invisible. When she was outside, she just looked like a young girl dressed too provocatively, trying to strike an awkward model pose. She looked like a typical hooker.

The police passed her by quickly about a block away from the Club. She never found out if they were responding to a call at the Club or not.

The barrier was basic enough. It looked like a library. She threw the body into a pile of carnivorous books.

She was back at the Club within twenty minutes. There was a large framed photograph of two naked women kissing where the blood had been.

The Police had checked the Club, along with every other building on the block. Whoever had called in the shot had been outside and wasn't sure where it had come from. Kyoko had to show the cops her ID to prove her age. They accepted it.

She hoped no one would ever speak of this incident again.

A week later, Tomi approached her in the dressing room. He looked awfully tired.

"You're being requested in Room B tonight." He sounded miserable. Kyoko furrowed her brows. She thought they weren't going to use that room for a while.

Tomi was having it repainted.

She went up, dressed in a little black cocktail dress. Tomi looked like he was in physical pain, taking her to that room.

She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but something told her Tomi wouldn't tell her even if she did.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I never thought you'd get caught up in this. I'm so sorry." He started to cry. Kyoko had seen grown men cry a lot before; her father cried, parishioners cried. But Tomi had never even come close to crying in front of her.

"Just…just be careful in there. Don't tell them your name. It…it might help you. I don't know." He composed himself, but wouldn't open his eyes. Once his expression became more stoic, he opened the door.

Kyoko was the one who didn't look stoic. She had almost no idea what was going on.

But she was pretty sure it wasn't good. She'd had her fair share of run-ins with criminals before. They tried to bum out at the Church a lot. She always scared them off though.

Based on how this man was comfortably sipping sake in a plush chair, facing a photograph that was covering the remnants of a murder he had committed…she knew this guy was a whole other league of criminal.

"Hello there!" The man she had met before smiled kindly. He was a wolf in sheep's clothing, no doubt about it. Even if she hadn't met him after he'd just killed a man, she would have had a bad feeling about him. "It's nice to see you again. I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Kurosawa Yuta." He bowed politely. Kyoko didn't bow back until Tomi elbowed her. The man, Kurosawa laughed jovially.

"Don't mind my younger cousin; he's always been one for manners. Please, have a seat." He gestured to the seat directly across from him; right where the man he'd shot had sat for the last time a week ago.

It disturbed Kyoko, but she listened. This man was a client, after all.

"Would you like anything to drink? My treat." The man smiled. Kyoko shook her head. She'd seen the other girls flirt with clients for extra money. Kyoko struggled with that; she focused on doing cool tricks on the pole that amazed people into throwing money at her.

She wasn't going to pretend to like this old guy. She just couldn't.

"Not much of a talker, I see. That's good. I like listeners. Did Tomi tell you that?"

Kyoko looked at Tomi again, who was standing with his arms behind his back like a butler prepared to serve his master. Tomi stood behind Kurosawa diligently.

Kyoko knew exactly who was in charge in this room.

Kyoko shook her head again.

"No?" He was testing her. He clearly wanted her to talk after all.

"He hasn't said anything about you." She wasn't sure that was the right answer.

Based on the subtle nod, it was.

"I see, I see. Well, I just wanted to commend you on a job well done last week. You took a lot of initiative that I don't think either of us were expecting. At least I wasn't. Were you, Tomi?" Kurosawa looked over his shoulder, but didn't actually turn around or really face him.

"No." Short, curt answers. Kyoko decided to stick with that approach too. Monkey see, monkey do.

"No what?"

"No Sir." Tomi was whipped. Short, curt, formal answers. It pissed Kyoko off, but she would play along.

"Well, you were the hero of the hour for sure." He smiled at her. There was a pregnant pause.

She was expected to say something.

"Glad to help…" She looked at Tomi. "Sir."

"You're polite too! How wonderful." He beamed. It was genuine, but malicious. He was so much more obviously diabolic than Kyubey ever was. At least that somewhat comforted her; she knew she shouldn't trust him, whereas she'd been completely blindsided by Kyubey. She knew to watch herself.

"I like to think of myself as a polite man, myself. You did great work, and you did it faster than I'd ever seen. It's been a week and no one has found anything…even though a gunshot was heard and police were on the scene within ten minutes. Hell, you were back in twenty minutes. It's amazing…magic, even."

Another pause.

"Thank you, Sir." She hated saying that.

"I wanted to compensate you for whatever costs you may have incurred. Here." He pulled an envelope from his suit and slid it across the table to her. She was confused.

"I was just doing my job. It's alright." She didn't want to take anything from this man.

"This is your job?" He guffawed. "Tomi, you make your strippers hide bodies now?" He laughed. Tomi blanched at him saying such a thing on his premises.

Kyoko had learned that Tomi was terrified of bugs. At first she thought he meant insects; she figured out fast he meant devices that recorded conversations.

Clearly Kurosawa knew that and trusted Tomi's abilities for keeping them out, or else he'd be a hell of a lot more careful.

"Nonsense. Please, take it. I feel people should be rewarded for their contributions. I'm a simple man, like that." He slid the envelope closer to her. She took it, but didn't open it.

"Come on now, open it. I want to see your reaction."

She looked at Tomi. His face was clenched. He wasn't watching.

Kyoko opened the envelope. Her jaw dropped. Kurosawa laughed pleasantly.

There was 7,500,000 yen in there. She'd robbed her fair share of ATMs, and this was more money than she'd ever held in her life.

"I'm glad you like it. Consider it a bonus, for good leadership in the situation. I don't know how well Tomi would have held up on his own without you there." Kurosawa was very condescending as he said it.

"You know…you're very interesting to me. I asked Tomi about you. He didn't tell me much, I'm afraid. Do you know how he described you?"

Kyoko shook her head. She honestly had no idea. Kurosawa smirked.

"I was very intrigued. You're the red phantom girl. It's very poetic, don't you think?"

Kyoko was confused as hell. She looked at Tomi, trying to ask him why the hell he would describe her that way.

"Yes, I was confused too. Why would he describe you that way? Do you know?"

"I don't Sir. I really don't." She was baffled and for some reason, vaguely offended. Of course it disturbed her to be reminded of her former senpai, but that wasn't what was bothering her. She couldn't piece what it was, but she got a headache trying to think about it.

"Well, no matter." The man didn't seem very happy with her answer. "Anyways, phantom girl, I have a proposition for you."

Kyoko couldn't deny that she was intrigued.

"I could use someone like you around. Consider it stable employment. You would work for me. You will be paid very well for your time, I'm sure, based on how fast you dealt with this last man. What do you think?"

Kyoko figured the proposition would be something like that. She didn't like the idea of it. She looked at Tomi behind him; he looked so dutiful and obedient.

He looked so scared and beaten down.

She didn't want to be like that. She was happy here.

"Thank you…Sir." She had to remind herself to use that ridiculous honorific. "But I'm quite happy here. I like working for Tomi."

That clearly wasn't the answer either of them were expecting. Kurosawa looked very personally offended. Tomi looked stunned.

"Did you tell her to say that?" Kurosawa appeared calm, but there was something dangerous bubbling under the surface.

Kyoko wasn't going to stand for it. She was a fucking magical girl. She could take this guy on any day.

Tomi took her in when she had absolutely nothing. He had expected nothing of her.

She was confident with where she was putting her loyalties.

"No, I decided for myself to say that. I'm not some fucking puppet that needs someone to speak for me. I can think for myself." She sneered at him.

Everyone was quiet. There was only the bass. It wasn't doing much to calm her down.

She was angry.

The man laughed. He laughed hard. He laughed so hard he doubled over, clutching his gut. He even had tears welling in his eyes.

"Oh, look at you, a feisty one! I believe you; I don't think Tomi would have to balls to say something like that to me." He grinned. "He's too smart to do something like that."

Kyoko growled at him. She didn't appreciate the threat.

"Alright, alright. So you want to stay with Tomi. It's very nice, really. I do hope we can be friends?" He smiled at her in a very patronizing way. He wasn't afraid of her, and she wasn't afraid of him; at least not yet.

"At least on good terms then. I won't mind. You won't be my employee then. That's fine." He looked her up and down, very lecherously. She felt dirty. "You'll just be one of my cousin's strippers. In fact, I think I might prefer that. I do believe I have another…" He glanced at his watch. "hour left with you. I figured we'd be working out a contract, but that's fine. I hear you're quite the dancer. Please, show me. I would love to see."

"Go to-" She was ready to tell him where exactly he could go, and say 'hi' to her father while he was there.

Tomi stopped her. He wasn't being subtle now.

He was shaking his head very quickly.

Kyoko wondered if her refusal was going to cause Tomi trouble after she left. She suspected yes.

She swallowed her pride. "Of course, Sir." She gave an exaggerated bow; it was small, but it was at least somewhat of an act of defiance.

She could tell she hated this many already. He leaned back in his seat to watch her. Based on the tent in his pants…he had enjoyed every minute of it.

She was eager to get out of there after the booked time with his was up.

"I never asked, phantom girl. What's your name?"

She looked at Tomi. He was trying to communicate something telepathically to her, but she couldn't guess what.

She remembered his warning though.

She said the first name that came to mind, one of Lady's favourite characters.

"Ophelia."

Sure. Tomi was right. She had gotten herself into all of this.

"Yeah, sure. You're right. You let me in, and look at me now; all grown up." She snorted, but nothing she said was all that funny. He didn't think so either.

"Do you want to know why I decided to hire you?"

Kyoko had to admit; she was curious, even though she was sure the answer was going to sting. She titled her head to the side to encourage him to answer.

"When you heard the alarms go off at the end of the shift, you thought there were cops. Your first instinct was to run."

Kyoko blinked and thought about that. It felt like so long ago now.

"You were smart then. The cops are obstacles at best, but mostly they're the enemies and executioners. Don't forget that now."

He stepped out of the office, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She couldn't bring herself to answer Kenji's text, asking if she had any ideas about what flavour of cake Sayaka would prefer for her celebration.

She knew she would want chocolate cake with sprinkles.

Leaving Sayaka alone with her own thoughts was a dangerous thing. She knew that, and therefore wanted to avoid it at all costs. Her parents were almost a welcome distraction.

Almost.

"We heard about what happened at work today. How are you feeling?" Her mother tried to look behind her from the passenger seat; it was clearly an awkward position. The skin on the left side of her face rolled in a particularly unflattering way.

Sayaka felt awful when she looked at her mother now. She had gained a lot of weight after Sayaka was shot. Sayaka didn't know all of the details, but some kind of prescription medication changed and it had slowed down her metabolism, made her more tired, and made her hungrier. It was a terrible combination all around.

It wasn't that her mother was unattractive. Sayaka still caught her father admiring her. Her mother still had a kind and radiant smile.

It was just so painfully obvious that Fumiko herself did not feel beautiful; at all.

"Like sh- crap. Not good." Sayaka corrected herself. She brushed her teeth like Kyoko suggested…after finishing off the last little bit of vodka.

"I just can't believe their nerve. You've devoted your entire life to that job! You've put it in front of your health, your friends, your family, everything! You even got shot for them and they accuse you of something like this!" Her mother ranted, but was not facing her. Sayaka noted the jab about putting her work before her family, otherwise known as the two people in the front seat of the car.

"They had good reason to be suspicious." She was reluctant to admit it. There was an explanation for her connection to Kyoko, but she only understood it herself because she had contracted with a feline devil.

"Well, they're wrong. Completely wrong."

"Thanks, Mom." Sayaka managed a sad smile.

"They don't deserve you, you know." Fumiko turned around again. "They really don't."

"Yeah, yeah." Sayaka looked out the window to watch familiar buildings pass by.

"I mean it, Sayaka. This is degrading. Don't you think?"

Sayaka knew the game her mother was playing. She wasn't going to bite.

"It comes with the territory. The public's doubting cops now more than ever. We have to do everything in our power to not give them a reason to." She shrugged.

"Damn, I wish I knew how to instill that kind of loyalty in my staff." Her father finally spoke. He didn't mean his comment as admiration for the KPD though; it was scathing. "Fuzz, I really don't get it. Why are you sticking with them through all of this? They've been putting you through hell."

"Because I feel like I'm making a difference with them." She let her head loll back and forth as she recited that line for what felt like the millionth time. Her tone was more reminiscent of a scolded child repeating a rule that they had broken yet again because they thought it was a stupid rule.

"You could make a difference at other jobs." Her mother offered.

"I have nothing against bookkeepers, but come on, give up that argument already." She hated hearing them try to bullshit that bookkeeping, while being a plenty respectable profession, was anywhere on the same playing field as being a cop.

"It is a ridiculous argument." Her father nodded and looked at his wife fondly. Sayaka was grateful that he was finally acknowledging it too.

"I get it. I get it. I was trying to help before. But what about a different job? You know, Sayaka, I shouldn't be telling you this, but I think I might know a good opportunity for you." Her mother fully turned around with a big smile on her face, like she had a juicy secret to share. "You know how some of us parents at the group counselling sessions have started our own organization?"

"Yeah?" Sayaka wasn't sure where she was going with this, but so help her God if her mother was going to suggest she take on bookkeeping for that organization as a way to make a difference…

"This stays in the car, but we got a big grant from City council. We're actually going to be setting up a little office and have a team of educators going into schools and giving workshops to kids. Your name's been thrown around a few times for that job, and not by me. Conflict of interest, you know? I have to stay professional after all! Oh, not that accidentally being in a conflict of interest might make you…er…unprofessional."

Sayaka flopped back against the seat as her mother tried in futility to take back her comments on conflicts of interest. "It's okay Mom, I know you don't mean anything by it."

"Right. But it would be steady work hours from 8:00 to 4:00, so full-time. I think it would be making a difference, right? Education is the best method of prevention."

"Yeah, I get it." She'd heard the spiel many times. Hell, she gave some of those presentations back before she transferred onto the OCU. Sayaka took a breath.

"Congratulations, Mom. I know you worked really hard on this. I think it's going to save a lot of families a lot of grief." Sayaka smiled genuinely. She meant every word of it. She hated herself for what she's put her parents through, even if she wished they would get off her back sometimes.

"Thanks sweet pea. That means a lot to me." She reached back for Sayaka's hand. She took it. They held like that for a few seconds, smiling at each other.

"I'll think about it, Mom. I'll keep an eye out for the job posting." Sayaka promised.

It looked like her mother was going to cry tears of relief and happiness.

They'd had a much better evening than they'd had in a long time, actually laughing and getting along. Sayaka joked that on Sunday, to celebrate her 1000th day of being clean, she was going to challenge Kyoko to a sushi eating competition and lose miserably.

They felt like a somewhat functional family again.

Leaving Kyoko alone with her thoughts was a dangerous thing. She never realized how bad of a person she was until she reflected on her actions.

"Fu-u-u-u-u-ck." She cursed from chair, whose vibrations from its massage function was making her voice come out in staccato.

She would have enjoyed her Friday afternoon at home, but the bed felt too big and empty and her anger yesterday broke the couch. She drank some of the sweet tea Tomi had bought for the club ever since she started working there. There was still plenty left because she was the only one who could stomach the stuff.

He and the others were right: Sayaka was a problem.

Kyoko still hadn't heard back from Kenji. She had asked him how last night had gone, hoping that Sayaka maybe said something about quitting or back down.

She needed to give some kind of news to the others in their little 'Council' to calm them down.

She sighed.

She understood why her father liked to drink.

Sayaka was having a surprisingly good time off. She slept in on Friday morning. She scouted out a new witch. Later on when her Mom was off her shift, Sayaka went over to her parents' place and the two cooked a lavish dinner from scratch just to say that they had done it (none of the dishes looked as pretty as pinterest said they would though). They made Kenji clean up after they ate it and actually sat down together and talked about their days. After dinner, they helped Sayaka update her resume. She hadn't remembered what it was like to see them proud of her.

It was the childhood Sayaka had never had. She couldn't remember the last time they all sat down to have a meal together and didn't argue once.

She and Yuma killed a witch on the Friday night. Sayaka had noticed that sometimes, things were tense with the kid. Not this time; they worked well together and killed the witch quickly. They had ice cream to celebrate because they had a three witch lead on Kyoko; they were probably going to win that month's competition (again). They went home (Kyoko and Yuma's official home, Sayaka's unofficial one) and started watching a ridiculous anime that had heavily implied yaoi.

Sayaka slept well that night and woke up at a reasonable hour on Saturday. She even went for a jog through the park when there was no one else but a few homeless people on benches around. She enjoyed the crisp winter air that penetrated her lungs, waking her up instantly.

It was a good few days not thinking about work. Maybe her parents were right about her leaving being good for her.

Or maybe it was just that clearing up the murk on her soul gem made her feel a lot better. It was probably a combination of the two.

Kyousuke had knocked on her door in the early afternoon to invite her out that evening.

"A few friends from my program are going out to celebrate being done our Compositions III midterm project." Kyousuke exhaled in relief. His professor was a total battle axe from what Sayaka had heard. She smiled at him; Kyousuke dove straight into the practical music courses, rather than just theory after Sayaka healed his hands. It made him ridiculously busy; most people in his program shuddered at the thought of taking two practical courses in a term; he was doing five, just because he could. He had recovered his skills within two months, and became better than he had ever been; his professors described him as "using the pain he held for so long to create pure art". He'd gotten a whole new lease on life. She just liked admiring the life he was living, in a completely non-creepy platonic way.

"Look at you go, being all scholarly and such. Where are you guys going to celebrate?" She figured it would be to some restaurant that tried to be classy, but wouldn't be too classy due to living on student budgets. She could go for something like that.

"Have you heard of Club KYO? I've heard it's pretty fun."

Sayaka burst out laughing.

"Who told you it was pretty fun?"

"Nakazawa. Why?" Kyousuke blinked at her. Oh, you poor sweet boy.

"You realize that Club is kind of a strip club, right?" She had to be careful to not let it slide that it was the strip club he went to.

She could see the gears turning in his head. He didn't have a particularly intelligent look on his face.

She tried to keep herself from blushing, wondering if he would connect the dots and see which club it was that Nakazawa was praising.

"Oh. Oh, I think I know what place he's talking about now. Oh." He looked down with something akin to shame. Sayaka had to cover her mouth to hide the smug smirk on her face that shouldn't be there at all. She coughed.

"Yeah. Anyways, I know the place. I appreciate the invite, but it's day 999 clean for me. I'm sure I could control myself and all that, but I'm gonna stay in, play it safe. I don't want to screw anything up, you know?" She was apologetic; she had never done anything like clubbing with Kyousuke before. She also didn't want to risk anything that would make Hitomi cry if she found out; which probably wouldn't have to be much. Hell, they could probably dance three feet apart and Hitomi would be upset just because Kyousuke was having a fun time at a place she could never dream of going yet.

"I get it. That's amazing Sayaka, really. You should be proud of yourself. Are you going to do anything special tonight?"

She hmmed and ha'ed. "Watch a dumb movie. Eat some leftovers. The Saturday night of champions, really."

He always had such a charming smile; it was so kind and honest. He had toned nicely since getting out of the wheelchair; he wasn't a fitness buff by any means, but he worked out often enough. The novelty of it had worn off now that he was used to his functioning body again. Still, he definitely didn't take it for granted.

He was a handsome guy. She would never deny that. She would just deny that she would ever feel anything more than that for him due to the cockblocking nature of the girl code and the friend zone combined.

They wished each other a good night as she practically fell into her couch and checked her social media. Nothing interesting. Kyousuke had been tagged in a few posts from his classmates talking about going to the Club.

The guys from OCU went out last night, arms slung around each other with drunken smiles as they tried to squish into a single selfie. She clicked on their names to see what they had been up to. She hadn't talked to a lot of them in a long time, and hadn't had a chance to catch up during her one day of work back.

All of them except for Ayumi had unfriended her.

She wished she hadn't checked. She felt a bitter sting and blinked a few times. She took a deep breath. She wasn't going to cry over something like this. Definitely not.

She texted Kyoko to see if the girl wanted to go hunt a witch before she had to go to work. Saturday nights were the most hectic, so Kyoko usually tried to sleep throughout the day before it. Sayaka figured she would ask though. She didn't get a response.

She could have gone to visit Hitomi but…as awful as it was to admit, she didn't have the emotional energy today.

Sayaka decided to start off her Saturday night of champions, as she had promised Kyousuke she would. She heated up the leftovers and watched her favourite sitcom.

She changed the channel when she remembered it was a cop sitcom. I really need a life beyond work. She settled on a silly gameshow instead and tried to guess the answers to obscure trivia. She was wrong every single time.

Overall, day 999 of sobriety was going mostly well for her.

Naturally, it was going to get royally fucked. By Hitomi, the one friend she didn't check on, no less.

"Hey Hitomi, what's up?" Sayaka answered her phone pleasantly, mouth full of rice. She was lying down on the couch with some grains of rice on her chin and drops of sauce near her chest. The contestant on the show, a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering who was substantially smarter than her, was up for the final question that would earn her 100 million yen. It cut to commercials.

"Go on Facebook. Go on Facebook right now." Hitomi sounded hysterical. Sayaka grabbed the laptop from the table and rushed to open it. Did something happen to someone?

Nothing stood out.

"Look at Kyousuke's profile."

Oh shit.

Oh shit was right. Kyousuke was tagged in a photo. He and a girl Sayaka had never met were grinning at the camera, waiting outside Kyoko's infamous club. The girl was pretty; she had soft brown curls, painted red lips, and a beauty mark under one of her big brown eyes. Her skirt was a bit on the short side.

She almost reminded Sayaka of what Hitomi might have been. Evidently, she reminded Hitomi of the same thing.

"Hey, her name's Hitomi too." Sayaka observed. That's just eerie.

It was the comments under the photo that probably alerted Hitomi more.

Some elderly stranger asked the girl "Is this the boy in your program you were talking about?"

The girl responded "Yes, it is!"

"Did he say anything about her? Who is she?"

"I…I don't really know. He's never mentioned her name. He just said he was going out with some friends from his program. And hey, you have no idea what she said about him; maybe she just told the person that Kyousuke's very talented."

"You knew he was going out?"

Oh here we go.

"Yeah, he invited me. And I said no. I'm staying in tonight. If you want, I can go over to your place, okay?" She winced at the thought of that; her quiet night in, maybe brooding a bit, would be much more preferable to trying to calm a hypochondriac Hitomi.

"N…no, Sayaka, that's not why I called you."

"Are you alright?"

"You're going to be upset. I know this is stupid, but I can't risk losing Kyousuke. Not over this. Not to some girl like her."

Sayaka didn't like where this was going one bit. She sat up on the couch. "Hitomi, what are you talking about?"

"I'm dressed up and ready to go. I had a glass of wine before I put on my makeup. I'm going to take an extra of one of my anxiety pills, drink one more glass of wine, and I'm going to this…Club KYO place."

Sayaka sprung up from the couch. "No, no, Hitomi; that is a huge mistake. You do not want to do that."

"Of course I don't want to, but I have to. Maybe…maybe it will be good for me. Push my limits."

"Hitomi, this is way beyond pushing your limits! You couldn't even sit through a full movie! This is like going from being in the shallow end of the pool with a life jacket to jumping off a twenty foot high diving board into shark infested waters! That club…Hitomi, there is stuff about that Club that I can't tell you because of work confidentiality, alright? It's that kind of place. Kyousuke shouldn't even be there!"

"Then I'll go and warn him." Sayaka heard what sounded like Hitomi gulping something on the other side of the line.

"STOP DRINKING! Don't…just stay right there, alright?"

"I'm leaving in five minutes. I…I'm not sure why I'm telling you this. You shouldn't go there either, from the sounds of it."

"Maybe you called me because you wanted me to stop you from going? I can stop you. Let's drink wine and eat microwaved leftovers I made; they're really good! We can watch a movie too! We can eat ice cream! We can do whatever you want, just don't go to that Club."

There was silence over the phone. Sayaka waited patiently.

"I'm sorry I made you worry. Don't worry, I won't go. You're right."

Sayaka let out the breath she was holding in. Oh thank god.

"Alright. I'll be over in like, twenty minutes, alright?" She looked down to the sauce that had dripped onto her. She wiped it off with the back of her hands, shrugged, and licked it off. Still good.

"No, no, don't trouble yourself. You had a lovely night in planned. You should…you should enjoy it. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night Sayaka." Hitomi almost sounded like she was giving her last will and testament, saying goodbye to all of the people she had ever loved.

There was a dial tone. Sayaka stared at the window.

She wasn't born yesterday. Hitomi was going to that Club. Sayaka looked down at her clothes.

She'd never be let in looking like this.

Son of a bitch…

She rushed to get ready, throwing on just enough makeup to look like she was at least trying.

As she rushed to get ready, she didn't see the contestant answer the final question wrong and lose everything.

Kyoko was having a surprisingly good time at work. There was usually some sort of drama on Saturday nights. For what felt like the first time in ages, everyone showed up on time, no one was screaming at each other, the sound equipment worked fine, the bar was fully stocked…

It was looking like things were going to go smoothly tonight.

Kyoko had a bad gut feeling.

When things looked like there were going to go smoothly…when things looked easy…they were probably too easy. She stretched, lifting her arms in the air and letting her spine crack in a satisfying way.

Bring it on, Kazamino.

There was a timid knock on the door.

"Come in!" Kyoko called back as she rolled her shoulders, waking herself up. The knock was a bit more insistent.

"COME IN!" Ah, her and Sango's usual routine. The girl came in, cowering like a mouse.

"There…there are some people for you in Room B."

And the night's going wrong…

She nodded and thanked her. Once she was alone in the room, she leaned against her desk and sighed in aggravation. She didn't really have any kind of update to give on what she was doing about Sayaka after two days. She'd promised she would do something soon; she wasn't aware that it had to be that soon.

She shook her head like a dog shaking off after getting drenched. No point getting worried over something that might not even happen.

She locked her office to walk down the hall. She could hear someone entering from the second floor.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" The guy yelled. Kyoko rolled her eyes. Plenty of people tried to come up to the third floor with the private rooms for a place to talk quietly…or do other things more discretely.

"Hey, you can't come in here unless-" She had gone to see him out but was very, very unpleasantly surprised by who she saw.

"Oh, hello Sakura-san!" Sayaka's pretty boy neighbour smiled in a friendly manner at her from down the stairs.

You've got to be kidding me.

"I've got friends inside!" Sayaka yelled at the bouncers. Kyoko took her club way too seriously, dressing her guys up in suits. She couldn't see behind their sunglasses, but she figured they were rolling her eyes and that her story was an old one. It's true though. She had just called Kyousuke to ask him if he had seen Hitomi but they got disconnected. Hitomi hadn't answered any of the ten calls or twenty texts she'd sent.

"Listen, I know you hear that all the time, but I don't want to stay in there, alright? One of my friends who went in there isn't okay on her own and I just to make sure-"

"Get to the back of the line!" An angry asshole yelled from behind a few people, who had been waiting in line for who knows how long behind cliché red velvet rope. Others muttered in agreement while breathing into their hands to warm themselves up. Sayaka had looked through the entire line and Hitomi wasn't there. The line itself looked like she would be waiting for at least an hour.

"You heard them. Back of the line."

Sayaka groaned in frustration. How could Hitomi have gotten in so quickly?

She wanted to smack her forehead. Hitomi probably got to cut in line; she was beautiful and could absolutely radiate when she put in effort, which she had no doubt had.

Sayaka had thrown on a short black top, jean shorts, and her old "junkie jacket" as she called it; her regular black winter trench coat, or her "detective jacket" looked way too…detective-like. She was worried the bouncers might recognize her if she looked too formal. She threw on heavy smoky eyes to have some kind of make up on, but she still wasn't that great at putting it on.

In short, Sayaka looked a lot like when she had been a party girl.

She marched to the back of the line. It was so long. If Hitomi has a breakdown, it's going to be forever before I'm even in there!

She tried calling Kyousuke again.

"Hi Sayaka! Sorry, I accidentally hung up last time. Did you know Sakura-san is here too?"

"Uh, yeah, I figured she'd be. She…hangs out at this Club a lot. Hey, is Hitomi there with you?" She was impatient and skipped the small talk.

"She was, but I left to take this call. Do you want to talk to her?" He was yelling a bit into the phone. Sayaka winced at the volume.

Sayaka let out a sigh of relief. Oh thank god!

"Yeah, that would be great! I just want to make sure she's okay!" She was speaking pretty loudly back, even though she wasn't surrounded by noise like he was. It just seemed more natural.

"That's nice of you! I'm sure she'd appreciate that. Hang on, let me find her." He still yelled. Sayaka tapped her foot, waiting. Maybe she'll be okay after all.

"Hello?!" A female voice yelled into the receiver.

"Hitomi! Oh my god, you scared me shitless! Are you okay?" Sayaka shouted back. Her tone was more similar to a mother finding her lost child than someone who was completely upset.

"Sorry, who's this?"

Sayaka was confused.

"Sayaka."

"Who?"

"SAYAKA!" She felt strange shouting her own name. She paused. She realized she was an idiot.

"Are you Shizuki Hitomi?"

"No. My last name is Nonoe!"

Kyousuke, you fucking moron, why would I want to talk to the Hitomi from the photos on your wall that I've never met!

Sayaka thought about it. Kyousuke probably would have never assumed that Hitomi would go out on her own, let alone to a place like this.

"Is there another Hitomi there?" This was frustrating. Sayaka always thought Kyousuke went for smart girls; why would he be taking pictures with her hanging off of him when she's so dumb?

Sayaka realized the girl was probably drunk.

"HEEEEEY! HITOMIII! Is there another Hitomi here?" Sayaka heard the call out from the phone. Fuck, she's drunk.

"Hey, hey! No, it's alright!" Sayaka had actually taken a module on how to interact with and deescalate situations with intoxicated people; it had brought her a lot of shame when she noticed how often people had used those strategies with her for years, even when she was in recovery. She realized it was probably going to be very helpful tonight.

There was some shuffling on the other side of the line.

"Haaaallo?" A very, very drunk stranger this time. Alright.

"Hi there, is your name Hitomi too?" Sayaka tried to be nice. She had to pinch the bridge of her nose; she hoped she wasn't this frustrating to deal with before. She was sure she probably was, if not worse.

"Yeah, it is! Oh my god, is your name Hitomi too? Hiiiiii Hitomi!" The girl had a very high, childish voice. Sayaka doubted it sounded like that when she was sober.

"Hi Hitomi. Can you give the phone back to Kyousuke?"

"To who?"

"Ky-ou-su-ke." She tried to enunciate carefully.

"Who's that?" Oh for fuck's sake…

"Can you give the phone back to the girl who gave it to you? Her name is also Hitomi." She felt like she was trying to explain astrophysics to a monkey.

"Oh wow, we're all named Hitomi! That's so cool!"

"Is the other Hitomi there?"

"Nooo, I don't know where she is."

"Did she walk away?" Sayaka was getting a headache.

"No, I did."

Ah. This girl stole Kyousuke's phone. Perfect.

"Where are you?" The drunk girl yelled louder than she had to.

"I'm outside right now. Waiting in line." Sayaka gritted her teeth. She was going to have to stay on the phone with the girl on the line, lest Kyousuke's phone become lost forever.

"Boooo, come inside! We should dance Hitomi number two!" The girl giggled, clearly making what she thought was the greatest joke of the night. "Or are you Hitomi number three? Am I Hitomi number two?"

"I'm whatever number you want me to be." Sayaka glanced down to the side. Fuck my life. Then, she had an idea.

"Hitomi, you're right, we should dance!"

"Yeah!"

"I need you to let me inside first though. Can you do that?"

"Uhhh…I don't knooow. How do I do that?"

Sayaka knew exactly how, if the timing was right. 9:19 pm…that should be perfect.

Sayaka instructed her on how to get to the employee change rooms. She was going to get in through the staff entrance, whose code she assumed had been changed since she was working there. Tomi changed the code every three days before; she figured Kyoko upheld the practice.

More importantly, if she remembered correctly, entering the incorrect code triggered the security system to lock the door entirely unless one of three authorized people entered in the six digit master code: Tomi, Kyoko, or Lady.

She waited around the corner, just in case someone else came by. The girl hadn't talked over the phone for the past few minutes. Sayaka was worried that the alcohol could have given her the attention span of a caffeinated squirrel.

The door swung open, followed by a girl with dyed bubble gum pink hair falling to the ground while still holding onto the handle.

"Hitomi? Are you here?" She was clearly trying to be stealthy. Her elaborate stage whisper and classless fall ruined it. Sayaka rushed from around the corner to help the girl up.

"Are you alright?" Sayaka inspected the girl for any cuts or bruises.

"Hitooomi! Hi! I'm Hitomi!" She giggled. Yeah, she's fine.

They made their way inside. Sayaka was careful to stay near the walls in case anyone walked in. Pink Hitomi didn't give a damn.

"Oh my god, we should try some of these on. Look at this!" She squealed, holding up a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs that had a stunning resemblance to her hair.

"No, no, we should go out there and dance, right? Let's dance!" Sayaka tried to beckon the girl out of the restricted area. The sooner they could fade into the obscurity of the crowd, the better.

The girl gasped. "Hitomi…you're not even drunk, are you?" She said it like it was a horrific crime of some sort. If you were hoping to have fun at this place, it probably was.

"No, not yet." Sayaka smiled at her like she would an annoying child that she was being paid good money to babysit. "Let's go to the bar, yeah?"

"It's going to take you sooooo long to get caught up to me though." She looked like she was trying to show off a boastful swagger…or she was just drunkenly swaying. In any case, the girl was definitely right.

"It's okay if I don't catch up. Let's just get out there and dance, okay? Let's find my other friend too." She had to find Hitomi fast. Every minute she wasted…who knows what could happen to a drunk girl who was doped up on anxiety meds that she was specifically forbidden to consume alongside alcohol?

"What's her name?"

"Hitomi."

"Oh my gooood, we're all Hitomi! It has to be fate that we all paaaaaarty tonight!" She raised an invisible glass in cheers.

"Wooo…" Sayaka gave a particularly unenthusiastic cheer. Someone please help me…

The girl finally listened and off they went. The line to the bar was more like a disorderly mosh pit. They were going to be here for a while. Sayaka jumped up and down, trying to see if she could spot her Hitomi somewhere.

"This is going to take forever." The girl was getting incessantly whiny. "Let's go find my friends. They're way more fun. They might have booze too." The girl tugged on Sayaka's wrist to lead her away. Sayaka followed; she couldn't see Hitomi near the bar anyways.

Pink Hitomi seemed to have a specific destination in mind. They slithered through the hot crowds on the dance floor. Sayaka couldn't see through the sweaty mess of bodies and was worried she'd missed green Hitomi.

No…no, Hitomi wouldn't be here. She'd try to be somewhere quieter and could breathe.

Sayaka almost wished she still worked at the club. If she was on one of the small platforms in the middle of the crowds, dancing on the pole, she would have a way better vantage point. It was strange seeing so many of these girls from the ground; she recognized them from when she worked there and had chatted pleasantly with them in the change room.

One girl wasn't familiar to her. She looked like she had just stepped out of Carnival in Rio; her purple bikini outfit showed a lot of skin, but her bring purple wings and mask adorned with gold sequins and peacock feathers covered a lot. Her body sparkled with gold body glitter. Sayaka could only barely see the girl's dark violet hair and brown eyes behind the mask. They made eye contact, the dancer following Sayaka's moves as she passed her platform.

Hitomi took her down a hallway Sayaka had never been down. It was near the fire exit. Sayaka had basically been whisked to the third floor with the private rooms on her first day.

This hall reminded Sayaka of a crack house. People congregated in small groups along the sides, trying to avoid anyone passing by. It was kind of cool that it looked like a red brick wall, but indoors. Someone was passed out on the ground and had a crudely drawn moustache and penis on his face. The walls were covered in graffiti and the lights flickered on and off. The only difference was that these lights were black lights and the graffiti on the wall was luminescent under them. There was a white splatter of something on the floor that Sayaka made a point of avoiding.

The bass was quieter down here. She could actually understand what some people were saying if she focused.

"Hitomiii!" Some douchebag greeted warmly and gave her a hug, kissing her on the cheek. His white tank top had very noticeable pit stains on it. It was hard not to sweat in such a crowded place. Kyoko has to be violating at least a few fire code regulations here. "Who's this?"

"You won't believe it. Her name is Hitomi too!" Bubbles grinned like it was the most amazing fact ever, even though it was evidently a very, very common name. The way the guy's jaw dropped, he seemed to agree.

"No waaaaayyyy. That's so cool. Hi Hitomi!" He gave Sayaka a hug and kiss too. Sayaka nearly shivered, like a sick person just coughed on her. She gave him a stiff pat on the back.

"Hey, do you have any booze? She's not drunk at all. It sucks." Bubbles pouted. The guy looked offended by the thought.

"Fuck, sorry Hitomi, we drank it all. We got something else though." He gave an over exaggerated wink as he used his thumb to point to a table behind him with two other guys; one was a burly overweight guy with a beard and the other, a slender guy with peach fuzz, trying to be a beard like the other one. "If you're into that kind of thing."

She walked over with them tepidly. She swallowed a lump in her throat. They were all standing around a small black metal circular table. It should have been used to put drinks on.

She recognized the little stones.

White diamonds.

Her heart pounded. Does Kyoko know this is going on?

"Oh fuck Shou, why'd you bring a girl over who's not into this? What if she narks on us?" Peach fuzz asked. Sayaka didn't take her eyes off of the diamonds. She didn't pay attention to anything they said until she was being jostled.

"Hitomi? If you don't want to do it, you don't have to. I'm soooorry, we weren't trying to freak you out." Bubble gum looked very apologetic. Sayaka shook herself back to reality.

"Oh, no it's totally fine. Hey, where'd you guys get this?" She tried to be casual. Peach fuzz narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why do you wanna know?"

"Because I want to know where I can get some." She crossed her arms, challenging him. She tried to channel her former self…the one who would be asked if she wanted to buy something instantly; the one who was never doubted by this crowd.

"I'm not sure if you seem like the type." He looked her up and down. Realistically…Sayaka was totally dressed as the type. She just hadn't shown she was.

She pulled her jacket off. Her arms were bare. She showed her needle scars.

"It's been a while." She didn't look him in the eyes. She was starting to feel sick doing this.

The guy smirked at her. "You do look like a rehab chick. You've come to the right place if you wanna let loose." He used his lighter to crush the little bunch of rocks in the middle. He pulled out his ID to separate the powder into five little piles; he made each one into a line. She made a mental note: Chasato Udom.

Sayaka had something unpleasant in her throat.

"No, I'm cool. I just want to know where I can them…you know, just in case, in the future." She felt lame. Former her would have sneered at the coward.

"Have you had anything yet tonight? Doesn't seem like it." Udom seemed much friendlier now that he was convinced she was open to this sort of thing.

"No…"

The big burly guy snorted his line with a rolled up 100 yen note. He panted like he had just jumped into cold water. The guy who brought her over, Shou, grabbed the note and snorted his next. He shivered before stopping with eyes open wide like an owl.

Hitomi snorted next. She took deep breaths after, almost sounding like she was having sex.

"Then you can buy the next round." Chasato smiled as Hitomi passed the note to her; it was Sayaka's turn.

The whole world went dark and mute. It was just Sayaka and the table. She could heart her heart beat and every breath she took.

"You don't need drugs!" Kyoko's voice from ages ago echoed. Sayaka felt like she was going be sick. Kyoko's voice repeated, the echoes getting louder.

A tiny part of her, a tiny, nearly insignificant part of her squeaked: "Get me information from that Club, Miki. It's how you got on the unit the first time. It's how you can get on again."

Kyoko's voice was practically booming through her brain. I don't have to give in any information if I get it. I can choose what to do with it if I want to quit…but if I pass up this, I won't have a choice at all.

Another voice, her own last shred of a conscience: 999 days…

Sayaka closed her eyes, hoping it would somehow silence everything in her head.

She bent over and snorted her line.

"I've got friends inside!" Some bimbo Kyoko had never seen before screamed at the bouncer guarding the stairwell to the third floor. Kyoko rolled her eyes. Haven't heard that one before.

Kyoko had to personally escort Sayaka's violin boy out of the damn hallway for him to leave. He didn't seem to understand that it was off limits. Kyoko was pissed that the bouncer had even let him get in anyways. Evidently, having only one bouncer to guard both the stairs to the private area and the second-floor bar was stretching the guy way too thin.

Kyoko had always figured that one would be plenty. The second floor was really only half a floor; it was a big balcony that overlooked the dancefloor and stage. It had more of a lounge feel to it, where the people who were more serious about watching exotic dancers could enjoy them dancing around poles at their tables while they drank and ate. The volume still made it pretty shitty for conversation though. It worked better under Tomi's management, when it was strictly a strip club. Under Kyoko's, where it became a regular club in general, it was more where people would pass out on couches or take a break.

But people kept on trying to get up to the fucking third floor, which was off limits unless they paid for the VIP room. Cheap drunken bastards…

Kyoko stumbled. Something felt wrong. This feeling she recognized.

It was another magic attack; the familiar kind.

She lost her balance and collapsed against the wall. This wasn't the worst one she'd ever had, but it was bad. Her throat felt constricted, her blood ran cold.

And then…nothing. She was fine. Like she had been cut free. She blinked and glanced down the hallways.

Thank God no one had been around to see that.

She pulled out her soul gem. It was definitely murkier, but she wasn't at any risk of becoming a witch. She pulled out a grief seed she always kept on hand to be safe. She cleared it up. She exhaled in relief.

She felt better.

She finally made her way into Room B. Hideki was missing, but Kurosawa, Tomi and Watanabe were sitting around the table, sipping their beverages of choice.

"Whaddya want this time?" Kyoko cut to the chase. She hoped that by coming off as being in a bad mood…they might put off the Sayaka issue some more. Though really, she was in somewhat of a good mood. She felt like she was floating right now; whatever was causing her magic attacks was gone, or shut off. It was a burden she had become used to having, and it was gone.

"We have a problem, Kyoko." Watanabe looked gravely serious. So help me God, if Yoshikuba is holding that chip hostage I'll-

"We have all been way too wound up. It's making work not fun!" A big smile broke over Watanabe's face. "In America, we work hard, play hard; we've been working way too hard. Drinks are all on me! Sit, sit." He ushered her to sit next to Tomi.

"Uh, thanks…but I don't drink." Kyoko was very, very uncomfortable. She had worked as an exotic dancer at this club for years and saw plenty of these sorts of parties yeah…but she had never actually gone to one herself. She wasn't sure what the right way to act was, and she sure as hell didn't want to do whatever these parties involved with the company at hand.

"No problem. I've got second, third, and fourth choices; one of these has to interest you." He grinned and pulled out a briefcase. There was something that looked like a green plastic test tube. He unscrewed the top and Kyoko would instantly smell what it was: a huge joint. "I know this one will at least interest you, my friend." He passed it to Tomi who accepted it more eagerly than Kyoko would have guessed.

He noticed Kyoko's vaguely judgmental glare. "If you had my family, you'd appreciate this too."

"My family's dead." Kyoko glared.

"Then you should be drinking like the rest of us! Here, I got you a sweet drink. It's supposed to taste like cake." James passed her a glass filled with white liquid and a chocolate swirl. It almost looked like a mature milkshake.

"I don't care what you tell me, that's not alcohol." Baby Kurosawa looked at the drink with disdain. Watanabe laughed in agreement.

"This is a peace offering, Kyoko. Take it." Tomi whispered to her. "They're making an effort."

Kyoko took a sip from the cocktail glass. She had to admit; it wasn't bad. It still had a slightly bitter aftertaste that she could do without, but she made her best effort not to pull a face. Everyone seemed appeased. Kurosawa and Watanabe started to talk about destinations they wanted to visit while Tomi stared at the painting of two women kissing behind Kurosawa. She wondered if he was reminiscing about the remnants of blood splatter that could still be hiding underneath three layers of paint.

"Want some?" He didn't look at her as he held the joint in front of her face. "James knows where to get good shit."

Kyoko was about to refuse when the door burst open. Some green-haired girl in a dress like Marilyn Monroe's iconic one burst in and leaned against the wall, hyperventilating.

"Who are you?" Kyoko felt like that girl was somehow familiar. She must have seen her somewhere before.

"No one" she panted "important. Please don't mind-oh my." She cupped her mouth between her hands as she smelled the marijuana. Kyoko thought the girl might pass out from stress.

"Are you alright?" Kurosawa got up and walked towards her slowly, trying not to scare the girl; she was already scared halfway to death from the looks of it.

She nodded too fervently. "Yes, yes. Just…just needed some air, is all. There are…many, many people down there." She was wringing her skirt in her hands.

"Here, come sit down for a bit. You'll feel better." Kurosawa had a very kind smile that Kyoko couldn't imagine his father ever managing to have. The girl walked with him and sat down next to him on the couch. He draped his suit jacket over her trembling shoulders. Such a gentleman Kyoko thought sardonically.

She was willing to bet the girl would faint if she knew some of the things that had happened in the very seat she was sitting in.

Kyoko studied the girl. She had seen her somewhere before.

"What's your name, beautiful?" Watanabe's smile could be mistaken as charming by someone who didn't know him well. Kyoko could see otherwise: every smile of his was predatory.

"Hitomi. Thank you all for your kindness." She was visibly relaxing.

Kyoko became significantly less relaxed. Hitomi…an anxious girl named Hitomi…

A look of dread crossed her face. Kyoko had only very briefly met the girl seven years ago. She mostly recognized her from a photograph in Sayaka's apartment.

Why the hell are all of Sayaka's friends here tonight?

None of them had any idea how much danger they were in, simply being friends with the enemy.

Oh fuck.

Sayaka's head was buzzing as the world descended into chaos around her. She could feel her blood pumping through the arteries of her arms; it was warm. It was hot. It was invigorating and she just wanted to jump up and down until her legs became jelly.

Her brain had blissfully blocked everything out after the diamonds hit it with full force. Kyoko's voice was gone. There was nothing but the bass pounding outside and the chattering of strangers around her.

She passed the guy, dubbed Peach Fuzz a wad of notes from her pocket, probably about 2,000 yen. Sayaka didn't bring her wallet; she didn't want to risk losing anything important. She had her ID and bit of cash; it was all she needed.

"Do you have any more than that?" The guy asked her, counting it as though looking for more. "We need more."

"Holy shit, how expensive is this stuff?" 2,000 yen should have been more than enough for a hit. These guys were trying to rip her off, for sure; and if they were trying to rip her off…that might mean they weren't the real deal. Real dealers, at least good ones, charged market price; if they went above that, they would lose all of their customers.

"Well, this is enough for you, but we need more for us too." He gestured to himself, pink Hitomi, and some other guys who were standing against the wall. "We're friends, right? We gave you the first hit!"

She scowled, but complied and pulled out the rest of her cash. He nodded in approval after he counted it.

"Come on!" He yelled as the crowd from the dance floor let out a muffled cheer at a new song being played that they must have all recognized. They took a turn into another hallway that somehow seemed to be even darker and shadier than the first.

The guy looked over his shoulder, checking for whatever dangers there may be. Evidently, leading a cop to a drug pick up was not one of the dangers he was aware of. He sat down in the middle of the hall, leaning against the dark bricks. He pushed one of the bricks slightly in; one that clearly wasn't sealed well.

The brick was pulled the rest of the way through the wall by someone else.

"Yo, is the DJ dropping some sick beats?" The guy yelled into the hole.

"Soon. When do you want to hear them?" A voice yelled back from the other side. It sounded like a man who smoked a lot.

"Two minutes." Douchebag passed Sayaka's money through the hole. Two little plastic bags were small stones passed back to him. White diamonds. The brick was slid back into place from the other side.

It looked like a pretty organized selling point; a secret trick brick, code words, and everything. Sayaka had no idea what would even be on the other side of the wall. She had trouble concentrating; she couldn't imagine the layout of the Club like this.

She did everything in her power to remember the trick hole in the wall. It was hard, considering how her blood flow was making her ears buzz and fingers tingle. Her cheeks felt numb, like she'd been smiling too much.

There was a colourful monkey in a dress shaking maracas drawn on the wall…it reminded her of the witch that killed the first human she couldn't save.

She wouldn't be able to forget that even if she wanted to. She really wished she could.

She was led away by Peach Fuzz. He did the honours of crushing the stones and separating them into lines. Sayaka didn't hesitate before taking hers this time.

The memories of the monkey faded into the back of her mind, clouded by an exhilarated buzzing sound. She pulled back her lips as she clacked her teeth a few times; they felt like they were buzzing too. Her whole head felt like it was buzzing. She had too much energy pent up inside of her and she needed to let it out.

"Oh my goooood, Hitomi?" Pinky leaned into her. "We need to go dance!"

That sounded like the best damn idea of her life. She need to jump around like a maniac.

Kyoko's head was buzzing as the world descended to chaos around her. She wasn't sure if it was the fault of the one drink she had, or because things were going to shit; Sayaka was going to flip out if she found out the likes of the surviving Kurosawas and Watanabe were sitting around a table with her mentally unstable best friend.

Hitomi seemed to have calmed down considerably. That didn't mean she was calm, but she didn't look like she was about to pass out anymore. She sipped a glass of wine nervously. The only reason Kyoko trusted it at all was that Kurosawa was drinking from the same bottle. He didn't seem like the type to drug or poison someone, but as Tomi warned, you could never be too careful with this crowd.

Kyoko tried to figure out what to do.

"So you're a student?" Kurosawa asked pleasantly.

Kyoko bristled. She wondered if he was trying to get information to somehow track the girl down later, or blackmail Sayaka, or something horrible like that.

He doesn't even know they're friends. She knew that logically, but it still worried her if they somehow figured it out.

She had to get the girl out of here, and quickly. She couldn't just kick her out. The others seemed too eager to let her stay. Maybe Kyoko wasn't pleasant female company? Probably not.

Kyoko had an idea. It was cruel, but it could work.

"James." Kyoko rarely used his actual name, even though he always asked to be called it; some American thing. She leaned into the side of the couch to rest her head against her hand, looking comfortable and casual. Watanabe raised an intrigued eyebrow as he continued to sip his liquor of choice. Kyoko swallowed her pride.

"You're right. I've been way too uptight and a total bitch. You were great to get the…" She gestured at all of the illicit substances on the table "stuff. How about I get some of the girls in here?" He seemed pensive; tempted, but not sure; she knew what his hesitation was from. She glanced to the side, even though she knew no one in the room would care. "Lady's busy being DJ for the next three hours. Everyone would believe it if I said the entertainment was for Kurosawa…or me." She whispered.

Her suspicions about Watanabe's faithfulness, or rather lack thereof, was spot on. He grinned.

"I think that's the best idea I've heard all night." He raised his glass to her, eager for what the next three hours would bring.

The night was magical. Oh, she loved it. A third hit had done the trick and she could leave everything behind. Evidently, being a magical girl had raised her tolerance significantly.

The DJ picked the perfect songs; heavy beats with flowing electronic melodies that commanded her body to move and grind with strangers in rhythm to it. She felt trails of electric currents that pierced her core in the best way possible every time fingertips grazed her skin. She could feel the art people drew on her with their touch.

God, she'd missed this so much. Just dancing the night away with strangers who were quickly becoming best friends she'd never known. She whispered secrets to them that they had no way of hearing, but that she wouldn't mind if they could.

There were lips on hers. She blinked. Pink Hitomi was holding her face and sneaking her tongue into her mouth. Sayaka moaned in the kiss and pulled the girl closer to her. A warm body came up behind her; Shou was smelling her hair while he pushed his crotch into her back.

Sayaka felt like she could melt into them both.

Hitomi released her lips to kiss Shou behind her. Sayaka could have felt like she was intruding, blocking them from each other, but the way someone's hands trailed up her thighs made her feel like she was just as much of a welcome part of this as they were. She felt so accepted and blessed.

She closed her eyes and wondered what it would be like if the girl in front of her were Kyoko, and the boy behind her Kyousuke. She laughed. She never realized they were both "Kyo" names! Ha! Maybe it was fate?

Maybe it was fate that this girl happened to be named Hitomi too, and Kyousuke happened to be here with another girl named Hitomi, and Sayaka happened to be best friends were a girl who was also named Hitomi.

Sayaka marveled at the power of names.

I wonder what kind of fate is attached to my name?

She knew that she could meditate on that for a lifetime and still never find the answer. There was something terrifying but soothing in knowing that there were some things that no one could know, no matter how wise or educated they were. All she could do was accept the world for the way it was.

Wow…

Her partner behind her was definitely getting more excited as he pressed into her more, trying to get more access to pink Hitomi who might actually be his girlfriend; Sayaka wasn't sure. She tried to get out of the way for them; they deserved happiness. They should be together. She actually had to try pretty hard to untangle herself from them; he seemed willing to let her go; it was actually the girl who was trying to hold her in place. They eventually relented and Sayaka stumbled into something.

"I'm sooooorry, I didn't mean to-" She realized she was apologizing to a platform. She apologized anyways; who said that you had to be human to have feelings? She looked up.

There was a pole, shining brilliantly as the lights flashed different colours at it. It was beautiful, but offensive.

No one was dancing on it!

Sayaka could remedy that. She was not particularly graceful as she climbed onto it.

She felt like the most graceful girl in the world when she gripped the pole though, the warm metal like an old partner she hadn't danced with in too long; nostalgic and familiar. She was grateful that it spun for her as she pulled herself up, immediately flipping upside down and holding herself up with the skin of her legs. She wished she didn't have this coat; it was in the way. She let it fall off her shoulders into a heap below her. She righted herself and climbed to pole to dance more.

She could hear the excitement in the room grow.

"Go Hitomi! Oh my god, you're so beautiful!" Her wonderful new friend cheered. Sayaka grinned.

She was beautiful. It was just her, the pole, the music, and the applause.

The night was disastrous. The idea to bring in six girls had been a terrible idea all around. Watanabe was thrilled and Tomi had smiled at her with pride, like a father would smile at his child who was growing into a fine adult.

But it was a terrible idea. It was pretty awkward for Tomi because he knew most of these girls; he had been their former boss. He wasn't comfortable with letting them dance for him; something about it just felt dirty. Kyoko had the same feelings towards it.

Hitomi just became paralyzed and didn't move. Actually, that wasn't true; she moved closer to Kurosawa. They were basically cuddling now. Her idea of scaring the girl out of the room hadn't worked. She could only see the two every now and then because some of the girls were dancing on the table. For all Kyoko knew, they could be making out on the other side.

And to make matters worse, she pulled in too many of the dancers into the room. There were fewer people to entertain the inebriated masses outside.

She knew everything had officially, completely gone to hell when there were suddenly twelve…fifteen….maybe twenty people in the room who she didn't recognize.

"Come on in, everyone! Have a drink!" Watanabe seemed to enjoy the turn of events, as did the unwelcome guests who were going to be given free alcohol.

This was a terrible idea.

"Hi Sakura-san! How are you?" Violin boy smiled as he took a seat beside her…or rather fell in a drunken stupor beside her.

This was terrible indeed.

Sayaka stared at the ceiling, contemplating. She sat in a pile of discarded costumes. She nuzzled her face into a soft pink feather boa…it was the same pink as Madoka's hair.

After an hour or so of dancing on the pole, she accepted that her party mates had limits. She was fine, but they needed a break. Hitomi had the bright idea of taking them to the backstage area, or "the cool area Blue Hitomi showed me".

Someone had mysteriously procured a bong, but she wasn't going to question it. It was a pretty thing; dark blue stained glass with wisps of colour painted on. She tilted her head, watching the smoke swirling with the water, trapped in the bulb.

Sayaka felt like that…smoke trapped over water, drawn down when its nature was to float away. Or maybe she was the bulb, and had smoke and water stuck in her. Or maybe…the smoke was her problems and the bulb was her head, and she let them take up too much room. She put her mouth on the top of the bulb and inhaled it. She held it; she could tell that she hadn't done this in way too long by the way her lungs spasmed, trying to encourage her to expel the smoke, expel her woes.

She abided by her body's wishes. She let the smoke out and watched it dance in the open air, dissipating into nothingness. She smiled. She noticed there was still more smoke in the bulb. She took another drag and repeated her purifying ritual.

She felt at peace. Weed was a good idea. It calmed her down. The diamonds had her wired and energetic, but her stamina was way higher than her new friends. She didn't want to feel disappointed every time they had reached their limit; it wasn't their fault they hadn't thrown their life away to contract with a mutant rabbit. In fact, she hoped they never would.

"What do you guys think are in these diamonds?" Peach fuzz pondered out loud. Oh wait, he was asking a question.

"Isn't it meth?" The big one flipped through some of the costumes that were still on hangers. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet. Sayaka was glad; he was ready to go and keep dancing soon. "Oh sweet guys, check it out! Party glitter!" He grinned and held up a plastic bag filled with big square multicolored confetti.

Oh wait, those were condoms. Sayaka snorted and laughed hard.

"I feel E in it." Sayaka added between giggles at her new friend's antics. Party glitter! That's hilarious!

She did though. The electricity from peoples' touches; she remembered her first time experimenting with it fondly. That was before everything had gone to shit.

"Definitely K. I want to run a race!" Shou started running in place. Sayaka grinned at him too, but he wasn't as funny as the big one.

"Then run, pony, run!" Hitomi squealed as she jumped onto his back. He whinnied and galloped. Sayaka took back what she thought; they were just as funny as the big one.

"Is there F, G, H, I, and J in there too?" Sayaka mused aloud. They all laughed at her joke, like she was as funny as them. She couldn't be though; they were hilarious. They could be comedians. She was just Sayaka.

She sunk back into the costumes, into the Madoka boa. She closed her eyes and smiled. Her body felt light, and she was floating. She didn't think that was from the weed.

Heroin…definitely heroin too.

"Why d'you wanna know man?" The big one asked Peach fuzz. Sayaka was vaguely interested.

"I heard that they're not actually making more Diamonds. They're just giving out what was made a long time ago. If we figured out the recipe…we could become millionaires, guys."

"Or dead, because we blow ourselves up. You can't even cook ramen." Shou joked. Everyone but Shou doubled over and howled with laughter.

That's an interesting rumour… Gravity pushed her mouth towards the ground, but it fell into a smile. She was so happy.

The Madoka boa was tugged away from her. She whined.

"I need it!" The big one was callous in stealing her makeshift bed. She opened her eyes; it felt like a Herculean effort. They were so heavy.

She was glad she did though. She gasped with glee.

"Ladies and gentlemen, behold! I am the party fairy!" He spoke in an exaggerated German accent, but it fit perfectly. He was wearing what looked like a pink edible thong, the Madoka boa, rose and daffodil fairy wings…and nothing else. His hairy barrel chest contrasted magnificently with his outfit. He even found a sparkling pink dildo to be a wand.

He was way too cool to be hanging out with her. All of them were.

She was kind of uncomfortable now that the boa had been removed. She held the bong carefully by her face so as to not toss water or embers everywhere. She struggled a bit as she tried to get up. She'd taken a number of hits in a short amount of time and it was catching up to her.

"Hey, batter up!" Shou laughed as he threw a balloon towards the party fairy. Sayaka was amazed as to where they were finding all of these things.

As it turns out, they could find many things, but couldn't see her. The party fairy swung the dildo, hitting her right in the head as she was in the process of standing. She fell over, her head landing right on the bong as she collided with the floor.

The glass shattered. She could feel fragments of it penetrating her skin.

Everything was quiet.

"Hi-Hitomi, are you alright?" Other Hitomi squeaked. Sayaka groaned as she pushed herself up.

"Yeah…I'm okay." She tried to smile but it hurt. The others gasped.

"Oh fuck…fuck, you need to go to a hospital." Peach fuzz looked horrified.

The happy buzz they'd had was dead. Sayaka wanted it back.

"No, no, guys, it's completely fine! Hang on." She sauntered over to a mirror. Her face really did look nasty. The top right part of her face had a few shards of glass protruding from it and there was a lot of blood. She grabbed some eyebrow tweezers on the vanity and started plucking them out. There actually weren't that many, thankfully.

"Hitomi, you…you really need-" Party fairy looked like he was about to faint.

"No, no, I'm going to show you a magic trick! It's awesome, I swear. I just need a towel." Sayaka was trying to generate a bit of good spirit back into the room. Everyone seemed unsure, but Shou passed her one.

"Ladies…Lady, and gentlemen!" She grinned, which made a cut on her upper cheek bleed a bit more. She was going to try acting like one of the magicians she had watched as a kid. "Look! Can someone tell me if I look injured?"

"Yeah, you look really fucking injured. You need a-"

"Ah, ah, ahhh, not quite!" She cut Peach fuzz off. "It's an illusion! Look! I will now put this towel on my face…" She pushed it there. She felt the hum of her magic knitting her skin and capillaries back together, forcing the small bits of glass she missed out onto the towel. "Everyone count with me, alright? One…two…" No one else was counting. "Three!"

She pulled the towel away. It was bloody, but everyone gasped. Of course they did. The gashes on her face were gone. She wiped the last bit of blood away with the clean parts of the towel before throwing it in the laundry basket.

"Tada!"

They were silent, jaws nearly hitting the floor.

"That…that was awesome!" Party fairy started clapped enthusiastically. Hitomi and Shou joined in, shrieking in delight.

Peach fuzz didn't. Peach fuzz looked terrified.

"How…how did you do that? You were…you were just-"

"Magic!" Sayaka grinned.

"We're all good! We need to PART-TAY!" Party fairy threw accessories at them. The buzz was back. Sayaka was glad she saved it.

A plastic bag on a hanger hit her, something party fairy selected at random. Sayaka opened it, swearing to wear whatever was inside.

She couldn't help but laugh when she opened it.

It's fate!

Kyoko stared up at the ceiling, contemplating. How did she think anything other than this was going to happen?

Sayaka's boy toy friend would not shut up. He kept on going on and on about some dumb class he was in, and how glad he was to be done with some dumb project. He talked about a bunch of dead guys who she didn't care about. She nodded, but wasn't paying close attention.

She was worried at first that he would start talking about Sayaka. She was all they had in common. Thankfully, reluctantly listening to Sayaka rave about his music was all she really needed to know about him; just mentioning the word "violin" was enough to send him off on a tangent. Sayaka's name wasn't going to be brought up any time soon. He'd been on a roll for what felt like hours.

"I'm sorry, I just get really excited when I talk about this. How are you?" He was changing the topic. Not good.

"I'm fine. I'm learning a lot about a bunch of old guys. It's interesting. Keep going. I want to know more about this Chopin guy."

"Really? You don't seem that interested."

"I am, really. This is just how I process information or whatever." She looked over at him, but still kept her position of slumping lazily against the couch and having her head facing the ceiling. "I am, keep going."

"Uh, alright, well what I really like about Chopin's style is that-" She went back to semi-listening and looking up at the ceiling. He accepted her interest in his bullshit remarkably easily; normally, that would drive her nuts but she was grateful for it today.

"I just find that no one else really…" He stopped talking. It took Kyoko a second to notice it. She looked over and saw him gaping at the other side of the room.

He was gaping at Hitomi, who was snuggled comfortably under Kurosawa's arm.

Oh yeah…they were a couple for a long time, weren't they…

"Hitomi?" Pretty boy sounded mostly surprised, but maybe a bit hurt to see the girl sitting with another guy…another man, who looked quite sophisticated in a tailor-made suit. Pretty boy was looking very under dressed in jeans and an untucked button-up shirt in comparison.

"Kyousuke…hi." It sounded like was whispering, but that might have just been because the music was pretty loud. Kyoko sat up to be a bit more attentive to the conversation.

A pair of long legs adorned with purple feathers by her feet walked between them. The girl's big wings blocked the two sides of the table off from each other. Kyousuke and the other girl shifted around on the couches, trying to look at one another and keep talking.

"Would you like some more?" The girl asked coolly to Watanabe. Kyoko couldn't tell if she was referring to booze or something else.

"Always! Hey, move back a few inches." He instructed the feathered girl and made her spread her legs a bit. If she was uncomfortable, the gaudy mask she was wearing covered it. Watanabe pulled a small bag out of the inside pocket of his suit jacket. It was full of a fine white powder.

She snarled. It wasn't her product, but she knew what it was.

"You can't do that kind of shit in here." She hissed at him as he poured a little pile of cocaine onto the table…her table. He put it into a line, the end of which was right in between the girl's legs.

"Oh calm down, I promise, I'll be quick." He pulled a wad of notes out of another pocket. Kyoko scowled but counted them out of habit; she may not be academic, but she was good at arithmetic. Watanabe used a note he kept to snort the line, his head coming up very, very close to where the poor girl's legs connected; he slowly got up, hands tracing the inside of her thighs. Even though the girl's mask was big, Kyoko could see the way her lips turned downwards that she was not liking where this was going. Kyoko pushed him down on the couch.

"Don't touch the girls." Kyoko chided him, but much more lightly than when he pulled out the coke. Touching the girls was against the rules, but Lady could have easily fooled him. He laughed a bit too hard.

"Fine, fine, but they can touch me. C'mere, beautiful!" He held out a big wad of notes to the purple-haired girl who Kyoko actually didn't know; she must be new. Ah fuck, newbies shouldn't be up here.

The girl complied and started to give him a lap dance. The view of across the table was unobstructed.

Both Hitomi and Kyousuke looked very uncomfortable at what had just happened. Kyoko sighed. Sayaka doesn't even have to be undercover here, they'll just tell her what they saw.

"So…uh…who's your friend?" Kyousuke nodded towards Kurosawa. Clearly anything was a better thing to talk about than what they had just witnessed.

"Oh! Uh, I apologize for being rude. Kamijou-kun…san, this is Kurosawa-san. Kurosawa-san, this is Kamijou-san."

They nodded to each other. It was very stiff and awkward.

"Who's your friend?" Hitomi tried to ask pleasantly, looking at Kyoko.

"Oh, this is Sakura-san. She's, uh, very good friend with S-"

Kyoko's eyes widened as the world felt like it was falling apart. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit

"THE PARTY FAIRY IS HERE TO BRING GOOD TIDINGS TO ALL! PARTY FOR EVERYBODY!" A large man spoke in a poorly imitated Russian accent wearing a…oh fuck that's one of our outfits burst in, throwing colourful metallic squares at everybody. Kyoko had never been so glad for an obnoxious customer to bust in uninvited.

One of the squares hit in the head. It was blue.

It was a blueberry flavoured condom.

Oh for fuck's sakes.

She looked at him more closely and could tell pretty easily, as she was sure most of her comrades could see it too; the guy was high out of his mind.

More condoms were thrown around the room.

"To you, good sir!" The fat fairy threw a purple condom at Watanabe, who caught it amazingly well considering that he was under the influence of cocaine and way, way too much alcohol. "For you and your angel!"

"Thank you, party fairy!" He threw the closed bag of cocaine back at him. The fairy did not catch it, but picked it up and observed it. His eyes lit up when he recognized what it was.

"ALL HAIL THE PARTY KING!" He fell to his knees dramatically to worship the drug peddler of the night. Kyoko wanted to be somewhere else. She wanted her and Sayaka's friends to be somewhere else; preferably with Sayaka, celebrating her 1000th day clean.

"Paaaaarty fairy! Where'd you go?" A very feminine voice was shouting in the hallway.

"PARTY'S IN HERE! LIGHT IT UP, PARTY PEOPLE!" He sounded like a frat boy from those obnoxious American movies. The room shouted, either comfortable with the hard drugs that were being passed around or oblivious to it. Someone got control of the stereo and blared a trashy song with a siren and heavy bassline.

"Off the pole, people, our girl's gonna have to take this one!" A new person with a gold chain and white tank top started shooing the actual professionals off the stage. Kyoko had no idea how many people smuggled drugs into the club (though she always figured it was a lot), but she had no idea why they all decided to have a field day tonight, when Sayaka's friends just happened to be at the Club. Any other night but this.

"Ohhhhh my goooood, your wings! I love them! Can I touch them?" The pink girl didn't really care much for permission, seeing as how she started stroking them. "Can I wear them?"

Kyoko wanted to interject and get the girl out of here. A high person with big wings sounded like a good way for a lot of shit to get broken.

"Take them, they're in the way! Or I'm going to wake up with feathers in my throat in the morning." Watanabe pushed the wings off of Kyoko's employee. The high girl gladly took them, whacking Kyousuke and Kurosawa in the head as she put her arms through the tight loopholes.

She could hear people cheering, mindlessly chanting "HI-TO-MI! HI-TO-MI!" Whatever this other girl named Hitomi was doing, it was scoring points with the crowd. There were too many people; Kyoko could hardly see anything.

The fat fairy poured a line of Watanabe's cocaine on the middle of the table. Sayaka's Hitomi curled against Kurosawa like she it could somehow hurt her from where she was sitting.

"WONDER COP! YOUR REWARD IS WELL DESERVED!" The man sounded Scottish now and seemed to only have one volume: loud. Kyoko could feel a headache coming on already.

"Dude, she's had way too much! She's gonna fucking OD!"

No one had better OD in my Club.

A blue blur collapsed through the crowd, landing clumsily on the table. It pulled itself towards the line and snorted it messily with a note.

Kyoko's stomach plummeted when Sayaka shot up in that damned cop costume, inhaling sharply like she had as "Precious" in this room. She let out something that was a mix of a howl and a whoop, raising her arms victoriously.

She looked at Kyousuke and Hitomi. Hitomi gasped into her hands, tears gathering in her eyes. Kyousuke looked dumbfounded.

Kyoko needed to shut down this train wreck.

Sayaka got up on unsteady feet, walking towards the back of the table. She wasn't looking up though; it more looked like she was challenging herself to walk in a straight line, and failing. Kyoko got up to pull her out of the room.

The wing stealer beat her to it and grabbed Sayaka by the front of the cropped denim vest she wore, pulling her into an overly dramatic bruising kiss. People, especially men in the room, hollered in appreciation. Kyoko glared and tried not to let it make her jealous. She's high; she's just being a dumbass.

Sayaka pushed the girl away with a lopsided grin that didn't suit her face. She looked over and saw Kyoko. She grinned and let herself fall into her arms.

"Heeeeeeeeyyyyyy!" If almost felt like Sayaka was arching her back to push her breasts against Kyoko. Kyoko tried to convince herself it was just her imagination.

Sayaka nuzzling her hair was most certainly happening though.

"You smeeeeellll nice, Kyoko." Sayaka's breath was hot against her ear…almost as hot as her tongue licking it was. Sayaka giggled, nipping at it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kyoko gritted her teeth and whispered harshly. She watched the Kurosawas and Watanabe carefully…just as they were watching her.

You dumbass, do you have any idea what kind of danger you're putting yourself and your friends in?!

"I wanted to see people. And I got to see you. Lucky me!" She smiled, sniggering in a way that just wasn't Sayaka. She combed her fingers through Kyoko's hair. "Are you happy to see me?" She pouted, mouth awfully close to hers.

"No! You shouldn't be here." Kyoko was harsh and she didn't care. She was flushed with embarrassment and something else she didn't want to acknowledge.

"Hmm." Sayaka seemed to contemplate it. "You shouldn't be here either. We should be at home, in bed. I want to put my soul gem inside of you. I bet it would feel so good right now." Sayaka whispered to her, planting sloppy kisses and leaving bite marks.

She doesn't actually want you. She's just high.

"Should we put on a show, like we did that one time?" She whispered into her ear. "I'll even let you fuck up my arm if that's what gets you off." She snickered, taunting Kyoko.

"I'm serious. You need to cut it out. It's not safe here." Kyoko's face was as red as her hair now, and she hated feeling hot and bothered remembering that first time when it was her with Sayaka…or at least easier to pretend it was her with Sayaka.

That seemed to get the cop's attention. She quirked her head to the side. Is she really that oblivious to her surroundings?

She looked over and saw Watanabe watching, with what almost looked like a pleasant smile.

"Please don't stop on my account. I have a thing for watching her get some. And she really needs to get laid." There was the shark grin. Sayaka laughed, and Kyoko was afraid the girl was going to do something stupid…

"That sounds pretty naughty. Have you been bad?" She tried to walk over to him, but Kyoko kept a hard grip on her arms; she wasn't going to let her go over there. Kyoko glanced across the table to the green haired girl, who watched with furrowed brows and watering eyes.

"Oh yeah. Really bad."

"What's the baddest thing you've done?"

Things you couldn't have even dreamed of. Kyoko pushed Sayaka towards the door harshly to shut this down for good. "That's enough. We're going home."

Kyousuke stood up, about to say something stupid. Hitomi trembled. Kyoko could tell one of them, or both of them, were about to let it slip out that they were all friends and there was nothing Kyoko could do to stop it.

Watanabe could though.

"I paid someone to kill you. They didn't do a very good job though." His grin didn't waver.

It felt so surreal; time seemed to have stopped for Kyoko and the small group of people huddled around this end of table. The rest of the room kept dancing, laughing, shouting in inebriated glee.

Kyoko froze again, mouth agape. This isn't happening. This is not happening.

Her two worlds were colliding. She knew they were going to, but she never would have guessed it would be this bad.

"Wha?"

"I'm surprised too. The guy I hired never misses." His grin faded a bit. "I never saw him after that job. Not sure if he's even still alive. I don't think he is." The grin was gone. "I need another drink. I'm losing my buzz."

Kyoko was going to make the prick lose a lot more than his buzz.

At least it got the message across to Sayaka's sheltered friends that they shouldn't speak. Not around these fiends.

"Why? I…what did I do?" Sayaka had evidently lose her buzz too, but her words still didn't come out clearly.

Any former semblance of joy on Watanabe's face was gone. She had never seen the little man so morose before. "You really haven't figured it out, have you?"

"YOU'RE A WITCH!" A frantic scream from behind her rang out. Kyoko had been so focused on the disaster in front of her that she made the mistake of not noticing the disaster behind her. Had they been fighting a witch…one of them could have died.

She turned around to notice a terrified man with glimpses of a moustache forming on a face, and a thin slimmer of silver, aiming straight for Sayaka.

Kyoko quickly twisted, yanking Sayaka out of the way with her left arm and pushing her into the couch. She landed on Kyousuke with an oomph. Kyoko tried to halt the crazed man's arm with her right hand.

If she had just been a bit more alert…a bit more grounded…a bit faster to react…

She would have grabbed the man's wrist instead of the blade puncturing the palm of her hand.

Hitomi gasped, cupping her mouth. Tomi spluttered, his high wearing off.

Kyoko saw nothing but red. She couldn't count to ten to calm down even if she wanted to.

She growled, staring him straight in the eyes, as she pushed the knife the rest of the way through her hand to the hilt of the blade. When her hand was pressing against his fist, she grabbed it.

She pulled his arm down and superhuman speeds, flipping him off and feet and onto his back on the table. He had the wind knocked out of him. He let go of the knife.

"Wh—what are you?" He wheezed, looking like he was looking death in the eyes. Maybe he was; Kyoko hadn't decided what to do with him yet.

"A witch like her." She sneered and pulled the knife out of her hand with a single sharp tug. It hurt, but it wasn't the worst pain she'd ever felt; she'd been stabbed plenty of times. This was easy. She didn't even flinch.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" Kyoko roared. No one fucked around.

No one except for the small crowd on their side of the table.

"Kyoko…your hand. Give me your hand." Sayaka stumbled to her feet, trying to get it. Kyoko could already sense the healing magic recklessly trying to heal it. Sayaka wasn't in control when she was this high.

Kyoko grabbed the sides of her face harshly, staining the left side of Sayaka's face and hair with blood. Kyoko held her eyes open to make sure Sayaka was gazing directly into hers.

Sayaka's magic was reckless, but Kyoko's wasn't.

"Go to sleep."

Her best friend collapsed into Kyoko's chest for the second time that night, but this time there was nothing potentially erotic about it. She did a quick survey of the room.

Kyousuke, Hitomi, and the new masked purple-haired girl without her wings shouldn't still be there.

"You three. OUT." She ordered as slung Sayaka over her back. The others clamoured to follow her orders.

Kyoko marched down the hall. Their attempts to unwind and have a good time had failed miserably. Kyoko unlocked her office door and laid Sayaka carefully down on the ground. She was going to get her home.

But first…first she had to speak to these 'colleagues' of hers.

"Wait here."

Realistically there was no way she could move herself, so Kyoko wasn't worried about the girl disobeying her. Kyoko closed the door behind her without locking it. She was only going to be a minute.

She pushed past the crowd of oblivious onlookers in the hallways that was supposed to be for VIP only. She stormed into the infamous room B. The three men hadn't moved an inch. She wasn't surprised.

Tomi's words from earlier rang through her mind: "They're scared of you, but not for the right reasons. They think you're a loose cannon."

That much was evident. They thought she was dumb; naïve. They were acting without her consult and pulling shit like this.

She was going to make sure they were scared for the right reasons.

She easily picked up Watanabe by the scruff of his collar. With her bloody right hand.

"Listen to me, and listen closely. I don't like to repeat myself. You don't like Sayaka; that's fine. I don't give a damn. I'll keep her out of things. But if you pull shit like this again, remember: I can murder you, and I will get away with it."

She could smell it; he was pissing himself.

She dropped him in a urine-soaked mess on the ground. She ripped off a large piece of his designer shirt to make an overpriced bandage for her hand. She turned around and walked out before she could see either Kurosawas' reaction.

She was going to leave the Club to Sango and Lady and head home with Sayaka, watch over her. Sayaka had probably done a lot of shit that night and she wanted to make sure she was safe. She opened her office door, and her plans were shattered.

Sayaka was gone.

"Sayaka?" Kyoko ran over to her desk to see if the girl had somehow hidden underneath it. She frantically tore the room apart, ripping open the drawers that realistically Sayaka was way too big to fit inside. Kyoko even knocked over the filing cabinet in her rush, leaving a red handprint behind.

Nothing. Sayaka wasn't there.

"SAYAKA!"

She shut the door quickly behind her, running to check the other rooms. Nothing. The three men all looked like they were about to defecate when she ran back in, only to run out ten seconds later. She ran into the main area of the Club. She pushed people aside carelessly. None of them mattered; they weren't Sayaka.

She called her phone repeatedly. No answer.

"SAYAKA!"

She surveyed the moshpit, but there was no familiar flash of pale blue. She ran to the employee change room, but there was no one there. A horrified feeling set in.

Sayaka wasn't at the Club. She knew that.

But where the fuck was she?

Kyoko ran to her car. She stopped to think for a second. She had to keep herself from panicking.

Kyoko's phone rang. She prayed it was Sayaka.

Yet again, her prayers were unanswered. It was Yuma.

"Now's not a good time." Kyoko didn't bother to greet her.

"What's wrong? I can feel you. How can I help?" The girl sounded so scared, and so eager. Kyoko cursed. She hated that fucking telepathy thing.

"Just stay home and stay safe. It's fine. I'll be back soon." Kyoko hung up. She hoped Yuma would listen and stay out of things. Sayaka and Yuma were the most important people in Kyoko's life, and she had enough to worry about with the adult going out and doing stupid shit; she didn't need to teenager doing the same.

Sayaka was passed out. She wouldn't wake up that quickly. There was no way. Someone took her.

Who would take her?

Her first thought was Watanabe. He couldn't. He was too busy shitting his pants to.

The Kurosawas: same thing.

Kyoko nearly slapped herself. Of course! Her friends!

She nearly laughed in relief. She'd gotten worked up over nothing.

She didn't have either of their numbers though, so she'd have to go to Kyousuke's apartment to check. She had been checking every nook and cranny at the Club for about fifteen minutes; their cab, which Kyoko presumed they took, would have a solid enough head start.

She could speed a bit and not beat them back.

Her heart didn't calm down in the time it took her to get there. It was still pounding in worry. It would calm down once she found her stupid relapsed friend.

Her car screeched to a halt in Sayaka's parking lot. She didn't even bother parking properly. She was probably taking up two or three spaces and she didn't give a fuck.

She ran up the stairs. She knocked on Kyousuke's door.

The shell-shocked boy opened it. Hitomi was hyperventilating inside.

"S…Sakura-san. Hi. Can I…can I help you?" He was trying to be calm, but he was like the others; he was terrified of her too.

"Where's Sayaka? I can take her." She pushed past him to check his couch, his bedroom. She didn't wait for him to respond.

Her gut sunk further.

"Where did you put her?" Kyoko glared at him, a look of steel on her face.

"We…we didn't take her. We thought you had her." Kyousuke paled. Or maybe he was always that pale. Kyoko didn't know. Or care.

Oh. Shit.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Kyoko screamed at no one in particular. She ran out. She had no idea where to start looking.

Actually, that was a lie. She had a damn good idea where to start.

With her first guess as to who would take her.

She called Tomi.

"Thank god you called, we need to talk. What the fuck was that!" He was on the verge of shrieking. There was a bass pounding behind him; he was still at the Club.

"Where the fuck is Watanabe?!"

"Why the fuck do you care!" They weren't really asking questions. It was more like they were shouting at each other.

"Tell me where the fuck he is, and I promise I won't kill you. Yet." It was a quiet, but low growl. Much more terrifying than her shouting was.

The phone was quiet.

"I think he went to Lady's place. Her new one on fifth. What are you planning?"

"Nothing, if he doesn't have Sayaka."

She hung up. She knew of Lady's new condo, but had never seen it. The bimbo had been raving about it for months.

Kyoko tore through the streets, not unlike the time she was racing a witch. This time, the race was only between her and time.

She found the building quickly enough. She was vaguely surprised; it was a new looking high rise building with prestigious business offices on the lower levels. Kyoko was stunned Lady could afford this on her salary and tips. Maybe Watanabe is more serious about her than I thought and bought it for her.

She enchanted the door open and the elevator. She could see from the residents' list that Naomi had the penthouse. Watanabe must have bought it for her. The penthouse was likely nicer than Kyoko's.

The elevator was taking way longer than she would have liked. She could have run up the forty storeys much faster. She wouldn't have even cared if the whole world saw she was a magical girl. If Sayaka was unconscious and being held hostage, she would gladly shout the truth about Kyubey and be declared as insane as her father.

The door opened with a pleasant ding. She stormed into the very chique, white apartment. Watanabe was spoiling Naomi rotten.

He might as well: he was about to be a dead man.

"WATANABE!" She looked around the apartment for any trace of Sayaka. Any trace of blue. Any trace of vomit. Any trace of anything.

"What. Are you doing. In my condo." Lady came out of a room, presumably the master bedroom, wearing nothing but a silk violet robe. She stood like an imposing Amazon, breasts bare and fists clenched.

Watanabe looked so small behind her, covering himself in white sheets.

"Wh…what do you want? I get it, I'm sorry. I'll leave Miki alone. I don't want any trouble." He trembled. He probably shouldn't have been hiding behind white sheets if he was going to piss himself again.

"Then you'll tell me where she is." Kyoko glowered.

"Wha? I don't know! I thought she was with you! Trust me, I'm never going to go near her again, I swear it!"

"She's not here Kyoko, so go home! You…are you bleeding on the floor of my apartment? That rug is worth more than that shithole you call a business is!" Naomi evidently wasn't scared of her. Kyoko looked down at her hand. Surely enough, it had dripped some blood onto a white plush carpet.

"Your carpet's worth about as much as your boob job, max." Kyoko's glared didn't falter. Naomi's did though; she was very personally offended. "Where the fuck is she?"

The two women stood in place, eyes locked on one another.

"I don't know where your beloved junkie cop is. But she's not here."

Kyoko's phone rang.

Sayaka.

"Sayaka, are you alright?" Kyoko felt like she could breathe again.

"It's not Sayaka, it's Kyousuke. Sayaka's at her apartment. She's in bed. I thought you would want to know."

She did. She did want to know.

"Thank you. I'll be there in a bit. Just stay with her until I get there."

Kyousuke agreed and they hung up. Kyoko had never cried tears of happiness, but she felt like she was about to.

She was keenly aware of how awkward her current predicament now was when Naomi cleared her throat.

Right.

Kyoko looked at them. Naomi looked like she wanted to strangle her. Watanabe still looked terrified.

"For your rug." Kyoko pulled out a wad of cash, including the notes Watanabe had bribed her with earlier than night. They had a bit of red on them from the blood that soaked through her bandage. It was way more than the rug would have been worth. "And consider the rest for your shirt."

"His shirt was Versace."

Kyoko had no idea what that meant, but she gave them more cash. She saw herself out.

She was sure they were going to whisper terrible things about her, but she didn't care. Sayaka was safe. She drove to Sayaka's apartment as quickly as she could. She probably got caught by five cameras on the way.

She probably got caught by the five cameras twice; on the way to Lady's and on the way back. She quickly thanked and dismissed Kyousuke once she got to the apartment.

Kyoko exhaled in relief to see Sayaka lying haphazardly on her back on her bed…in her apartment; the one place she hadn't thought to look. Kyoko sat down on the edge of Sayaka's bed, facing the wall behind it. There was a framed picture of a younger Sayaka and two girls she hadn't known; she met the green-haired girl Hitomi that night, after hearing about her for many months; the pink-haired girl with a docile smile was Madoka, Kyoko presumed. She vaguely recognized the girl; it was weird seeing her with her guts intact and a smile on her face instead of a vacant face with traces of terror. The glass in front of the picture shone, perfectly reflecting Sayaka's room behind her. It had no décor or anything interesting; just a drawer opposite the door and a closet with slatted doors and only one side open, revealing a mess of clothes that she was pretty sure she had never seen Sayaka wear.

Kyoko pulled Sayaka's unconscious body to her and hugged her tightly. She felt calm and complete. Sayaka was back with her, the way it should be. She couldn't remember feeling this whole before.

This was peace. She laid Sayaka back on the bed carefully. Her wound had started to heal with her haphazard healing magic, so she didn't leave too much blood on the bed, even though her Versace bandage had soaked through.

Her thoughts wouldn't let her have peace for long.

Kyoko let the gears in her head turn.

Sayaka being in her own apartment shouldn't seem weird, but it was. She was at Kyoko's so often that Kyoko saw the girl as a third roommate. Anyone who knew Sayaka well knew her safe haven was at Kyoko's. And there was no way in hell Sayaka had taken herself here. And Kyousuke and Hitomi didn't take her here.

Someone who knew Sayaka took her here; they knew her well enough to know she lived here, but not well enough to know that this isn't where she would go. Kyoko's relief didn't last long.

Someone was breathing in the closet. Someone conscious. Someone Kyoko didn't know.

Kurosawa? No, it wouldn't be him. He would have told her that he had her and kept her safe to get on her good side. Or he would have killed her, and not taken her back to her apartment.

Kyoko kept her eyes fixed on the reflection in the glass. The person was right behind the closed door.

If Kyoko conjured her spear, she could stab the person from where she was sitting. The person would have no idea what was coming. Unless it was a magical girl, they would die almost instantly.

Could it be a magical girl?

It wasn't Yuma, Kyoko was sure. Yuma wouldn't be hiding. If it were another magical girl, Kyoko would assume she wouldn't be so friendly as to help another home, instead of letting her die and lessening the competition for grief seeds.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes at the glass.

Sayaka coughed, struggling to breathe. Kyoko let her eyes dart down, just for a second to see what was wrong. The girl was having a nightmare. Kyoko stroked her hair gently, something Kyoko's own mother had done for her as a girl to calm her. Kyoko didn't let her eyes stray.

Sayaka coughed once more and stopped. Something was wrong. Kyoko could feel Sayaka convulsing against her hand. She wanted to look down and properly assess what was happening, while Kyoko's back was wide open against someone in the closet who could probably see her, whereas she couldn't see them.

She compromised. She felt the magic in her soul gem well up, ready for a spear to launch backwards at any second. The person in the closet had better not make a sudden move or peep; it would be their last if they did.

Kyoko looked down and grimaced in disgust. She loved Sayaka; she completely and truly did, for each and every one of her seeming perfections and flaws. This was of course something that was part of the package, even though Kyoko had never faced the brunt of it like Kenji and Fumiko had.

Sayaka was trying to vomit but couldn't; she was lying on her back.

"You're fucking lucky I came looking for you." Kyoko's words were harsh, but had no real bite to them. Kyousuke and Hitomi probably would have had no idea what to do. Kyoko had no intention of letting Sayaka forget this after the shit passed through her system. Kyoko rolled her over towards the edge of the bed. The puke came out after three more convulsions. Some of it hit Kyoko's leg. Kyoko didn't move though; she stayed where she was to make sure to keep Sayaka's hair out of her face. The blood from her hand started to leak through the scab, smearing onto Sayaka's face.

If this isn't love, I don't what is.

Sayaka started dry heaving, but at least she could breathe now. Kyoko analyzed the situation.

Kyoko had been fully open there. The person in the closet could most likely see her through the slats, but she couldn't see them. Most of the people she wouldn't trust to not hurt her were at Naomi's apartment or the Club now; unless they knew of some amazing short cut, there was no way they could have beat her here first. So either the person in the closet was friendly…

Or they weren't armed.

It was too early for her to smirk victoriously though.

"Don't worry, Sayaka, you're okay. I'll stay here and make sure you're okay." She spoke louder than she had to; she wanted the person in the closet to hear her. It seemed to work and made Sayaka not struggle as much. Her chest continued to expand and contract more than it had to, but it didn't look nearly as forced.

"You're okay, Sayaka. You're okay." She stroked her hair again until she seemed to calm and return to a peaceful oblivion. Kyoko's eyes were fixed on the glass the entire time.

"I would never hurt you, Sayaka." A begrudging lie. "But I might hurt you." She spoke louder to the person in the closet; a truth.

Kyoko heard a sharp inhale from the closet. She didn't smile. She kept a stone expression, looking in the glass.

"Don't worry, I can't see you. I don't know who you are or why you're here. And I don't really care." Another lie. "But I don't want you to stay. You're not welcome here anymore."

She waited for the person in the closet to show themself, or at least make a move. Nothing. Not a sound. Not a movement. Kyoko glared.

So that's how you're going to play it.

"You haven't attacked me. I appreciate that." Another truth. "I'm guessing that's because you aren't armed, and you don't know if I am or not."

The person in the closet's breath hitched. Kyoko inhaled deeply and smelled something that had a hint of salt.

A tear drop.

It was a girl in the closet, and the mystery girl knew she was fucked.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll count down from ten until I turn around. If you're out of the apartment before I reach zero, I won't follow you. Sounds pretty good, yeah?"

No movement. No sound.

Kyoko took that as an affirmative.

"I hear no objections. Ten." She took a breath, eyes fixated on the glass. She wondered if the girl in the closet knew Kyoko was watching her too.

"Nine."

Nothing.

"Eight."

Nothing.

"Seven."

Still nothing.

"Six."

Still nothing. Kyoko didn't let her voice falter or her tone change.

"Five."

There was a flurry of movement. The girl was chickening out.

"Four."

More rustling. Kyoko couldn't figure out what the girl was doing. Is she trying to find a weapon?

"Three."

Kyoko could practically feel the warm gold of her lance in her hand, ready to attack. She could move Sayaka to her apartment, and she would never find out that her room was the scene of a murder. It's self-defence anyways.

"Two."

"FUCK! COME NOW! HURRY!" The girl cursed from the closet. It sounded like she was stuck or something.

"One."

The girl burst out of the closet, knocking the door clean off of its hinges. Kyoko couldn't help but let her lance launch forward in surprise, even though she'd intended for it to go backwards. It destroyed the bottom of Sayaka's bedframe. The girl darted out of the room. Kyoko couldn't identify who it was.

"ZERO!"

Kyoko held true to her word, though she hadn't meant to, and only turned around after she finished the count down. She tried to pull her spear out of the bed, but it was lodged in there tightly. She abandoned it. She practically leapt into the living room.

Kyoko ran into the hall and tried to follow her. She hesitated, not seeing which way she went. She heard commotion down the stairs. The girl must have essentially thrown herself down them. Kyoko followed likewise in hot pursuit.

She burst out of the building and finally saw the girl. She recognized her.

She was barefoot and wingless, but it was the purple-haired newbie in the mask from the Club. She looked back and Kyoko and nearly screamed and she ran. She was only about thirty feet ahead of Kyoko. It was impressive how fast the girl could run, but Kyoko could catch up easily.

A deep roar from an engine sounded as it tore from around a corner. A big black beast of a motorcycle blew past Kyoko and slowed down by the girl who must have been freezing in her bikini. She jumped onto the back and it sped away.

Kyoko chased them on foot for a hundred meters, but couldn't keep up. She had superhuman speed, but even she couldn't outrun a motorcycle.

She could sense it. The person was gone. The person was sensible and ran for her life. Kyoko didn't see her or her face. She screamed in frustration.

Whoever she was…she wasn't a friend of Kyoko's.

Kyoko took a deep breath, reminding herself of her Father's advice.

"Just count to ten." She pictured his calm, if not strained smile. Thinking of counting to ten like she just had pissed her off.

"Imagine you're in an apple orchard."

She did. She could picture it so vividly. Forest green leaves when bright spots of red apples, a hot summer sun beating down unforgivingly and making her sweat. She was happy though. Momo was smiling next to her, a classic brown basket collecting fruit that had fallen on the ground.

"Kyoooookooo, can you reach the apples on the tree? I'm too short." Momo pouted. Kyoko grinned.

"I can't reach either, but I bet I can climb up!" She ran up to the tree, clumsily grabbing a thick high branch and tried to hoist herself up. Momo cheered her on.

A friendly familiar laugh rang through the air; so like her mother, but starkly different; less exasperated, like this woman adored having Momo and Kyoko with her whenever she could.

"Just be careful, Kyoko! I don't want to explain to your mother how you got hurt under my care, again!"

"You won't!" Kyoko grinned back at her, hanging upside down. For a moment, just a moment, she saw the woman clearly and beamed at her. The woman who had such a striking resemblance to-

Kyoko double over, vomiting like Sayaka just had, but in the middle of the street. She felt her stomach muscles contract painfully, a nauseating heat permeating her entire body. She trembled pathetically on the ground; a knife through her hand did nothing, but somehow something as small as a memory could do this to her.

She forgot the face, but she could somehow identify the name she wished she had never known, for reasons she couldn't remember:

Aki Sakura.

AN:

Whew! That took a long time, but chapter 12 is done! 92 pages this time around, so I think it's the longest standalone chapter yet! Haha, in my original story plan, Hitomi was supposed to go to the Club and get drunk in chapter 4. Oh how things change.

For those of you who have stuck around this long, thank you so, so much! This chapter felt a lot harder to write in parts than others, so I'm sorry if anything feels wooden at all. I don't know. I had some writer's block, I suppose. I'm sorry if it's not that good of a chapter.

As always, reviews are loved and constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading!