"...yeah, that seems a bit... if he's just bad at this he probably wouldn't try that hard to turn you off to learning magic.  From the way you describe that conversation he seemed kind of - slippery."

"I know! He didn't even try to discourage me in a reasonable way, it all felt like excuses. And, like, magical girls learning magic would probably help. Even if we're so behind the aliens that it'd take us years and years, well - maybe we'd have a novel idea early on, we are different species so obviously we'd take different approaches, and there are human prodigies who could probably pick it up really fast."

She nods.  "That makes sense. I can't imagine what he could be hiding about magic in particular... was there anything else he was always weirdly evasive about?  He was always really down on magical girls working together..."

"...Details about his people maybe? I don't really remember much beyond that, though he was super evasive about the dangers of being a magical girl when we started out."

"Dangers of being a magical girl," she says, counting on her fingers, "details about magic, details about other Kyubeys, and he discouraged us from working together... that's... really really sketchy now that I say it out loud but I don't really see, like, an obvious pattern..."

"I mean, either he's really terrible at helping, or he wants us to get ourselves killed. Which would be bizarre, why invest effort and resources into us just to let us die?"

"I don't know.  I don't... understand any of this."

"I don't either... Maybe Mallory knows something? She's been working with him for longer. Though she didn't strike me as the type to hide things..."

" - didn't you say once, it seemed like she knew more than she was letting on about Kyubey?"

"I don't know. I mean, I don't think she'd hide anything super important, but maybe just not mention something she thinks is minor, she did tell us about the dangers... I didn't know her as well or trust her as much back then, I think. She's been nothing but helpful with us..."

"Yeah.  I don't know."  She sighs.  "Do you think we should... try to warn the other girls about him?  Taylor and everyone?  Like, he's gonna try to get you not to trust the group, don't listen to him?"

"...My gut says yes, but... Couldn't he twist that against us somehow? Like, if we make the first move - I wouldn't necessarily trust someone who told me not to trust someone I liked. But I don't know what the other girls would think..."

"I just don't like the idea of him... stringing them along.  I talked to Taylor about it a bit, and - it kind of seems like - the thing he does - is working on her, you know?"

"Yeah. I don't think she'll fail to trust us, but - she's a trusting person, and I think Kyubey's gonna take advantage of that. I definitely think they should know that he's sketchy, I just don't know how to convince them if they already believe him."

"Maybe if we presented it less as - hey, he's going to try to turn you against us - and more like, I've had kind of sketchy experiences with him, has anyone else noticed that?  That might be - less like a mirror of the thing he does, at least."

"...That could definitely work."

"Okay.  Yeah.  Let's... do that, next meeting.  It's at least - not just doing nothing about it."

"Yeah. I feel better now that we have something of a plan, at least..."

"Yeah, I know what you mean."

She can't really think of an answer, so she lets the silence stretch on a bit, then changes the topic to something less heavy - mostly (not mean spirited) gossip about their classmates. 

Gym ends soon after, anyways, and she bids Kaylee goodbye with a heavy heart and an anxious stomach.

Days pass, as they anxiously await the next League meeting.

Before then, though, just after lunch period on Thursday, they may perceive the familiar, unpleasant sensation of an approaching witch.

Shit shit shit. 

Lianne turns on her heel , pretends she needs to get something out of her locker to her friends, and sends to Kaylee, "You feel that too?"

Kaylee slips away from her classroom into the crowd.

'Yeah - can you tell where it is - '

'Head for the buildings out back, behind them's the best way to slip away from school - '

And discretely dowsing - 

it's getting closer.  It's hard to tell, but - it seems like it's headed for the school.

'I'm on my way.'