Kari awoke to find herself alone in the room. The one person she was hoping to see at her bedside wasn't there. Her eyes adjusted to find a single strand of brown hair left on the pillow.

Terrified by what might have happened while she was asleep, Kari jumped out of bed. She threw open the bedroom door and was given pause by piano music coming from somewhere downstairs.

The music lulled her into a nostalgic peace. It took her back to her childhood, of times when there was little to worry about other than getting to class on time. She recognized the slow tempo and particular fixation on low pitch notes that dragged on longer than they should.

Makina. Playing this way was her staple.

As Kari descended the stairs, drawn in like a sailor to a siren's tune, she came to a music room in which the door was left ajar. There sat Makina at a grand piano, eyes shut and fingers gliding across the keys without missing a beat. The morning sunlight had wreathed a halo around her, as if some higher beings were present and listening to the private concert.

Rocky and Blaze sat atop the piano with smiles as they listened. Hell, it might have been the first time Kari had seen Flare's anthem look so content.

When the solo symphony ended, Kari entered the room to make herself known and joined the anthems in applauding the pianist.

"Thank you, thank you!" Makina stood up and took several bows. "I'd like to especially thank my adoring fans, Rocky, Blaze, and Kari for their continued support!"

"I'm kinda hurt that I came at the end of the concert." Kari feigned disappointment.

"Well someone was sleeping so soundly. I didn't want to wake you up." She grinned. "Kanae was downstairs and struck up a convo with me about music. She ended up showing me to her music room, so here I am."

"Mm. I would dare say your mastery of the piano far surpasses Flare. The way you play has left a lasting impression on me." Blaze nodded to himself.

Come to think of it, Kanae was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is she anyway?" Kari asked the fiery anthem.

Blaze put on a pair of reading glasses and produced a notepad which he flipped through. It seemed to Kari that randomly materializing stuff out of thin air wasn't specific to just Rocky.

"Flare had a gravure photoshoot to attend at the beach this morning. She should be back soon and wanted me to inform you to be ready to leave upon her return," he said.

Swallowing the urge to vomit, Kari recognized the opportunity presented to her due to Kanae's absence. She wouldn't get another chance to get Blaze alone again.

"You heard the fried chicken. Go pack your stuff. We don't wanna overstay our welcome," Kari urged Makina.

"Oh, alright. I wish things were different and we had more time to spend here." Makina exited the room with a spring in her step, humming happily to herself.

Kari also gestured her anthem out, too. "Go with and help her pack, Rocky."

"You got it, partner!" He bid Blaze goodbye and followed Makina out.

Once the two had gone, Blaze also thought to leave until Kari came between him and the door. The tension in the room thickened as he came to realize what this was about.

"If I kill you, I'd prevent Flare from using any sigils or getting any stronger." Kari leaned back until the door closed shut.

"Yes, you would," Blaze answered after a pause, facing her unflinchingly and showing no willingness to escape. "In fact, I would encourage you to kill me… if only my death did not put you, Makina, and Rocky in danger of Flare's wrath."

"I don't get it. You don't sound on board with what she does. Why are you helping her? Do you even know what Flare's trying to do?" she asked, hoping to glean anything at all from the one entity remotely close to Flare.

The falcon frowned. "Aside from trying to obtain a soul? No. Flare tells me little. Even if I were to discover that her goals do not align with mine, just as Rocky cannot disobey you, I cannot disobey her."

Anthems couldn't disobey their magical girl? This was her first time hearing. It almost made her think less of anthems altogether. There had to be more to it. They were clearly more than just intelligent beings that functioned as glorified techies.

"How do you mean?" Kari pressed further.

"We anthems are your system's assistants. Disobeying you is our antithesis. Doing so extinguishes our existence and would prevent us from returning to life in service again," he explained.

"Extinguish your existence as in—"

"We would cease to exist."

Interesting. They existed in a cycle of rebirth as long as they obeyed their magical girls. It explained why Yuria's anthem Iggy returned to life to serve Sachi. For whatever reason, Flare had previously killed him. Too bad he had no memory of his past life, otherwise they could have grilled him over why he was killed.

Flare likely knew this as well and must be why it mattered little to her that he was back.

"I'll ask again." Kari transformed and summoned [Destruction and Ruin], yet Blaze remained unfazed. "Do you know what Flare is scheming beyond trying to acquire a soul?"

"I'm afraid I do not. But if you are to kill me now, then may I make a solemn plea to you, Magical Girl Kari?" Blaze politely requested.

Kari nodded for him to continue.

"I beseech you to uncover why Flare is going so far, scheming against her allies, cold heartedly allowing incursions to fester, and sowing disinformation amongst the populace of Japan, and once you have… please, stop her." The anthem shut his eyes to prepare for his end with dignity, no quip or bargain for his own life, but instead had implored Kari with a selfless plea.

She raised the weapon above his head but couldn't bring herself to do it. Blaze was right after all. There might be another way without painting a target on her back.

"You're making this really hard by acting all noble about it." Kari sighed and shed away her transformation. "Not knowing isn't an excuse. You aren't trying hard enough to get through to her. By not resisting, don't you think you're contributing to her downward spiral?"

The guilt-ridden Blaze fell silent. His mouth opened in an attempt to retort, but no words came out to try and refute her. Satisfied that doubt had been sown in his mind towards Flare, Kari exited the room to let him ruminate alone.

Kanae returned a short time later and declared their vacation a success— whatever that meant. She called for a limousine to drive Makina home, after which she and Kari would fly back to Minato City.

While Kanae was double-checking things inside her beloved beach house, Kari waited outside with Makina until the limo arrived. The two found it difficult to part from each other, especially since they had grown so close. Why couldn't these moments occupy her thoughts more often than the many others that plagued her mind?

"I guess one of us should tell Minato the good news, right? That guy's been cheering me on for god knows how long." Kari scratched her nose.

"Hehe. I think it's more fun if we tell him together. That way, he has no choice but to hang out with us." Makina smiled and squeezed their joined hands.

They shared one final embrace before letting go. Then Rocky got his turn with a suffocating hug.

Makina took a few steps up to the door opened to her by the chauffeur and hesitated to enter. She glanced over her shoulder to Kari with a troubled demeanor, seemingly conflicted over something.

"What's wrong? Did I show you too good of a time last night to want to leave?" Kari joked, then realized real quick that her teasing didn't have its intended effect.

"Just… hypothetically speaking, I think it would be a lot of fun if we were both magical girls together." The smile Makina gave was betrayed by the worry in her voice.

"Not that I'd ever let you go near monsters. Don't worry about me, I'm surrounded by a bunch of magical girls, remember?" Kari walked up to Makina and noticed that her hands were particularly defensive in clutching her purse.

"I'll even make sure Kari stays out of trouble!" Rocky assured her.

"That's good enough for me. I'm leaving you a good luck charm." Makina got on her toes to kiss Kari on the forehead, then dove into the limo and rolled down the window as she's driven off. "Next time I see you, I expect a signed autograph from Candy that isn't on a bag of wasabi peas!"

Already Kari felt a void open in her chest without Makina here. The next time they would see each other again might be at the end of the apocalypse.

Assuming there would be an end in sight.

"I think you two are really cute together!" Rocky quipped. "Ah~ Young love is so cute. I never thought you of all people could act so lovey-dov— iiieeghh!"

Kari clocked him lightly over the head.

"If I wasn't in a good mood, I'd chuck you across the Pacific."

"Hope you had a nice time. Let's get going and face our destiny, yeah?" Flare emerged from the house with Blaze and was noticeably disappointed that Makina had already left. It didn't seem her anthem mentioned anything about what they talked about in the music room.

The four of them made their way to Minato City. For Kari, she left with fond memories of taking the next step with Makina, but hated that she had Flare to thank for that. As they flew back, she couldn't shake the unnerving concern about the tenuous alliance they made last night.

Their 'deal' was more of an order. Although she hated being told what to do more than anything, Flare made it crystal clear that no one was safe from her. Playing along was the only way to keep Makina and Sachi safe. To also keep herself and Rocky in the fight long enough to figure out another way.

The cunt was sly to draw a fine line with her threats. If she had pushed a little harder, then all bets were off and today might not have come.

At the end of the day, Kari had no qualms killing Hurricane and Chu Hua. It was that their deaths somehow served Flare and the giant monster that spoke with her when she nearly died that was problematic.

Could they be related in any way?

More importantly, what was the debt the monster talked about? It had to be her [Enrage] skill. She shouldn't have had such a powerful skill to begin with, and at the time, a voice called it a loan.

"You're awfully deep in thought. Hope you're not planning to turn on me like at Roppongi," Flare said from above.

It took Kari a second to realize Flare spoke from just underneath the glare of the beaming sun.

Probably on purpose, too. Kari couldn't make out her expression, only the silhouette and outline of her magical girl form. From up there, she was almost like the sun itself.

Leave it to her to be extra cautious. Fortunately, Kari had just the thing to bring up to steer her suspicions away.

"Maybe you weren't paying attention with Eye of Ra, but we were getting our asses whooped by a humanoid monster the other day. Possibly Malevolent Domain-level or stronger. Don't suppose your all-seeing eye knows where it is?" Kari asked.

"So that's what you guys were fighting?" Flare seemed to respond with genuine uncertainty.

Whether or not it was Kari's imagination, the sun had grown brighter in the briefest of moments like someone tweaked the dial. If the summer heat wasn't bad enough thanks to high humidity, someone had thrown all of Japan into an oven, then brought it right back out.

"Whew… Is it just me, or did someone turn up the heat?" Rocky wiped the sweat from his brows.

"Still don't see it," Flare said.

"Now really the time to be screwing around?" Kari thought she was trying to be difficult again.

"You might not believe me, but I seriously didn't see it. All I saw were you guys fighting something. Could be another abnormality affecting my skills; this coming apocalypse is no joke," she warned.

Kari had no way of knowing if Flare was telling the truth. It sounded like a lie if she had ever heard one. No one else but her wanted a monster growing stronger.

"You should also know, Jade and I found a whole lot of monster egg sacs underground. We tried to clear as many as we could, but it's the whole goddamn prefecture," she explained.

Oh, that? Just leave it. Hundreds of miles worth of criss crossing tunnel networks? Eugh. I don't want to be seen down there let alone smell it." Flare brushed off her concern like dust on a windowsill.

The Tokyo Tower was quickly coming into view, but Flare had stopped flying towards it.

"What? Getting cold feet about seeing Candy and Jade again?" Kari taunted.

Flare flashed a patronizing grin. "I have something to do elsewhere. Tell those two hello for me— oh! By the way, when Hurricane and Chu Hua get here, they might try to play nice until the apocalypse arrives. Let it happen. I can't wait to see an Angel or God monster appear."

To her side, Blaze had a troubled look on his face upon hearing that. They set off west, likely not to be seen again until shit hits the fan.

"I don't like what Flare's become… She used to be so nice, but now… I wonder if Blaze will be alright." Rocky shuddered.

"No use getting worked up about it now," Kari said. "Just have to do what we can."

Upon returning to the hotel, they ran into Tsubasa first who was in front of a broken vending machine. She picked up two cans of coffee and tossed an unsweetened one to Kari.

"Nice place, huh? Kanae's beach house. Dunno about you, but I couldn't sleep right in that place with her there last year. SO, what'd you guys talk about?" Tsubasa asked.

"Nothing. She seriously spirited me away to get a gravure photo shoot done there." Kari was about to walk past when Tsubasa grabbed her by the arm. "Don't believe me? There's probably a bunch of pictures of us fighting off some shark monsters in Okinawa, too."

She let go and sighed. "Just on edge because it's been too quiet here. Spent the entire day yesterday clearing the things underground. Doesn't feel like I made a dent—"

"Mraauu~"

A black kitten turned a sharp corner into the hall and was coming right for them. Rie and Sachi were hot on its tail trying to catch it.

"Kari, Tsubasa! Catch him!" Rie shouted.

Before Aba scurried away, Kari scooped him into her arms. All of his energy vanished as soon as she picked him up, leaving her surprised at how docile he was despite other cats at the cafe disliking her.

Sachi was relieved and unburdened Kari of the kitten. He was really cozying up to her, and likewise she had grown fond of him.

"You guys really should have taken him to another city. He won't be safe here," Kari said of the kitten, which was trying to swat at the anthems playing with him.

"The little guy's been trying to escape on his own." Sachi grinned at it.

Tsubasa drained the rest of her coffee and tossed it into the trash before heading down the hall for the exit.

"You're going out again?" Rie asked, catching up to her.

"The entirety of Tokyo's only 20% evacuated. PD and JSDF ain't working fast enough, and I'm tired of waiting around. Gonna go clear some more shit underground today." She transformed and materialized the golden javelin to levitate beside her.

"You sure about that? Going out alone makes you a prime target for Jaws." Kari reminded her.

"Good."

When Jade had gone, the remaining three figured training Sachi was the best use of their time. If there was one thing everyone agreed on, it was that they were running out of time.

Over the next few days, Jade continued to vainly weed out the underground. When she was gone, Kari and Candy spent time familiarizing Sachi with the Apocalypse System.

As a level 1 Assassin, Sachi's skills all involved a degree of ambushing. Her physical strength was incredibly high, higher than even Kari's. The main trade off was how low both of her defensive stats were.

After putting Aba in a cage with food and water, they left the hotel to hunt stray spawns.

"Assassin's Shiv!" Sachi teleported right behind a head hound and annihilated it in an instant, then flicked her weapon into the head of a second monster.

"Yay! You're getting the hang of things really fast!" Rie cheered.

Her greatest advantage was in already possessing the weapon she was supposed to gain from level 3 at level 1 instead.

"The monsters still really give me the creeps though…" She pulled her shiv out the dead head hound and grimaced.

"Mmm! Mmm! Sachi has the makings of a really powerful magical girl!" Iggy exclaimed excitedly.

Kari pulled out her phone to check the time and saw a text from Makina. She was about to answer it when the phone abruptly shut off despite the battery being at half. Pressing the power button wouldn't bring it back. Maybe she just needed to plug it into a power outlet later.

"I think that's enough training for today. Wanna grab something to eat? Maybe something that isn't instant ramen for once?" Kari suggested.

"Can we stop by a store to get Aba some food and—" Sachi was interrupted by their systems activating on its own.

The whole world suddenly took on a shade of purple. Countless cracks snaked up the Malevolent Domain barrier erecting above them, threatening to shatter before even completing itself.

"Oh, no," their three anthems whispered at once.

[WARNING. WARNING.

Abnormal incursion detected.

Attempting to contain with wide-range Malevolent Domain…

…

…

…

An incomplete Malevolent Domain has been raised in your area. Please eliminate the monsters in a timely manner.

Failure to do so will result in the apocalypse.]

The three remained frozen as they reread the Apocalypse System's message.

It was finally starting, but something had thrown them a bone. A shred of hope to prevent the apocalypse.

The system activated a second time.

[WARNING. WARNING.

Abnormalities detected.

Four powerful monsters are jamming the Apocalypse System. Defeat each one to regain use.

Flight has been disabled. Magic sigils have been disabled. A random skill in your arsenal has been disabled. In-system communication has been disabled.]

Kari gritted her teeth. "We're out of time, huh?"