It's gotten colder lately, Makina thought.

A gray gloom lingered over the city as though in mourning over the losses suffered during the apocalypse. Makina couldn't remember the last time she saw sunlight. Autumn had come, and winter soon after that. She wriggled her hands into her hoodie's sleeves. Hopefully, the clouds would clear up soon. She missed the sunlight. Missed the warmth that once enveloped her.

This cold, however, wasn't too bad. It gave her a reason to wear the hoodie that carried a faint yet familiar scent. One that calmed her and evoked fond memories. But ruminating on it for too long brought a deep, sorrowful pang to her heart.

Because soon, unlike the fleeting seasons that come and go, the scent would disappear entirely.

"Is here fine?" the nurse asked as the wheelchair came to a squeaking stop underneath the umbrella shade of a tree.

"Yes, thank you." Makina smiled.

The nurse pointed behind them, to a bench where another nurse sat alongside her patient. Beyond them, watching her as intently as one would their prisoner, were four heavily armed JSDF personnel.

"I'll be by the benches just behind you. Holler if you need me, or if you're ready to head back inside, alright?"

As soon as the nurse was gone, Makina rattled the handcuff on her left wrist that shackled her to the wheelchair. She pinched the metal band with her other hand, causing a small indent on the surface. Deciding against it, she expelled a sigh and gazed across the hospital's freshly mowed back courtyard.

A mottled leaf, knocked loose by the wind, fell straight onto Pochi, who was lying asleep on Makina's lap. When she plucked the leaf off, the fox anthem stirred, yawning as he stretched his limbs to pop each joint.

"Did I wake you?" Makina asked, scratching Pochi between the ears.

"Hah?!" Pochi snapped to his feet. "I fell asleep again when I should be watching over you— aahhh!"

"Oh, you worry too much. The apocalypse has been taken care of, remember?" she reminded her anthem.

Another breeze blew in, this one much colder and heralding winter's chill. Pochi sat up, then climbed up to her right shoulder, wrapping his tail around her left like a scarf.

"I had a dream about Kari again. It's weird. Kari always looked and sounded like she's in pain. Everytime I see her, she asks for one thing: to play the piano for her. I try, but it's like my music doesn't reach her," Makina said.

"I'm sure Kari appreciates it nonetheless," Pochi offered, then stiffened to something falling from the tree.

A black blur darted past Makina's feet.

"Mraauu!"

It was a black cat that fearlessly hopped onto her lap, purring and rubbing its head against her handcuffed wrist.

"Hey, cutie. Where did you come from?" Makina asked, finding a frayed collar and name tag around the cat's neck.

The name read 'Aba'.

"This punk wants my spot?" Pochi quietly growled, but the cat named Aba ignored him.

"Hehe. He's probably looking for someplace warm. It is getting colder, isn't it?" Makina asked the cat as she scratched underneath his chin. Some parts of the fur had been matted down. He looked pretty scrawny for his size, too. Must not have been eating well lately.

"Makina!" the nurse exclaimed from afar.

Without thinking, Makina enveloped Aba underneath the hoodie. Fortunately, the article of clothing was large and baggy, enough that the nurse wouldn't think anything was out of the ordinary.

Glancing over her shoulder, the nurse came running over to her.

"What happened?" Makina asked.

"She's awake!" the nurse promptly answered.

Makina was awash with relief, and the jitters raised goosebumps all along her skin.

"Please, take me to her."

They returned to the hospital building, accompanied by the four armed guards, where the entire staff had become much more animated than the past week combined. The group emerged from the elevators to a young male doctor speaking quietly to three JSDF officers that guarded a room.

"It's important that we keep the patient here in case her condition worsens," the doctor insisted.

"Take it to the top brass, doc. We're asked to bring her in as soon as she wakes up," an officer said.

"And I'm making sure she stays alive even after you take her in. How will you explain to your commanding officer and the Prime Minister that she bled out during transit? Can a corpse stand trial?"

Once the doctor had gotten snappy, the JSDF officers backed off. The oldest among them, who had a web of wrinkles from age and stress, creased a little deeper when he pulled out a phone to presumably speak with his superior.

"Dr. Suzuki," the nurse called out to the doctor.

"Oh, Makina!" Dr. Suzuki turned to them with a smile, a stark contrast to the stone-cold demeanors of the JSDF personnel that crowded this hallway.

The man was a military doctor, flown in from the United States to staff this hospital that was short on hands. Despite his given name, he wasn't a Japanese citizen. Dr. Suzuki was born in the U.S. and was assigned here mostly due to being fluent in the native language.

Although his place of origins didn't matter to Makina, that wasn't quite the case to others. Especially the JSDF, who were antagonistic at best with any U.S. citizen residing in Japan.

Dr. Suzuki took over for the nurse to push Makina's wheelchair, but the oldest JSDF officer, who had finished his call and had both arms folded across his chest, blocked the door.

"I believe we spoke about this before. Are you changing your minds?" Dr. Suzuki asked.

Makina shrunk underneath the JSDF officer's piercing gaze. From it held a contempt from all that happened in the past few months.

"If you learn anything about Kari Tachibana or Kanae Hashimoto, I advise you to tell us," he strongly insisted, then stepped out of the way.

Dr. Suzuki opened the door and pushed Makina into the room.

Immediately, Makina's ears twitched to the rhythmic beep of the EKG from a slow and steady pulse

Lying awake in bed was Tsubasa Shibusawa. The magical girl of justice, Jade. She was handcuffed by her ankle, was covered in bruises, and could barely turn her head. Jade peered through one eye, since her right brow was swollen enough to close the other shut.

"Jade!" The name escaped Makina's lips and filled her with such relief that it wrested the breath from her lungs.

"Yo," Jade croaked. "Can I get that celebratory smoke now?"

"No, you may not." Dr. Suzuki sighed, walking to the foot of the bed to pick up a clipboard. "You two take as much time as you need. Those jarheads aren't getting in here without getting through me first."

Jade seemed to breathe easier when Suzuki left the room.

"I don't like Suzuki," Jade began, choosing her words haphazardly and whatever was at the forefront of her mind. "It's always the soft-spoken, bug-eyed apes that got more going on between those fish fin ears of theirs."

Makina smiled into the back of her hand. Somehow, this abrasiveness reminded her of Kari.

"You and Kari must have gotten along like two peas in a pod," Makina teased.

"Yeah," Jade scoffed. "Two peas in a pod… Anyway, you don't have to call me Jade. Tsubasa's fine."

Around the room, balloons bobbed against the ceiling. Some deflated and sagging. Gifts like stuffed animals, snacks, and postcards sat on the counter and table. It just went to show how popular Jade was, even as people were beginning to turn on them.

It was just a shame that the one who deserved this the most wasn't here.

"How are you feeling? Must be wild waking up like this. I know I had a hard time believing it, and the doctors told me it had only been a few days," Makina said, wheeling herself forward.

"What, this? This ain't nothing. Should've seen how bad I got fucked up the first time." Tsubasa scooted up against her bed and pressed a button that raised her to a seated upright position.

"First time?" Makina reluctantly repeated and raised a brow.

"It's a long story," Gauntlet said, emerging from a pile of stuffed animals to help push her closer to the bed.

"Mew!"

Everyone looked at Makina. More specifically, at the wriggling mound on her stomach underneath the hoodie. The bundle of fur started tickling.

"Oh, I forgot! I found a— well, I guess the kitty found me in the courtyard. Look how cute he is!" Makina lifted the hoodie to coax him out, but when he wouldn't, she unzipped the hoodie. "Come on, little guy. Tsubasa has a scary face, but she's not all that bad."

The black cat rolled out onto her lap belly-up.

"Is that… Aba?" Tsubasa gasped.

"Wait, you know him?" Makina asked.

"Feels like ages, but if his name is Aba, then that cat's the same one we found at Shuu's job. Was there with Kari when we found him, and Sachi took a shine to the bugger. Now that I got a hard time believing, but…" she trailed off as her eyes lingered on the nametag.

From Makina's lap, Aba leapt onto the bed and stretched himself between Tsubasa's legs.

If the cat belonged to Nekomura, then it might be best to call Shuu to pick Aba up. He must be worried sick.

Until then, there was something important they needed to get out of the way.

"Now that you're awake, maybe Rocky will finally tell us what happened to Kari?" Makina asked, casting her gaze to the table where Kari's anthem sat quietly this whole time.

Rocky's ears sagged as everyone faced him. He couldn't make it any more obvious that he dreaded this day would come, and so did Makina. When Rocky tapped on her window a few days ago and Kari wasn't with him, she suspected the worst. She had some time to prepare, but they… all of them needed to hear it from the one who was with Kari until the very end.

It wasn't until Gauntlet and Iggy showed up at Rocky's side did the anthem find the courage to speak.

"We… went to South Africa together," Rocky began, his voice quivering and eyes moistening. "Kari, she… she cut the soul from the monster there and ate it, then killed herself to stop the apocalypse. I saw it happen. Saw the… ring slip from her finger, too."

"So Kari is really gone," Makina quietly mumbled, feeling her heart sink and fighting back tears.

"The last thing Kari told me was to watch over you." The anthem flew up and wiped away a tear, then embraced her.

"Just like her to do that." She hugged him back.

Tsubasa played with Aba absentmindedly, waving her finger over his face and made no effort to avoid being swatted. Although expressionless, Makina could tell she was trying not to let the sorrow show on her face.

Sunlight bled past the drawn curtains and blinded Makina. The light and warmth were a welcome discomfort.

Gauntlet flew up to the curtains and pulled on the drawstring. A break in the dark canopy let flood an ocean of sunlight into the dreary room. As they gazed out the window, a knock came to the door.

Dr. Suzuki let himself in and quietly shut the door. He smoothed out the creases of his white coat, then stuffed both hands into the pockets.

"I'm sorry about the cat, I—" Makina immediately thought to hide Aba, but the doctor didn't appear particularly interested in the cat, offering only a brief disinterested glance in Aba's direction.

"Don't worry about it," Dr. Suzuki said, making himself comfortable in the lounge chair. From his hands came a black recording device in his right, and a notepad and pencil in the other. He turned on the recorder, then placed it on top of the table next to him.

Something didn't seem right about him anymore. Gone was the professional poise of the kind doctor, and now both Makina and Tsubasa were on guard.

"Two days from now, the United States will sign a legislation that strips magical girls of their sovereignty. The draft has already been passed to other leaders of the world, among them is Japan, who intends to follow suit next week with a slightly tweaked version. In other words, you will no longer be considered a person, but government property. They call it the Magical Girl Program, to develop, nurture, and raise magical girls of their own," Dr. Suzuki explained.

"What…?" Makina gaped. "But I didn't hear anything about this!"

He continued. "No, you didn't. Because officials understand that notifying you beforehand makes you a flight risk. As we speak, a shipment of weapons that are capable of harming magical girls are on route from the United States to ensure you don't."

"But after Kari saved everyone—"

"Before Kari saved everyone, she took many innocent lives. So did Flare— we have an abundance of proof to her psychopathy now— and the group of magical girls calling themselves Messiah, all of whom had committed atrocities that warranted this," he said.

No way… Kari, Minato… was all this for nothing?

"Why are you telling us this? Ain't you American?" Tsubasa asked, still playing with Aba and paying little mind to the doctor.

"I represent an alternative: Leviathan. We don't want to treat the world like a circus and magical girls like circus lions. Lions with sharp teeth and claws that don't appreciate being poked, prodded, and ordered around. What the U.S. and Japan are doing, it's only a matter of time before others like you bite back. What do you say? We can get you out of this hospital and away from the JSDF, too."

Makina despaired. The handcuff on her wrist bit deeper and tighter.

"I don't think so. Sure as hell don't need your help ditching this joint either," Tsubasa said, ripping away the cables attached to her chest, the breathing tube from her nose, and IV from her arm.

The handcuff on her ankle broke just by the simple act of climbing off the bed, then she lifted Aba into her arm. Unsteady at first, Tsubasa found purchase with her back against the wall. She transformed into the magical girl everyone knew as Jade, in her shining emerald robes and with the golden javelin hovering by her side.

Dr. Suzuki shrunk in his seat as the pencil slipped from his hand.

"The entire country— the whole world will brand you as a fugitive. Those officers on the other side of that door? You're going to be seeing a lot more coming after you. We can forge you new identities, transfer you to somewhere safer! Don't you want to live a normal life?" he asked them pleadingly.

"Makina," Jade began. "Right now, you got more of a choice. I already made mine. What's it gonna be?"

Makina knew exactly what Kari would have wanted. She clenched both her fists, ripped the handcuff off at long last, and stood up.

"Kari… gave her life so that I can keep living. I know she wanted me to live a normal life. She would probably scold me, but… I refuse to let her sacrifice go to waste. Flare might have made me a magical girl, but I won't let her define the rest of my life. So, I choose to go with Jade. I'm going to continue fighting as a magical girl."

The whole world might see them as a threat now, but all they needed to do was show otherwise. To be the hero that Kari was at the very end.

In a flash of light, Makina transformed into a magical girl Muse.

Right then, all four anthems in the room shuddered at once. They turned their eyes to the window.

"There's an incursion in Himeji!" Rocky exclaimed.

"Sorry, doc. You're gonna have to find someone else," Jade said, throwing open the window and letting in a gust of cool winds.

"Wait—"

Ignoring his cries, they flew straight out the window and soared over the city. In the horizon, the clouds parted ways for the sun to shine down on the city like a new day.

"If we book it, we should get to Himeji in fifteen minutes. Could use a smoke when we're done," Jade said.

"Definitely not!" Makina scolded her. "You just woke up from a coma. No smoking!"

She clicked her tongue.

"I liked Kari better."

As they flew in haste towards the incursion, Makina gazed at the blue skies that were quickly reclaiming the gloom that had overstayed its welcome.

"I'll be fine," Makina quietly assured Kari, wherever she was. "I'm going to protect this world you left behind."