'I - no, I don't think so,' Kaylee says.

'Okay.  I'll see you later!'

' - okay, bye.'

He hops lightly up to and out of her window.

Lianne, meanwhile, thinks.

She's uneasy about Kaylee's suggestion to have Kyubey help patrol. It comes down to this: she still doesn't trust him in the slightest. Sure, she doesn't think he'll outright betray them, but - she doesn't think he won't.

And more - when Kaylee brought up having Kyubey help, Mallory looked weird. It was barely a second, just a microexpression that flitted across her face. The other girls probably missed it.

The thing is, while Lianne knows she can be oblivious about some things (she's still always blindsided when someone has a crush on her) she knows people.

And all her instincts are telling her that Mallory's hiding something. Something related to Kyubey.

-

She boards the bus Monday morning, and when they pull up to Kaylee's stop, she greets her with a cheery, "Morning! How was your weekend?" and a silent 'Did you get a chance to talk to Kyubey?'

Kaylee lights up the way she always does whenever she sees Lianne.  "Good morning!  Mine was good, how about yours?"

'I did.  He - didn't like the idea.'

"Pretty good."

'I'm - not that surprised. If he was going to, I think he would've by now.'

'Yeah, that makes sense, I guess.  ...He's... really cynical about magical girls teaming up, too.'

'How so? It's going really well so far.'

'He just seems to think they always fall apart sooner or later.  He kept talking about - how hard it is to have to share grief seeds, and how stressful this kind of life is, and how that can drive people apart.  I don't know.  I think - Mallory really seems to know what she's doing, more than Kyubey thinks she does.'

'...I also still really don't trust him, so I'm wondering what his motives are in saying all that. I mean, I do think Mallory's hiding something, but I think it's something about Kyubey - she had a funny look on her face when you mentioned recruiting him. And she's - really dedicated to helping us, I think. Maybe it'll fall apart as it gets bigger, I don't know, but maybe it won't. I can't see any of the other three girls - or either of us - being the one to start things unraveling, too.'

'Yeah, I don't... really see what could happen between us to make us turn on each other.  But - why would Kyubey want to lie about that?  I remember Mallory talking about him being - too dedicated to fighting witches, at the expense of magical girls, but even them it'd help him for us to stick together, wouldn't it?'

'I don't know. His actions don't make sense, and I can't read him like I can read a human.'

Kaylee gives a sort of plausibly-deniable sigh.  'Yeah.  I don't... I don't think I'm very good at this conspiracy mind-game who-knows-what-about-who stuff.'

'Yeah, not my strong suit either. I just have an instinct for people.'

She takes Lianne's hand.

'...I hate not knowing who to trust.'

'Same. But - I know I can trust you. I'm fairly sure I can trust the other girls, at least assuming nothing changes. So - there's that.'

'Yeah.  I'm glad I have you.  - I mean, that we're friends.  That - we're going through this together.'

'I feel the same. This all would be so much harder to deal with without you.'

'Yeah.  We'll figure it out.'

The bus pulls into the school parking lot.

"See you in Bio!"

'Not much that can stand against us together. This won't be any different.'

That makes Kaylee positively beam.

"See you!"

And so the school day proceeds.

Lunch remains a terrible time to carry on a serious telepathic conversation, so Lianne waits until gym to ask, 'So what are you thinking we should do to figure out what's up with Kyubey?'

'I'm - not sure, really.  You said Mallory might know something, but then we have to figure out how to get her to talk to us... I suppose other magical girls might know more than us, if we could find them.  Beyond that... I don't know.'

'I could try talking to Kyubey, see if I can't get a better read on him. And talking to Mallory might help, even if she keeps hiding whatever. Alex and Sophie might also know something, they've both been magical girls a while. Beyond that - we'll have to wait until we run into someone else, I guess.'