Eastern Interference in Salvation [Touhou x Puella Magi Madoka Magica Quest]

[Serela]

>"We don't know the area enough to lose it without looking suspicious dashing through alleys, I think... hopefully my reading can get us through a confrontation if there is one. Let's just head to the apartment complex."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"We don't know the area enough to lose it without looking suspicious dashing through alleys, I think... hopefully my reading can get us through a confrontation if there is one. Let's just head to the apartment complex."

>"Got it."

>The two of you continue on, eventually crossing a bridge spanning a river, before coming up on a large building.
>"I think that might be it."
>_

[Serela]

>"Alright. Time to find out if this was an elaborate plan by Yukari to force us to sleep in an alleyway."
>Head on in!

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Alright. Time to find out if this was an elaborate plan by Yukari to force us to sleep in an alleyway."
>Head on in!

>Sanae laughs a bit, "It's surprising to hear you crack a joke, Satori."

>You head towards the building. Sanae manages to locate what appears to be the office, and you discuss the possibility of renting an apartment in this complex. It turns out that they do have one available, and its rent is ?44000 a month.
>_

[Serela]

>Well, we can at least comfortably afford the first month, having about 87000 on us right now. Yukari said the loops last about a month and a half, though. But we'll have a month to figure that last part out, and we should hopefully have a decent chunk of money left.
>"Hmmm... that sounds like it might work."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Well, we can at least comfortably afford the first month, having about 87000 on us right now. Yukari said the loops last about a month and a half, though. But we'll have a month to figure that last part out, and we should hopefully have a decent chunk of money left.
>"Hmmm... that sounds like it might work."

>"So we'll take it, then?" Sanae asks How much money do we have again, anyway....?
>_

[Serela]

>"Mmm... yeah, we'll take it!"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Mmm... yeah, we'll take it!"

>You agree to purchase the apartment, and pay the first month's rent up-front. The landlord shows the two of you to your door and hands you the keys, before leaving.
>Funds remaining: ?41900

>"Alright, let's get settled in, I guess." says Sanae And probably plot our next move while we're at it.
>_

[Serela]

>"Yeah, we'll see what we've got for the next month or so."
>Open the door and check it out!
>...glance around for stalking white creature, too.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Yeah, we'll see what we've got for the next month or so."
>Open the door and check it out!
>...glance around for stalking white creature, too.

>Doing a quick check for a certain white... thing... you place your key in the lock and turn.
>Entering the apartment, you find that it's furnished with some basic necessities. It appears to be a simple, 6-room dwelling: Containing a kitchen, a living/dining room, a bathroom, a closet, and a bedroom. The living room is furnished with a low table, a small couch, and a device Sanae recognizes as a "television," and has a large window that allows viewing of the city. The bedroom contains only one bed, however, you do find a futon in the closet.

>Sanae lays out on the couch.
>"This place isn't bad." she comments. I wonder who's going to get the bed...

>_

[Serela]

>How large is the bed?
>"This seems comfortable enough. I didn't think to ask if it was furnished, that would have been a problem."
>Look out the window. "...this is going to take a bit of getting used to, though."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>How large is the bed?
>"This seems comfortable enough. I didn't think to ask if it was furnished, that would have been a problem."
>Look out the window. "...this is going to take a bit of getting used to, though."

>Large enough for two people to share, though it would feel a bit awkward you think.

>"Yeah. Parallel universe or not, outside world cities aren't like anything in Gensokyo."

>You hear a knock at the door.
>_

[Serela]

>"A bit more sun and people than I'm used to, as well."
>We'll have to see how much a futon is. ...or construct a miniwall through the middle of the bed.
>Ah, a knock! "I hope that's her, because I honestly don't have the slightest idea what to do from here."
>Answer the door.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"A bit more sun and people than I'm used to, as well."
>We'll have to see how much a futon is. ...or construct a miniwall through the middle of the bed.

>You already found a futon in the closet during your initial inspection of the apartment.

>Ah, a knock! "I hope that's her, because I honestly don't have the slightest idea what to do from here."
>Answer the door.

>You answer the door, revealing a blonde girl in a hoodie. Her green eyes meet yours.
>Her mind seems to be walled off by the same mental barrier Yukari uses on herself and her shikigami, you can't get any reading.
>"You sure picked a hornet's nest to live..." she remarks, "Unfortunately I couldn't contact you about your choice of housing earlier with Kyubey following you. I couldn't risk him noticing me. But I suppose it's too late now and we'll have to make due with this. Anyway, he seems occupied with something else at the moment, so we should have some time." she pauses, "Could you please let me in?"
>_

[Serela]

Oh, somehow I'd misread it to say there was no futon found.

>"Ah, the bearer of good news, I see. You can tell us all about it." Step back and invite her inside. "Although I'm glad you're here, we still hardly know a single thing about... well, anything."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

Oh, somehow I'd misread it to say there was no futon found.

>"Ah, the bearer of good news, I see. You can tell us all about it." Step back and invite her inside. "Although I'm glad you're here, we still hardly know a single thing about... well, anything."

>"Ah, well hopefully I can help clear things up." she says as she steps inside.
>She approaches the couch and takes off her hoodie, revealing her long blonde hair tied in a side ponytail, as well as a black and white dress. She doesn't look older than 15, you'd imagine. You also notice a peculiar ring being worn on her left hand, adorned with a silver gem of some kind.
>She groans, "It feels so nice to take that off. I honestly felt ridiculous walking around like that..."

>"So, you're the agent, right?"  Sanae asks as she makes room on the couch.
>The girl nods, "Ah yes, where are my manners?" she bows, "My name is Oriko Mikuni. It's a pleasure that we can finally meet face to face."
>_

[Searinox119]

>Respond in kind.
>"Likewise. My name is Satori Komeiji, and my partner's name is Sanae Kochiya."
>"Since you said we have limited time, let's cut to the chase. The leading question of the day is of course 'What do we do from here?", but anything about this 'Kyubey' would be nice, too. "

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Respond in kind.
>"Likewise. My name is Satori Komeiji, and my partner's name is Sanae Kochiya."
>"Since you said we have limited time, let's cut to the chase. The leading question of the day is of course 'What do we do from here?", but anything about this 'Kyubey' would be nice, too. "

>Oriko takes a seat. "Ideally, we have a month and a half before the witch that will destroy this world is born. So we have that time to both prevent its birth and to stop whatever is causing time to loop here. In addition to that: from what I've seen, once the witch is born it will be nearly impossible to kill, at least not by anyone of this world. To be honest, since you two arrived here, whenever I try to glimpse that moment again I only see darkness and uncertainty... So you may have a chance if it ever comes to that, though I can't say anything for certain."
>"What do you mean by 'Glimpse'?" Sanae asks.
>"Oh. Well, I'm what you would call 'clairvoyant'. It's the power I gained when I made my contract with Kyubey."
>_

[Searinox119]

>"So taking it easy until this witch appears is not an option... Am I right in assuming you don't really know anything about its birth or the time loops either?"
>"...also, 'a contract with Kyubey'? The same one that was following us?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"So taking it easy until this witch appears is not an option... Am I right in assuming you don't really know anything about its birth or the time loops either?"

>"Unfortunately, I know very little about its birth. All I know is that it happens after the city is ravaged by something, and that it was spawned from a magical girl with pink hair. There was another magical girl there as well, one with purple eyes and long, raven hair, carrying a shield of some sort. Before I could continue using my powers to gain more insight, that same raven-haired girl showed up out of nowhere and put a bullet in my Soul Gem. Or, rather, she would have if Lady Yukari hadn't pulled my Soul Gem out of that loop at the last moment. According to her, that girl apparently kills me near the beginning of every loop she has witnessed."
>She pauses.
>"I don't know anything beyond that. Like I said before, ever since the two of you showed up here, trying to glimpse that moment again only leads to darkness and uncertainty, so I don't know anything more than what I learned from the first look."

>"...also, 'a contract with Kyubey'? The same one that was following us?"

>Oriko nods, "Kyubey approaches girls and offers to grant them one wish in exchange for becoming Magical Girls and fighting witches. Of course, that is only half the story, it seems. Thanks to that first vision, I learned that should a magical girl let their Soul Gem become fully corrupted, they turn into the very thing we fight. It's nothing more than a deadly cycle if you think about it..."
>_

[Serela]

>Grimace. "That's a lot to take in. I see why one of the very few details Yukari bothered to tell us was that we shouldn't make a contract with this Kyubey, no matter what."
>"Hmm... so we need to find a magical girl with pink hair, and the one with raven hair is apparently rather dangerous. Do you have any idea why she tried to kill you?"
>"As for basic knowledge's sake, could you explain a bit more about soul gems, witches, and the magic of this world? As well as whatever you know about Kyubey."

I'm already familiar with those basic questions, and anyone else playing probably would be too, but, best to keep "there's no way satori could possibly know X" to a minimum.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Grimace. "That's a lot to take in. I see why one of the very few details Yukari bothered to tell us was that we shouldn't make a contract with this Kyubey, no matter what."

>"Yeah..." Sanae agrees, Although, the prospect of having a wish granted in exchange does seem tempting... But I bet miracles could do much more than that... Probably... Maybe...

>"Hmm... so we need to find a magical girl with pink hair, and the one with raven hair is apparently rather dangerous. Do you have any idea why she tried to kill you?"

>Oriko shakes her head, "No, unfortunately..."

>"As for basic knowledge's sake, could you explain a bit more about soul gems, witches, and the magic of this world? As well as whatever you know about Kyubey."

>"I honestly wouldn't be the best person to explain all of this, considering I was only recently contracted before Lady Yukari saved my life, but I can explain what little I do know, from both my first vision, my experience, and what Lady Yukari has told me."

>Oriko holds out her hand, and her ring suddenly changes form: Becoming a silver, egg-shaped gem in an ornate casing.

>"This is my soul gem." she explains, "It's the source of a Magical Girl's magic, and we can use its power to heal ourselves if we get injured. But there's more to it: I honestly didn't know until Lady Yukari told me, but apparently the soul gem is literally a Magical Girl's soul. If it breaks, we instantly die. However, there's another risk involving soul gems as well: When we use our magic, the gem fills with darkness, and when it becomes completely black, it collapses and becomes one of these..."

>She pulls out a small, black orb in a patterned metal case, with a pin protruding out of the bottom and the top adorned in some sort of ornament. However, what you find unnerving about it is that you can actually hear whispers of mental activity coming from it, as if something within this object is dreaming...

>"This is a Grief Seed. Think of it as the 'egg' of a witch. Witches will drop them when they die and us Magical Girls can use them to purify our soul gems, like so..."
>She then taps the object to her soul gem, and you see black specks flow out of the gem and into the seed, the seed's mental activity actually spikes for a brief moment. The gem now glows a little brighter than it did before.

>"That's a bit messed up..." Sanae comments, S-So they're essentially using the souls of fallen magical girls to purify their own souls...

>_

[Serela]

>Glance at Sanae. "That wish doesn't sound so tempting anymore, does it?"
>"I see... so magical girls don't have a choice about fighting witches to fulfill their contract. They literally have to in order to continue living. I imagine fighting witches is dangerous, as well."
>Frown. "So, as long as this pink-haired magical girl is around... unless she dies fighting a witch, sooner or later, she'll become a world-ending disaster?"

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Glance at Sanae. "That wish doesn't sound so tempting anymore, does it?"

>Sanae jumps a bit. "S-Sorry..." Oh yeah... mind reading... forgot about that...

>"I see... so magical girls don't have a choice about fighting witches to fulfill their contract. They literally have to in order to continue living. I imagine fighting witches is dangerous, as well."

>Oriko nods, "Indeed."

>Frown. "So, as long as this pink-haired magical girl is around... unless she dies fighting a witch, sooner or later, she'll become a world-ending disaster?"

>"If her soul gem is corrupted, then it will certainly happen."

>"So, what do you know about this 'Kyubey'?" Sanae asks.

>"Well, I already told you that he approaches girls and offers them a wish in exchange for becoming a magical girl. He seems to speak telepathically, and his voice sounds like that of a child. He's difficult to predict as well, even with precognition, there's no telling how he'll react if he discovers that I'm alive, witnesses your 'non-natural' magic, or discovers your true nature. The good news is that it doesn't seem like he's able to fight at all, unless he has some power I don't know about..."

>She leans back, "Unfortunately, it seems like him noticing at least one of those things I mentioned might be an inevitability if we don't play our cards right, but we can at least try to delay it as long as possible. Anyway, that's about all I know, you could probably gain more information by talking to another Magical Girl or, if you must, Kyubey himself... Speaking of which, I did mention earlier that you picked a hornet's nest to live... It's likely we will not be able to have another meeting like this for some time, at least not here."

>"Why is that?" Sanae asks

>"According to my visions, there's another Magical Girl that lives two doors down from you. She's away right now, but Kyubey tends to frequent her residence often." Oriko's eyes suddenly glow an icy blue, you notice her soul gem gradually lose a small amount of its luster, her eyes then return to normal, "Hmm... If the two of you do end up asking her for more information, it would be better if you played dumb. If you told her most of the information regarding soul gems that I told you, especially about the part about us turning into witches, at least as things currently stand, you are very likely to destroy her..." sighs, "It's a pity that others aren't able to accept the truth as readily as I have..."

>Her eyes flash blue for several moments again, her soul gem gets slightly darker once more, "I wouldn't advise a direct approach either, it would immediately raise her suspicions." she ponders for a moment, before having another vision, "It's likely she will go on a Witch hunt shortly after she returns home, and it seems she will encounter a Witch close by. If you get to that area before she does, there might be a chance you will be drawn into the Witch's barrier, if she encounters you in there, then you will be able to ask her questions without raising her suspicions. Of course, the only downside is that it risks direct contact with Kyubey. But we should be okay as long as you use discretion..."
>_

[Serela]

>"Your power is very impressive. Hmmm... so we should play dumb, like we haven't heard anything from you. The biggest problem there is that I'm concerned that Kyubey might be onto us already, given he was following us around right away, but I have no idea whether he can tell just how unusual we are or not."
>Frown. "So, most magical girls aren't aware of how witches are born? It seems like it'd be hard to keep that a secret over time... if we're supposed to play dumb, how much would the average person be expected to know about any of this?"

noting that yukari never mentioned that magic is a total secret in this world, etc

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Your power is very impressive. Hmmm... so we should play dumb, like we haven't heard anything from you. The biggest problem there is that I'm concerned that Kyubey might be onto us already, given he was following us around right away, but I have no idea whether he can tell just how unusual we are or not."
>Frown. "So, most magical girls aren't aware of how witches are born? It seems like it'd be hard to keep that a secret over time... if we're supposed to play dumb, how much would the average person be expected to know about any of this?"

noting that yukari never mentioned that magic is a total secret in this world, etc

>"Normal people are unaware of magic, it seems. The only way that they'll even encounter a witch is if they are either intentionally pulled or accidentally wander into a witch's barrier. In addition to that, Magical Girls usually keep their natures as Magical Girls secret, and usually only transform when they're ready to fight."

>"Transform?" Sanae asks.

>"In order to draw on all of our magic, we need to transform. Think of it as changing into a costume. Here, let me demonstrate..."
>Oriko grabs her soul gem and is quickly enveloped in a white light, when it fades, you notice she's now wearing a white dress with a white veil coming out of a peculiar looking blue hat. Her soul gem is now a round, silver gem situated on her collar. Her hair is no longer in a side ponytail, but it instead hanging freely.

>"Whoa..." You notice Sanae suppressing an internal giggle., I mean, it's impressive, but... that hat looks ridiculous. It looks like she's wearing a bucket on her head. Kinda detracts from the coolness a bit...
>_

[Serela]

>Gensokyo has it's own assortment of silly hats. Some things never change, it seems.
>"Heh, that would certainly make it harder for us to masquerade as magical girls. We could perhaps obscure ourselves with magic, but it'd be a mad scramble of changing our clothes the old fashioned way. I suppose Kyubey would immediately know something's up anyway, given that we haven't contracted with him. Playing dumb will have to do."
>"We could theoretically have our Gensokyo clothes on underneath normal ones for a quick change, if that's ever necessary, though." Perhaps if in the future Kyubey knows the truth, but we're still fooling other girls for the sake of simplicity.

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>Gensokyo has it's own assortment of silly hats. Some things never change, it seems.
>"Heh, that would certainly make it harder for us to masquerade as magical girls. We could perhaps obscure ourselves with magic, but it'd be a mad scramble of changing our clothes the old fashioned way. I suppose Kyubey would immediately know something's up anyway, given that we haven't contracted with him. Playing dumb will have to do."
>"We could theoretically have our Gensokyo clothes on underneath normal ones for a quick change, if that's ever necessary, though." Perhaps if in the future Kyubey knows the truth, but we're still fooling other girls for the sake of simplicity.

>"I would agree that Kyubey could probably tell if you were masquerading as magical girls or not. Given that neither of you has a soul gem anyway..." Oriko dispels her transformation.
>"Anyway, I should get going soon, if I stay here too long there's a chance that Kyubey will notice me. The witch I mentioned is near the bridge you crossed to get here, on this side of the river, should you wish to intercept it before your magical girl neighbor. Speaking of her, she should be returning in a couple of hours, and if things go as I saw earlier, then she should find that witch within an hour after coming home."
>Her eyes glow blue, "Hmm... There also seems to be a rogue familiar a couple of blocks to the southwest. It's less dangerous than the witch, but you could also encounter your neighbor that way, since it's likely she'll find it on the way home. You would have to leave the apartment sooner if you wish to go that route. I'd say about 90 minutes from now would be the best time to leave if you'd rather do that."
>_

[Serela]

>"Hmm... that's probably a good idea. If normal people aren't even aware of magic, we'll need some kind of in to the magical girl scene in this town to try and locate the pink-haired one. Although perhaps if we're lucky, she hasn't even contracted yet. Preventing that entirely sounds like the easiest way to stop the witch from occurring."
>"Mmm... so that comes down to us bumping into the witch or the familiar. It's good that you know the best times for us to do this, since I don't imagine we'd want to be stuck near these things for any longer than we have to. It'd be unfortunate if we were forced to defend ourselves, and got discovered that way."

[Evil_Nazgul0616]

>"Hmm... that's probably a good idea. If normal people aren't even aware of magic, we'll need some kind of in to the magical girl scene in this town to try and locate the pink-haired one. Although perhaps if we're lucky, she hasn't even contracted yet. Preventing that entirely sounds like the easiest way to stop the witch from occurring."

>"Hopefully that's that case... Though depending on what kind of person they are, and what their current situation is, dissuading them might be easier said than done..."

>"Mmm... so that comes down to us bumping into the witch or the familiar. It's good that you know the best times for us to do this, since I don't imagine we'd want to be stuck near these things for any longer than we have to. It'd be unfortunate if we were forced to defend ourselves, and got discovered that way."

>"It would be very unfortunate..." Oriko agrees, before having a vision, "I should go. Kyubey will be in the area soon, and if I don't leave within the next five minutes he's likely to notice me. It was a pleasure meeting you, Satori and Sanae. I'll come to you when I have more information, or when Lady Yukari has something important to tell you."
>She puts on her hoodie.

>"Wait, before you go." Sanae stands up, "Do you think you could maybe get us a cellphone or something? We could contact each other whenever we want then, without having to wait." As well as anyone else if they give us their number...

>Oriko ponders for a moment, "I don't see anything wrong with that." she nods, "I'll see about obtaining some phones then, hopefully I'll have them by the next time we meet."
>"Thank you." Sanae bows.
>_