"Oh, I trust Haru to arrange to be up in time for school however he feels best," says Ren, waving a hand and yawning. "It's up to him, just keep it down if you're chatting much longer."

Haru nods, and when his mother disappears into the bathroom he says, "Would we get through the rest of the material in another hour, if not this is as good a time as any to break for the night."

"No, we wouldn't." He looks like he wants to say something again but instead says, "Good night, Haru. I'll see you tomorrow."

"What's - none of my business. Good night."

"...everything in my life is as much your business as you want it to be, Haru."

"It looked like you were going to say something and then you didn't is all."

"...ah. Yeah. Um. I was going to say—"

"I'm yours forever and always, Haru, and I love you from the bottom of my heart."

Haru swallows and blinks forlornly at him.

"...anyway. Yeah. I'll go. Sleep well, Haru." He goes.

So about that crying he was going to do.

Haru has recovered a tolerable level of emotional regulation by the time he shows up to school in the morning with Kyubey on his shoulder, workshopping wish ideas. If this keeps happening, he remarks to Yutaka on the way to his second class of the day, I should maybe give you copies of all my assignments and homework, free up more of my time to concentrate on important stuff instead of on keeping teachers off my back about unimportant stuff.

Yeah, that seems like a good idea.

Kyubey says he can introduce us to more potential magicals - or, actually he said he could introduce you, he doesn't wanna before I make a wish for some reason - so I wanna see if getting enough of us in a room maybe gets collective oomph sufficient to save Tokyo.

...more than the Greater Tokyo Area, you mean? I talked to anyone who would listen, which—wasn't everyone, but was most of them. ...didn't really have the effect we'd hoped.

You talked to preexisting magicals, or you talked to people who hadn't wished yet? I mean the latter.

—oh! That sense of potential! No, I didn't.

So maybe I don't have the oomph but five of us together would. And then we have to... support five of us plus you on the available witch supply, so that's tricky, but it sounded like the civilian population wouldn't really miss that girl in Chuo or some of the others, so maybe the territory map's due for an overhaul anyway.

Yeah. ...are you not making a wish, then?

Not yet! It seems like a pretty important free variable to preserve. Like, I have the malaria one in my pocket if I have some kind of emergency but I do want to try actually solving Witchzilla.

...yeah. I guess... that makes sense.

...what?

...nothing, just, the small selfish part of me wished you'd have access to the mind magic so you'd be able to—know that I'm telling the truth.

...we could ask Yamanaka to do that, if that's - time sensitive, I don't know how long it'll take to gather a group of potentials.

It's not time sensitive or any kind of sensitive. And it doesn't matter for anything. I'll always just do whatever you want me to daaaaaargh I'm doing it again.