'I don't think he'd mind if you asked him.'

'Okay, I'll ask, then.'

'Kyubey?'

'Hi!  What is it?'

'Do you know what determines our magic weapons? And for that matter our costumes. Like, why do I have a sword, why does Kaylee have throwing knives... Why are they all different?'

'No one's really sure, as far as I know.  A lot of magical girls see their own or other girls' costumes and weapons as appropriate to their personality - sometimes right away, and sometimes after coming to know themselves better.  But some magical girls never say anything like that at all.  It's hard to know.'

'That was kinda my guess. Thanks for answering!' And she relays Kyubey's answer to Kaylee. 

'You're welcome!'

'Yeah, that kinda makes sense.  ...Maybe whatever process makes us magical girls just figures out the weapon we'd be best at using, somehow.'

'That might be it! Wielding the sword is super intuitive, for me. I don't think I'd click with a ranged weapon or something nearly as well.'

'Yeah.  I don't know how I'll do with throwing knives - guess I'll find out whenever I go on my first hunt.  I think I would be more comfortable using a ranged weapon than getting up close and personal with a witch, though.'

(Maybe less so after the wish I made, she does not add out loud.)

'Yeah, that seems safest. And the witch we fought together was really too big to use anything other than ranged weapons on. I don't think closing with them's going to be a smart idea, if they're the stronger kind.'

'Yeah, maybe not.'

'Though who knows how things will develop as we get stronger and more experienced. Having to throw my sword was definitely frustrating... Mallory showed me a way to sort of - powered jump - that's kinda like flying, and Kyubey said that proper flying's possible. Maybe if I master that I can close better even on large witches.'

'Yeah, it's probably easier to fight big huge things if you can fly at them,' Kaylee says.

Lunch winds down; food is disposed of.

'Definitely!'

Lianne says bye to Kaylee and her other friends, then heads to class. The rest of the day's fairly unremarkable, and she greets Kaylee happily when gym rolls around.

"Hi Lianne!  How were your afternoon classes?"

"More of the same, really. Though we're going to be starting on another play in English soon. How were yours?"

"Orchestra was fun!  I think I'm finally caught up with all the songs everyone else has been playing since the beginning of the school year."

"That's great!"

"Yeah.  It was tough, especially since I haven't been practicing as much as I should be because of - stuff."  'Magic stuff.'  "But I got there."

"Yeah, starting at a new school can be rough, I guess." 'I still haven't told my mom I'm dropping track. I'll discuss it with the coach today, though.' "It's good that you're catching up, though."

"Yeah."  'I forgot you mentioned you were gonna drop track.  That's... well, depending on how enthusiastic about it you were it might be a shame, I guess.'

'I mostly enjoy the exercise, which I can do in the morning. It's just - if I'm planning on spending my weekends hunting, I'm going to need the extra time to study and de-stress and all. I might join another club or two, though, that won't cut into the extra time too badly, and I can study during them sometimes. And - Mallory said social life tends to get sacrificed. I'd rather sacrifice track than spending time with my friends, all things considered.'

'That makes sense.  Maybe I should cut down on clubs too, I wouldn't want to miss out on socializing either.  Especially not with you.'  She flashes her a grin across the gym.  'Though if we're both magical girls I guess we've got an advantage there.'

She grins back. 'Clubs are the main way I socialize, actually. And I was thinking of joining one of yours - you're doing creative writing and GSA, right?'