"And for some insane reason you like me," well maybe he doesn't but Yutaka will try to just leave that there and maybe it'll slide, "so I definitely get bragging rights. It's, like, kind of crazy, but I'm not complaining."

Smooch. "What's not to like?"

!!!!!!!! Haru agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (nausea) Yutaka is not going to push his luck, here, obviously he likes Haru a lot more than Haru likes him (nausea) but he wants to hear Haru say he (nausea) likes him some more!!!!!!!!!!!

"I-I dunno, I've been told I'm kinda stupid." Shut uuuuuuup (nausea) stop saying words. "I'm gonna hide now," (nausea) he says, then proceeds to hide in Haru's neck.

"You don't seem stupid to me? I guess I haven't known you all that long but like, usually it's not too hard to tell."

"I'm not gonna argue," (nausea) "that would definitely be stupid."

"That might depend on the nature of your argument."

"I don't wanna convince you that I'm stupid, that'd be, like, the opposite of productive for the overarching goal of getting Haru to like me."

"But self-knowledge is an important virtue! If you know that you have some kind of blind spot you can compensate for it better."

"Oh I have some blind spots alright. It's from staring at my golden sun too much." He pulls his face away so he can look at Haru when he says this. "I somehow can't seem to stop."

Haru smiles, and kisses him.

Yutaka decides to try to talk to at least one other magical per day until he's covered Tokyo itself and most of the Greater Tokyo Area. He's got his work cut out for him, but it makes him feel good and productive, moreso even than killing witches. Killing witches is cool and all but it feels like just using this tool that was given him to do some stuff that doesn't really feel like real life (it doesn't help that the witches themselves are surreal as fuck), but talking to people, trying to convince them to work together and help, that feels like him. It feels like he's the one doing the work, with his own skills that he's worked on and earned.

Not that he has much to show for it yet, though. The magicals he talks to on the weekend are just as lukewarm and wary as the kids from Friday (and not even that much older). Still, he's getting the idea out there, sowing the seeds of cooperation, and hopefully they'll be enough.

Haru's happy to mostly leave the talking to him. He is not a Charisma build. But he goes along as backup in case it gets ugly.

Yamanaka breezes back into town and sets up a meeting with the Shibuya girls!

"Suwan-san, Iwasaki-san, these are Egawa Yui and Hanyu Momoe."

Yui and Momoe are holding hands, so they have something in common with Haru and Yutaka.

—ooh! Yutaka will also hold Haru's hand, then. Queer solidarity!

"Good evening Egawa-san, Hanyu-san. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You didn't mention they were guys," Egawa says, addressing Yamanaka.

"It didn't seem really important? You can go through me if you'd rather, I guess."

—what. Uh. "That works for us too, if it's preferable." He is going to be mostly looking at Junko as he speaks but he won't do so in a way that necessarily one hundred percent closes off the possibility that he could be including them in what he says. "If it is at all relevant, Swan and I are gay."

Egawa makes a so-so gesture, frowning suspiciously at him. "Maybe, maybe not."

"...anyway the reason I wanted to talk is that Iwasaki-san is a time traveler, he wished himself back to the end of February a few weeks from now and there's a giant witch coming to wreck Tokyo and kill everybody."

"Indeed. In two weeks on Saturday, it starts storming suddenly and unexpectedly. The rain gets bad enough over the next week to sink ships, and by the following weekend the city is on emergency alert. On Monday we are all told to go into the weather bunkers, and the witch makes landfall. It's strong enough to uproot buildings. I had been dithering about making a wish, I couldn't find anything I wanted, and then after the witch killed Yamanaka-san and Haru," he is almost getting used to remembering that without flinching, "I was trapped by debris and about to die. I wished that I could go back and do everything right this time. Then I woke up in my body a month earlier, and I was a magical boy.

"I don't remember any other major individual events prior to the storm with which to prove any of this sooner, unfortunately. I do have time-related powers due to the wish, which I can demonstrate to corroborate my story to some extent."

"I've seen him stop time," confirms Yamanaka.

"He knows things that it makes sense he'd have found out by living the month before."

"Okay, sounds bad. Thanks."

"...you're welcome." Why are all magicals so weird. "There was one other thing, or rather, the main reason I wanted to talk. I think this witch is not the kind that we can afford to underestimate, and I would request your help, as I am that of every magical person in the Greater Tokyo Area. I think working together is the best shot we have at all surviving and saving Tokyo. I also believe we will stand the best chances if we save up on magic and seeds, as much as we can. The three of us are stockpiling what we can, so that we can prepare. I know it may be a big ask, but for the sake of all of us, I must ask anyway." He bows, very deeply. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, and I thank you for taking the time to listen to me."

Egawa and her girlfriend confer telepathically and then Egawa says, "Hunting hasn't been amazing in Shibuya lately so if you want us to do that you'll stay out of our turf."