" - only almost?"

"He's really bad at answering questions in a useful manner. Asking him what he does will just return the 'I help magical girls fight witches' thing. And it's impossible to be entirely certain of most things."

"But you think it's just that he - doesn't understand humans.  Is why he's so cagey."

Small hesitation, then: "In all honesty, I think his extreme focus on opposing witches leads to questionable ethics. Like not being forthright with girls about the risks, and recruiting girls who're under sixteen, and then encouraging them to dedicate themselves to fighting. It's entirely possible he's decided to hide things so you'll be more likely to make a contract. You need to decide whether becoming a magical girl is worth it to you anyways."

She looks taken aback for a moment, but then nods.  "That - makes sense.  Okay."

"I think I need some time to think about all this," she says.  "Thank you for your help.  Would you mind giving me some way to get back in touch with you, if I think of more questions?  Or if I decide to become a magical girl and I want to work with you?"

She gives her phone number, and says to call her any time, seriously, especially if there's an emergency. She turns to Lianne, offers her the same, and asks if she has any questions, too.

Lianne nods. "Yeah. Um, how many witches are there, how common are they, how many people do they kill - "

She sighs. "I - don't know. I've tried to run the numbers, and there's - essentially several possibilities that boil down to either the witch and magical girl populations are in equilibrium, or they're not, and if they're not, the witch population is likely to overtake the magical girl population. I'm trying to influence the variables so we drive down the amount of witches, and don't end up with an apocalypse scenario. I think that roughly twenty percent of homicides, suicides, and assaults in the U.S. are due to witches, but that has a ludicrously wide error margin."

"...Is there anything we can do about witches other than sending magical girls to fight them?  Corral them away from cities, or, I don't know - let the military know?  Kyubey said witches go after people who know about them, but..."

"Regular weapons don't do much against the familiars, witches can't even be seen by ordinary humans, and those who go too close to them tend to get caught. It might be possible to somehow disrupt their reproduction - I've tried talking Kyubey into encouraging girls to try and wish to get rid of witches, or make witches incapable of producing familiars, but he says that no one's ever had that kind of potential. I think getting girls to coordinate better and have better survival rates should be enough to tip the balance, though."

She nods.  "You'd - you'd know better than me, probably.  I'll probably be in touch.  Thank you again."

"You're welcome. I'm - sorry I couldn't give you more hopeful news. If you want, the scouting group meets here Saturdays at five, room 2a. You're both welcome to come."

"I think I'll come. Thank you for - being honest, and for trying."

"I'll - if I've become a magical girl by then, I'll be there too."  She stands up.

"Potentials are allowed as well, but it's your call. I - hope you make whichever decision will make you happiest. Thank you for listening." She stands up and goes to open the door.

Lianne nods quietly, and heads out. 

Kaylee follows.

Once they're outside, waiting for the bus: "So. That was. Not what I was expecting. It's... Nice that she didn't try to convince us that everything's roses and - and - that it's like an anime or something. But. I think. I don't know." Pause. "I think I'd still want to be a magical girl, anyways. It sounds - important. Like being a firefighter."

Kaylee nods.

"If... we were switched around, if I had saved you and you still had your wish, what would you wish for?"

"I don't know. It's probably not easy to just like eliminate world hunger or malaria or something or someone would've done it already - though I guess I could do something roundabout with that - maybe I'd try wishing directly for a power."

"That's a good idea.  - maybe it's possible to wish for one sample of a vaccine we don't have yet, or a more effective version, and give it to somebody to reverse-engineer... I should talk to Kyubey."

"Oh, yeah, that'd work. Or maybe the wishes can do information, and you could wish for vaccine formulas directly?"

"Oooh, that's clever too!  Thanks, Lianne!"

After a time, the bus arrives.  They embark.

"Um, by the way - how are you doing?  With the magical girl thing?  I feel like I've been kind of - wrapped up in my own stuff lately.  Sorry about that."

'It's cool. I'm - mostly fine. I was a bit freaked out at first, really worried about a witch coming near my house. And I've been dowsing every so often, I'm still kinda nervous, but I've had a chance to calm down now. Talking to Mallory helped a lot.'

' - oops.  Yeah, she helped me too.  ...I want to say 'I'm sure everything will be fine' but...'