Might be you didn't have potential before? Did your emotional range recently expand or something? proposes Haru, as he finds something interesting with his gem and he and Yamanaka strike off in that direction. Give us a bit to slay the mama witch and then I can chat, okay, or Kyubey's a noncombatant, talk to it.

(Does he have to sound so condescending all the time? Ugh.)

Alright. Good luck.

And they're out of sight, gold and indigo receding into the distance and then gone.

So uh. Kyūbey-san? Do you know what changed?

Swan-san's guess could be right. Most people with potential are teenagers. People grow in and out of it.

Wow, so, what, is he going through some kind of, of second puberty, here? That's lame as fuck.

...but at least Perfect Swan Masaharu-sama is on the same boat. If Yutaka's going through a second puberty, so is he.

..........unless he's been a magical boy for, like, a decade now. That'd be even more embarrassing.

I see.

Have you thought about a wish of your own? Witches won't be able to leave their marks on you if you make a contract with me.

...no. I went on this jog to see if something'd come to me. And then I saw the Lotad.

He wonders if Yamanaka Junko wished to be one of the most popular stars in Japan. That'd be a pretty cool wish, for the kind of person who'd want to make it. Oh, hey, maybe he could get her autograph? That guy from AV is a fan, if Yutaka recalls correctly.

You escaped being its victim only by chance.

...it's tiny.

Yes.

And I called as soon as I saw it. Give or take five minutes.

Because it chose someone else to feed on.

It was just kind of wandering aimlessly.

Why is he being lectured by the fluff.

It's your decision, of course, if you need longer to think of what you most want in all the world.

Yeah. I think I do.

And silence.

He really feels like there must be something defective about him, for just wishing none of this were true and that he was back in the world that made sense and had no magic in it.

All done! reports Haru after about half an hour.

During which time he got bored and resumed his jog, so now he's on his way back home. Feeling no more enlightened than when he left, but a little bit more unsettled. Was it a big one? he asks, for lack of literally anything else to say.

Pretty big, enough that it was trying to bud, but we got it.

Congratulations. If they were fucking Yutaka would be offering Haru congratulatory blowjobs literally shut the fuck up??? He knows he gets horny when he exercises but goddamnit. Do they show up pretty frequently?

Yamanaka tells me it's spiky but there's been plenty lately.

Oh right. Uh, can he do a psychic transmission to Yamanaka individually? Yamanaka Junko-san?