The three of them took an elevator to the Top Deck of the Tokyo Tower. From up there, 250 meters above sea level, provided them a grand view of most of greater Tokyo and into the bay. Kari could pinpoint her and Makina's house, their school, and other landmarks.

She had been up here plenty of times before. Heights had never terrified her. Makina, on the other hand, always needed her hand held until their feet touched ground again.

They had come here in casual clothing so as to not draw attention. Although… it struck Kari as odd that they were the only ones here. The Main Deck below was bustling as usual, but people were normally put on a waitlist to be sent up the Top Deck, where staff would await to receive them. Yet there were neither staff nor sightseers. Just three magical girls.

Their anthems flew circles around the tower from the outside. Gauntlet was Jade's anthem, a chubby and armored panda, and Blaze was Flare's anthem, a falcon with red and yellow feathers that left behind cinders where it flew. Along with Rocky, they merrily chased each other in the sky. It was hard to believe by their pet-like attitudes that they were sentient.

Jade accidentally kicked a balled up flyer and went to put it into the trash. She walked to the edge of the platform and gazed out towards the west. Her head was angled straight ahead, so she must be thinking about somewhere much further away than what was visible.

Dubbed as the magical girl of justice by the media, Jade appeared less like one than Kari in both transformed and untransformed state. The left side of her head was done into cornrows, and the right half's messy shoulder-length hair was all that remained of her original style. The sloppily put together outfit of a sleeve hoodie and baggy sweats didn't help her image either.

It boggled Kari's mind how she could waltz around like nothing had happened between them. Or maybe she really didn't remember. Was she and Makina really just blips on her radar that day?

Flare walked past her, each step made in confident strides, to the north side of the deck and placed a hand on the glass. She beckoned Kari over. Both of them stared out north.

"When I was a kid, my mom and dad brought me to the Tokyo Tower once. I still remember how much my legs were shaking. I was so scared, I entered the Top Deck with my eyes closed. Coming from the boonies of Owani, I thought a tree was tall until I saw skyscrapers. Imagine my surprise when I finally opened my eyes and saw their rooftops up here. A speck of dust on the glass was ten times larger than the people below… it took my breath away. Then I became a magical girl, and it stopped being scary."

"Because you can fly?" Kari asked.

Flare turned to her with sharpened eyes, grinning with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. "Is that your takeaway from my experience?"

Owani was all the way in Aomori, just shy of Hokkaido. What else would a country bumpkin think?

"Kanae, can we move this along?" Jade asked, glaring at them.

"I'm sorry, Miss Grumpy-pants. Maybe you would like to try and ease the newcomer into this without scaring her off?" Flare rolled her eyes, and Jade returned to watching the city. "Ignore her. After what happened to Rie…"

"Is Candy— Is Rie alright? I was with her when she got your call that night," Kari said.

There was no news of what happened to the girls other than the giant monster's defeat. The last press briefing they gave, Rie wasn't there alongside Jade and Flare.

"Rie is in the ICU. During the battle, her health was reduced to zero and took a bad hit out of form. Healing sigils only restore a magical girl's body. Our human bodies aren't as durable," she explained.

From the other side of the deck, Kari heard Jade's fists clench and teeth grind. If there was anything the two of them shared, it was the concern for Rie. Had Kari gone with them that day, if she was strong enough to fight with Rie, would she have come out fine?

"Rie will be fine. She's a strong girl. Let's get the pleasantries outta the way first, yeah? I might be your upperclassman, but you can just call me Kanae. Grumpy over there is Tsubasa. It alright if we call you Kari?" the leader of the magical girls asked.

"Sure. That's my debut name after all." Kari sighed.

She burst into laughter. "You could have given yourself a cool nickname, but you went with your given name instead. Wouldn't be the first though. Still kind of missed out on—"

"Kanae!" Tsubasa growled, her impatience at its limit.

The sudden outburst straightened Kari's back. For being the supposed leader, Kanae allowed herself to be disrespected a lot. Just what the hell was Tsubasa's problem? Maybe she wasn't a good magical girl to begin with and was just a delinquent who got lucky.

Nevertheless, Kanae resigned from making anymore small-talk and cut right to the chase.

"What happened to Rie is exactly why we came to you. When the Apocalypse System first activated for you, did you get the same message we got? Apocalypse is coming," Kanae repeated the final part of the eerie message they received from when the system activated.

How could she forget?

The message, however, was more loaded than that. It sounded like it wanted to sow doubt between her and the other magical girls. Someone like Tsubasa as Jade might be what the message warned her about.

Though right now, it seemed Kanae wanted to focus on the immediate danger— the apocalypse their system spoke of. At the same time, could it be that Kanae and Tsubasa didn't get the full message Kari had received?

"I didn't know what to make of it at the time. Do you really think some sort of apocalypse is really coming?" Kari asked.

"It ain't coming," Tsubasa rebuked, making Kari feel as though she posed a very stupid question. "The apocalypse is here. We're in the first stages of it."

"Stray spawns and Incursions are popping up more frequently across Japan. Big bads are getting stronger such that Malevolent Domains are having a tough time containing them. We need to find and prepare for ground zero before it's too late," Kanae added.

Malevolent Domains.

That was what the three of them had fought that night. What hurt Rie so badly she ended up in the hospital.

The leader of the trio continued. "We need to bring you into the fold to stand a chance against the apocalypse. Otherwise, Japan will turn into another South Africa."

Kari choked on her spit.

Four years ago, magical girls in South Africa had lost. The monster situation had grown so out of hand, the United Nations raised a 30-foot tall concrete wall around the entire country, along with parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia. 70 million people were abandoned by the rest of the world, another ten million forced to seek refuge in other countries.

If that were to happen to Japan, the destruction would be unimaginable. But what strength could she possibly offer them?

"Maybe Rie's already told you, but I'm only level 2. Compared to you three, I'm still a chick who hasn't leapt off the nest yet." Kari frowned. Yesterday she was on top of the world, ready to become a magical girl that actively sought to protect the world. Standing before the Flare and Jade, even though they weren't in their suits, they seemed miles apart from where she was at the bottom of the rung.

"The little chick who hasn't left the nest one-hit KO'd a broken lady. You're a hero, whether you believe that or not. Your wings haven't sprouted yet, but I can see you flying with us someday soon," Kanae said.

Kari was no hero. She thought back to Makina. How much more she could have done for her but was too pathetic to act, afraid to make the tough decision for fear that Makina might push her away.

Yet when Kanae— no, when Flare called her a hero, Kari believed it. One of the strongest magical girls in the world called her a hero.

Kari saw a fire come alight in Kanae's eyes. She transformed in a burst of flame. Cinders filled the space around them, incinerating her shirt and jeans into the fiery outfit. The way her long, red ponytail danced behind her back made her out to be like a living fire. It made Kari seem like a pale imitation.

"We girls should stick together after all. Pick up after each other's weaknesses. We'll even help you get to level 3 so you can unlock your soul-weapon and subclass. That's a power spike that will help a lot. What do you say?" She stuck out a hand to Kari.

The fire in Kanae's eyes had turned into an inferno. It possessed resolve greater than anything Kari had ever known. Any word out of her mouth and she would believe it. She might even go to hell and back if Flare ordered it.

Kari gripped her right hand to keep it from moving.

"Are you sure you want me? I would be taking apocalypse points away from you guys," she tried to argue.

Both of them tightened their gazes on her at once. Tsubasa looked almost worried.

Was it something she said? They were relaxed just a moment ago, but were now tensed up.

"How much did Rie tell you?" Kanae asked, retracting her hand.

Kari hesitated to answer and recalled that Rie had mentioned Flare's stance on discussing their personal system. She swallowed the lump in her throat and felt compelled to thread together a carefully constructed answer this time. "We fought together a few times. I noticed points were only given to the one who dealt the killing blow. So I asked her, and she confirmed that's how the system worked."

Their shoulders slackened. The tension in the room vanished.

"You can't blame Rie for putting the newbie in the know. That's just the kind of girl she is," Tsubasa remarked, coming up from behind Kanae.

"Rie should know better." Flare frowned. "Maybe I should explain— That's actually why we three are spaced out across Japan. That way we don't impede each other's point gain and hamstring progress. But if you join us, we can get you caught up and—"

"I can't…" Kari answered at last.

If her hands were full being a magical girl, who would protect Makina in her absence? It would be a different story if she could trust Minato, but then he might also get hurt. There would be no one to stop Tetsuo or Ena. Sachi might fall back in line. When Daisuke returned to school, who knows what he might do.

More than that, she couldn't trust someone like Jade watching her back when they fought together.

Wait a minute...

Jade was actually the biggest problem, wasn't she?

"The world is at stake, Kari. Isn't that enough for you to join us?" Kanae pleaded.

Tsubasa scoffed and headed for the elevator. "I knew this was a waste of time."

"Because I can't fight alongside someone like Jade!" Kari shouted, stopping Tsubasa in her tracks.

"You've been staring daggers at me since we left your school. You got something you wanna say, then spit it out already." She spun around with a piercing glare of her own.

Why? Kari asked herself desperately. This bitch really doesn't remember. While every waking moment since that day I keep wondering how different my life would be if she had saved us. How Makina wouldn't have had to suffer all that bullying.

The girl before her was so uncaring and cold. This was a magical girl? She was a stark contrast to Flare and Candy who were both warm and kind.

"Wait… You two have already met, too? Am I the odd one out?" Kanae asked, swapping glances between them but only became more confused by the second.

Kari laughed under her breath. She let her emotions take over and words erupt from her throat in unfiltered rage. "You don't remember me, do you? Of course, you don't. You would leave people behind without batting an eye. How the hell does a bitch like you play the hero of justice? You're probably the reason Rie got hurt!"

"You got some nerve to make shit up like, you brat." Tsubasa scowled.

"Three weeks ago during the incursion in Akiba, you left me and Makina to die! Do you remember now?" Kari screamed.

Finally, Tsubasa's emerald eyes went wide with recognition.