Mahou Shoujo Troper Magica * Fujiwara City *

Hiroko looked at Andrea, surprised. "You're a magical girl?"

She sounded just as shocked as she felt. Something like this had gone unnoticed by her for so long? Something so interesting, just within reach... She had to stop herself, to remind herself of the gravity of the situation.

Andrea sighed, resigned to take the now inevitable blows to her personal armor.

"Yes. I am a Magical Girl, or Puella Magi to be specific. I've been one for longer than I want to recall."

She could sense the Witch above them, now that she had time to think properly. Best she head after it quickly before anyone else got hurt, but she had to see if she could somehow prevent the inevitable from happening right here.

"But... That's great, isn't it? You get to defend people from evil and stuff," Hiroko replied. "You've got powers, you get to defend people from evil, and I can't imagine that you're ever bored! You can help Chiyo, and the rest of us!"

And if I was a magical girl, I could help Chiyo too...

"Well, if you become a Magical Girl then it will become your job to fight the witches that appear in this world. Of course, it would be unfair to ask you to take on this heavy burden without getting anything in return. So in exchange I'll make a single wish you ask of me to come true. Those are the terms of our contract" Kyubey said.

"Well technically none of that is incorrect, however, the consequences are not necessarily..."

As her head was able to clear itself, Andrea found the familiar comfort of crushing cynicism returning to fill her temporarily drained mind. Almost immediately her perception dimmed, as fear and an odd exhilaration were dimmed out in favor of her standard repertoire, a dry fare of extreme apathy. The spark she had felt for Hiroko, Chiyo, and Hikari died as she realized that it was only inevitable. The three would follow in her footsteps. Nothing changed, and Andrea was still at the end of the day a shell going through the motions without care for anything. The best she could hope for was that the three would survive the ordeals. But true friendship was now as distant a prospect as the chances that she could ever come to terms with her father, as distant as the chances that she could ever fix this desolate wreck she called her life.

Kyubey's detestably saccharine tone didn't aid matters at all.

"... You know what? You do what you want to. I've got a Witch to stop."

Andrea took off up the stairwell.

edited 28th Feb '11 9:28:54 PM by Katsuun

The exchange had helped Chiyo. Hearing Andrea's voice alongside the white creature's - he said was called Kyuubey, didn't he? - gave her another lifeboat, another clue towards recognizing the differences between what she thought and what the curse was making her think.

She was strong enough, now, that she was basically able to follow what was going without the curse's influence cloud her perception. Or, at least, she thought she was. It was all so… strange. Andrea was a Magical Girl? And this Kyuubey thing wanted to make them Magic girls as well, as well as granting them a wish? Surely she must be misinterpreting something. Surely that sort of stuff couldn't actually happen.

Yes, she probably had missed something. Andrea was far too outspoken against it. There was more to this than her half-functioning mind could pick up, surely.

Well, at the moment, she didn't dare move for fear that the curse would take advantage of her divided attention and take over again, so she definitely didn't trust herself to make an informed decision about this whole Magical Girl thing.

Really, thinking all this through was so much trouble. It'd be easier if she just decided to-

No! That wasn't her! That was the curse!

Oh, Andrea, please hurry.

Hiroko was about to open her mouth, about to say how much she wanted to do this, how great it would be for her to help fight this witch thing as well, when Andrea's opposition of the idea gave her pause. Why was she opposed to it? Wouldn't her becoming a magical girl let her help Andrea fight this thing?

And then the blond-haired girl pretty much told her to go ahead. Maybe it was one of those 'think it through' things. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Well, I..." Hiroko's voice trailed off. She had been about to say yes, but found herself unable to think of a wish. But she had to! Chiyo needed all the help she could get. "... I have to think of something to wish for."

Hikari had listened to the conversation, but kept quiet. Something felt wrong about all this. Maybe it was just the insanity of the witch, but she resolved to not make any whatever contract until she was out of this barrier.

"Hiroko, you're not thinking about signing that? What if that thing's the witch? Witches are supposed to be tricky like that. We should wait until we're in a place where we aren't being threatened with death..."

Maybe I am falling into this a little too easily... but... Hiroko turned to Hikari. "Well... the little cat thing doesn't look like a witch, but maybe what you're saying is true, maybe I should wait... But if I do accept, I could help you and Chiyo. I help Andrea beat the witch."

"Well, remember. Witches tend to have animals as familiars. That weird cat-rabbit thing would fit the mold perfectly. Just... don't do anything rash!" Hikari was only making guesses from the story she read, having no idea how true her theories might be.

"Should... should we follow Andrea? Or should we stay with Chiyo?"

"Right... I... That is how it works in some stories, I think..." Hiroko replied, trying to recall what happened in those old western stories about witches. Even with all this, her mind was still nagging her to accept, and make a wish. Still, Hikari might've had a point. Maybe this did need a little more thought. But she really wanted to help her friends...

"We should stay with Chiyo for now. We don't want her to try anything again," Hiroko added. "I... I don't want to wander around here without some way of defending myself, anyway."

"If I was a witch or a familiar wouldn't Andrea have told you so?" Kyubey said, walking a little closer to the girls before turning towards the spiral that the lone Magical Girl was ascending "Besides, this witch might be too powerful for Andrea to defeat on her own"

As Andrea ascended through the stairway she met the first Familiars of the barrier. They looked like giant lotus flowers made out of parchment, flapping their petals to stay afloat as they approached the Magical Girl.

"And if Andrea can't beat it on her own, we're stuck here," Hiroko said. "Right. Kyubey, I'm going to accept your offer. I want to help my friends get out of here, and this is the best way I can do it."

And I'll never be bored again...

The seriousness of the situation was not lost on her, of course. In fact, it was part of the reason that she was accepting. Now, she just had to think of a wish. That was the hard part. Focusing enough to think of something she really wanted, through all this madness and fear, was difficult. "And... I can wish for anything, right?"

"Anything at all, Hiroko" Kyubey said in a cheerful manner.

"Hiroko.." Hikari's words trailed off, her mind filled only with fear and doubt.

Hiroko smiled, looking over her shoulder at her friend. "I'll be alright, Hikari-chan! I'll be able to help you all, and I'll beat the thing that's got us stuck here."

She turned to look back at Kyubey. "Do I just wish, then? And then it's done?"

".... just... think your wish through..."

"Just say or think about your wish and I'll handle the rest"

Hiroko nodded, to both of them. It might take a few moments, but she was starting to formulate the wish in her mind. Being a magical girl would make her life plenty interesting, so she wouldn't have to wish to make her life interesting. She tried to think of something, anything. Her home life was good, she didn't think that needed a wish to fix it. For some reason, her mind suddenly hovered to Kagawa-sensei. Right... it might seem a bit silly, but wouldn't it pretty much fix the entirety of first period?

No, that wasn't really worth the wish, was it? Maybe it was... it was hard to decide.

But the longer she dawdled on the wish, the more urgent the situation felt. She had to think of something...

"Just... just give me a minute. I've got think think my wish through a bit more..."

edited 1st Mar '11 1:19:50 PM by AnnoR

"Do not worry, I'll wait as long as it is necessary. After all I have no right to hurry you up" Kyubey said, moving his tail from side to side.

In the sky far above them the vague silhouette of the lotus familiars should be visible to the girls on the ground.

Hiroko eyed the lotus... things high above. That... didn't make her want to take much longer. But the only thing she could think of was wishing for Kagawa-sensei to be more interesting.

Well...

Her wish for her life to be more interesting would be granted by becoming a magical girl, so...

"I..." Hiroko hesitated for a moment. Was this a good idea? "I wish that Kagawa-sensei was a better, and more interesting teacher."

"What? That's it? That's your wish? Just to have a more interesting teacher?" Hikari was too panicked to remember that Hiroko was just as frightened.

"It's all I could think of," Hirko replied, panic starting to show in her voice. "I had to think fast, do you see those things up there?"

"Kyubey, stop! Before she contracts, I want to make my wish first!"

"Hikari?!" Hiroko turned to her friend in shock. She hadn't shown any interest in making a wish a few seconds ago...