I mean, I haven't saved you yet. The witch is still coming. And it still—it could break buildings in half. It was very, very bad. I don't have a plan for how to fix it.

"If I died and now I'm alive, you saved me. You don't have to make me immortal to save me."

Blink.

Blink blink.

I. Guess?

Blink blink blink.

He clears his throat. "Anyway. So. I want to fight witches and I want to figure out how to kill them and I want to figure out how to kill that one in particular. And I could use your help."

"Sure. What's its shtick?"

"I didn't really, uh. Get to see much. Gingerbread men familiars and" (- A tendril of yarn shoots out over the horde of gingerbread men storming the library roof. -) "yarn, really thick, and, and as soon as it made landfall it—killed you. Then Haru a few seconds after that. Then me."

"Okay, so it's smart enough to identify threats? Unless we were just the only people out on the streets."

"Kyūbey said there were people fighting all over Tokyo. I only saw the two of you, but Kyūbey was only taking me to you, and the rain was too thick for me to see anyone else so I don't know who else was out, either."

"So maybe it also killed them?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. So probably the most important thing is to have a stockpile? So I'm not counting every yen when it comes to fighting the big one. Lots of hunting, minimal magic use."

"A stockpile? ...of seeds?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. That'd—be smart, yeah." It hadn't occurred to him as a thing you could do.

He's so out of his depth.

"I usually have one or two, but for this I'd want to have like, ten, if I can get them. Then I can platform right up to the yarn thing and have shields up and start slicing." She mimes slicing even though her sword doesn't exist right now.

He nods slowly, and—it's—kind of hard not to be infected by her confidence. He wants to believe that she's right, that it'll be doable. "Maybe with me in the equation it'll be easier to save them up, too."

"Yeah, you'll make a good insurance policy, I can hunt less conservatively like that."

"I was also thinking about, like, maybe getting guns? And then in time stop shoot a bunch of them all at once from different directions or something so that when time resumes there is suddenly bullets the witch can't escape."

"Ooh, good idea! I have... no idea where to get them but there must be some somewhere."

"Oh I can probably get some." Wait is she going to think he's yakuza. "—like I could maybe time stop and get them off, uh, people who shouldn't have them?" he tries.

"Sure, but... who. Where are they. Where do they keep their guns," she says.

How does he say that he can probably figure that out without sounding like he's yakuza. Is being his father's son even all that different than being yakuza. He bets Iwasaki Iemasa has had dealings with yakuza in the past. Might even still have them.

Kyūbey I don't suppose you'd conveniently know about some yakuza hideouts anywhere I could raid?

I don't think any yakuza are magical at this time! I talk to magical people!

Well, this guy certainly knows what he's about. Okay, thank you anyway.

"Maybe... I could find someone who uses drugs and see if I can't chase their dealer up some chain of contacts until I find something?"

"Okay. I bet there are idols who use drugs but not me, I don't even use hair dye, I run on magic."

"Yeah, no, I have some old schoolmates who I could probably hit up for it, actually..."