'Think there's a way to go looking for more magical girls?  Is there some... plausible pretext for a couple of teenagers to spend a few days or weeks away from everyone else?  Winter break starts this week, right, we could do something then...'

'...We could go hunting in other cities and see if we run into anyone? And I don't know... Maybe go to an anime convention, tell our parents we want to go just us? That'd give us a few days at least. Or I think my mom could be talked into letting me go on some kind of educational summer trip without her or my sister. That'd be easier to swing as a graduation present, though, and I don't want to let this wait two years... If either of us had a car, I'd say 'summer road trip,' but it's even less likely my mom would buy me a car.'

'I think anime convention's our best bet.  Do you want to try to find an actual one sometime during break, for, like, cover, or just make one up?'

'Depends? My mom wouldn't look into it, but my sister might. And who knows, there might be a convenient one coming soon.'

'We can look into it.  But - I don't think I want to wait too long, you know?'

'Makes sense. I can talk to Kyubey sometime this week, and we can start trying to figure out Mallory Saturday? For the convention, we could claim it's at the start of January? Winter break starts tomorrow, we have a half day... That'll give us plenty of time off. Though it's short notice for going somewhere.'

'Wow, tomorrow, I really lost track of time.  All this magic stuff...  But that sounds good.  I think I can get my parents to go for it.  ...Do you want to tell Mallory what we're really doing?'

'Kind of? She might have some ideas, especially about what to do if or when we run into other girls.'

'Yeah, but - I don't know if she'd be - thrilled - about letting us go looking for magical girl strangers in another city, you know?  Plus - if she's hiding something about Kyubey from us, wouldn't she try to stop us from finding it out?'

'We don't have to tell her why we're looking for other girls. We can just say we want to expand our hunting range, or recruit, or just get to know people. And - there's not much she can do other than disapprove, if she does. Other than tell our parents we're not going to a con after all, I guess.'

'That's a good point.  And - yeah, I don't see her breaking the masquerade to dissuade us.  So - we tell her we're looking for other girls who might be interested in joining the League, and while we're away we also look for leads about Kyubey.'

'Sounds like a plan to me.'

Time passes.

The next day, winter break begins.  Everyone is sent home early.

Christmas eve, and Christmas day, the ground is lightly dusted with snow.  As gifts are exchanged, Kaylee is quiet; she can't stop thinking about all the things she isn't telling her parents.

On the 26th, she meets with Lianne, and hunts.  On the 27th, they meet again at the rec center.

Lianne's mom and sister, as usual, get her gift cards; it's better than useless generic things she'll never use, but not by much. (Lianne should probably feel worse about her double life. She usually dislikes lying, but it's hard to lie to someone you never talk to in the first place.)

Saturday, she shows up with a small present for Kaylee and a box of homemade cookies for the group to share.

"Hi, Lianne!  Oh, thank you - "

"You're welcome! It was no trouble at all, really."

The small packet contains two bracelets, made out of woven threads. One's in shades of blue like Kaylee's costume, the other in golds like Lianne's.

"Oh my gosh I love them!  Thank you!"  She slips them on.  "I actually got you something too - "

She digs around in her backpack and retrieves a rectangular package roughly the size and shape of a notebook or journal, inexpertly wrapped in wrapping paper decorated with Santa hats.

"Thanks!" 

She somewhat carefully peels back the paper. 

It's a sketchbook!  A pretty nice one, with high-quality paper and a coat-of-arms sort of design on the front.  The first page has a little heart in one corner, with

To: Lianne

From: Kaylee

written inside.

"Oh, wow! Thanks Kaylee, this is perfect!" She hugs it to her chest a bit, then, impulsively, hugs Kaylee.

Hug!  "I'm glad you like it!"

"I can't imagine not!" Reluctant unhug. She then puts the sketchbook in her backpack. "Wanna go see who else is here?"

She giggles a bit.  "Yeah, let's."

Mallory and Alex are both in attendance, though Taylor and Sophie aren't; Mallory says that Sophie texted her to let her know she wasn't coming because of family, but she isn't sure about Taylor.

Lianne opens up the cookies; there's a small variety - gingerbread and snickerdoodle and plain with sprinkles or with red and green candies, all in different Christmas-themed shapes. "Made these myself," she says. "Feel free to have as many as you'd like."

Kaylee takes a snickerdoodle.  "These are good!" she says.  "Thanks for bringing them!"