*Midday, Tuesday, 12th of April 2011; Backstreets; Mitakihara, Japan.*

Sayaka and Kyousuke have been friends since childhood, Hitomi knew that very well. When she had decided to come clean about her feelings for Kyousuke, Hitomi had expected some reaction from Sayaka. Any reaction. What has happened, Hitomi hasn't been expecting.

Sayaka had listened to what Hitomi had to say with a nearly stone-faced expression on her face, unmoving, with a blank stare, and had barely interrupted her, allowing Hitomi to finish with her carefully planned speech. It has been easy, perhaps too easy, after Hitomi had said her goodbye and had hopefully let Sayaka think about matters of heart and love in the relative privacy of an almost deserted school cafeteria.

Then, among many different reactions that Hitomi could have prepared for, at least could have anticipated, something unexpected happened - Sayaka ran away. Ran through the hallways, without saying a word to her classmates, knocking down students unlucky enough to cross her path, Hitomi among them, almost like she was hunted by the host of invisible specters. Or perhaps chasing after something unseen, away from the school premises, to the city. Maybe hallucinations, like one Hitomi had spoken about, a day or two ago.

Hitomi gave chase. She has always been a dutiful student, and normally wouldn’t dare to leave the school like that without the proper excuse, but this fateful day, be it for their friendship, or a small sense of guilt, Hitomi suddenly felt like she couldn’t just leave her friend and classmate alone. School duties would have to wait.

Sayaka soon proved to be a much better runner than Hitomi, perhaps more fit, or perhaps driven by an invisible force, and Hitomi soon lost sight of her friend in the busy streets of Mitakihara. At that point, Hitomi could have just given up, out of breath, and out of options, returned back to the school, but a fear of what an obviously distressed Sayaka would do didn’t let her, so she went forward deeper into the maze of high buildings and shady alleys. Occasionally, she was able to spot her friend, far ahead, stopping and frantically looking around, with no regard for running traffic, then dashing out again. After nearly avoiding a few traffic incidents, Sayaka’s trail ran cold.

Now lost in the less busy parts of the city, away from the crowds, Hitomi’s classmate was nowhere to be seen. Their streets were mostly empty, a sound of traffic distant, only a few stragglers wandering the streets. She shouted, calling Sayaka’s name, earning herself a strange look from passersby, but it was like her friend just disappeared, sinking to the ground. Or perhaps Sayaka went up through some of the apartment buildings to the roof, Hitomi thought, then froze at the idea of her classmate throwing herself from the building’s roof out of grief. Her sweat went cold from the mere thought. Hitomi once again looked around, directing her gaze up towards the roofs, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. Only a sound of rattling and cawing birds, echoing in nearly abandoned streets. She was tired, breathing heavily, and was close to giving up.

And then she heard it. A whisper. A name, carried by the wind. A sound she shouldn’t have been able to hear considering the circumstances.

“...Kyousuke..”, said the voice, a voice that belonged to her lost friend, coming somewhere from a shady ginnel between the buildings, just across the street. She followed it. She would say she almost saw a silhouette in the distance, shambling through the shadows, and Hitomi rushed towards it, from the light of the street into the darkness of the seemingly empty hallway. And into the clutches of unseen horrors.

There was a moment of blindness, a mere split second, almost like her sight, refusing to adapt to the sudden change of luminosity in the gloom of the back alley, then a few steps forward almost like in the mist with vision clouded …

Then she suddenly started into the maw of the horrible monster from nightmares blocking the passage, a massive abomination of the fox with glowing blue eyes, much larger than her, with leathery wings growing from its back, and the plethora of traits that didn’t belong to one earthly creature. It growled, threateningly. Hitomi immediately turned away and tried to flee, but to no avail. The beast was faster. It jumped over her, bounced over the wall, and made a quick turn, baring its horrific-looking teeth.

Hitomi tripped, and desperately tried to backpedal away from the looming monstrosity, frantically looking around only to notice the twisted bird-like creatures gazing on her from the air ducts and cables above. She let out a terrified scream and tried to run once again in another direction, but the other side of the backstreet was blocked by the hooded figure with blazing yellow eyes. And another winged vulpine abomination dropped from the rooftop, shutting off the escape route, its barking felt like a cruel laugher.

Hitomi collapsed on her knees, covering her head, and chanted: “It’s not real, it's a hallucination. It's a hallucination, it’s not real.”

She dared to peek, and monsters were still here, barking, so she was back to repeating her mantra about seeing things that weren’t real - hallucinations, mirages, dreams.

“There is no reason to be afraid. We are the good guys.”, said the pleasant-sounding voice of the young girl. Hitomi dared to look up and she regretted it almost instantly.

Voice belonged to the girl in a white robe embroidered with golden patterns, kneeling next to her - and those were probably only traits that didn’t inspire terror inside poor Hitomi. Rest was terrifying. It wasn’t a girl, it was a demon with a girl’s face. With a smile of the carnivore, amber eyes of the snake, pointy ears of the fox, curved horns of the devil, and hair white as death.

“We are not going to harm you.”, the demon assured her in a pleasant voice, “I just want to talk.”

“You are not real.”, Hitomi replied, more to assure herself than to hold a conversation with something certainly imaginary.

“I assure you, I am real.”, the demon girl replied and gently touched Hitomi’s face with a clawed hand. It made it all the more terrifying, “Shouldn’t I be saying the very same thing? Perhaps it is you who is imaginary?”

Hitomi gasped for air instead of replying as a sense of claws on her skin mortified her, and the demon continued in a deceivingly assuring and sickeningly pleasant voice, “If you indeed are hallucinating, it wouldn’t be safe for you to go back. You may hurt yourself stumbling over some obstacle you don’t properly see. There is no need to worry about skipping school, if I had a daughter I would want her to be healthy, academic pursuits would be secondary to that. So, why won’t we talk a little?”

Vulpine abominations closed in as she spoke, their burning eyes like aquamarine, and the demon of the girl gazed at Hitomi, an amused expression on her face - and Hitomi held to her senses in the only way she knew how:

“I am dreaming”, she repeated, assuring herself.

“Did the man dream of being a butterfly or did the butterfly dream about being a man?”, the demon said with a shrewd grin, and added, “Say, Hitomi, did you ever want to be a Magical Girl?”

“Magical Girl?” Hitomi perked up, quite irrationally considering how scared she was a mere moments ago, even forgetting that twisted stranger called her by name, “Like in the manga?”

“I admit I didn’t read the books you did.”, the she-demon replied calmly, a smile never leaving her face, and added, “But I am certain it is different in your books. Sayaka wouldn't have become a Magical Girl otherwise.”

“Sayaka is a Magical Girl?”, Hitomi asked, confused.

“Yes, she is. And she regrets it greatly.”, was the answer, the words felt like curling stakes, yet Hitomi still listened as demonette continued her speech in a silvery voice: “This is why your confession upset her today that much. Being a Magical Girl means she could never be together with Kyousuke. A tragedy of unfulfilled love, two lovers divided by a terrible curse, a tale for the books, indeed. One world will probably never know.”

“You listened to us? Sayaka is in love with Kyousuke?” The schoolgirl almost barked out in surprise, or even perhaps a little offended by the fact that a stranger eavesdropped on her private conversation - and entirely forgot she was talking with a very demonic individual in the dark alley guarded by vulpines from hell.

“Yes. I did. And yes, she is.”, the demon girl confirmed, her voice alluring despite the circumstances, and added, “I do apologize for listening in, it was very rude, but those are extraordinary circumstances, considering that Sayaka is about to lose her soul and die, and the city could be destroyed in two weeks.”

“Sayaka is about to … lose soul ... and die?” Hitomi stammered out, surprised, and confused. She started shaking.

“Yes.”, replied the snake-eyed girl, and stood up, offering Hitomi a hand, “Would you help me to save her? To save this city, and other Magical Girls as unlucky as Sayaka?”

“Save her? Or the city? How?”, the schoolgirl was getting even more confused, and worried for the fate of her friend, quickly pushing this nagging feeling about the weirdness of this situation to the back of her mind.

“My master already offered her a way out of her curse, to save her life, she might refuse, of course…”, a white-clothed fiendess said, helping Hitomi back on her feet with strength unfitting for a deceivingly small frame she had, and added: “But even if she accepts, she is not safe yet. Many would wish to harm her: the other Magical Girls mad with grief, or their evil patrons, to name a few examples.”

Hitomi stood silent, unsure what to say, and looked around. Weird monstrosities in a gloomy backstreet, a depressing silence away from the hums of the city life, only occasional clicks from strange creatures that weren’t birds, and fox-like creatures sniffing the air. Her sight jumped from place to place. It must be a hallucination, she thought, but at the same time, she doubted this very same reasoning as nothing of this was a surreal dream of shapes and colors. There was a horrible but undeniable sense of realness in the demon-in-white and her monstrous pets.

Demon girl patiently waited as Hitomi was arranging her thoughts, then she suddenly said: “They may even harm Kyousuke.”

“How?”, the schoolgirl almost jumped out at the notion that not only her friend but also the boy she had feelings for would be harmed. An idea about hallucination was momentarily forgotten again.

“Magical Girls are doomed to transform into horrible apparitions they call Witches, then kill many innocents or die from hands of another Magical Girls, repeating the circle endlessly at the amusement of their cruel patrons.”, a girl in white explained, tone more urging than before, and Hitomi didn’t think of her as a demon or illusion at that moment, “We must put an end to it.”

“How?” Hitomi repeated her last question, her heart racing.

“There are only four Firstborn Divas like me. Not enough to put a stop to this.”, the white one explained, then quickly added: “But you can help. Make a pact with my master, he will give you powers, powers to defend everyone you love.”

“I…”, Hitomi blurted out, and then stuttered, undecided what to do, wondering if she should run back and away, but then, finally, she said: “I must do something.”

“Very well. A moment please.”, Diva smiled, then she barked orders at her monstrous entourage in some foreign language, before turning back to Hitomi and offering her a hand, “Please, hold my hand. Let me show you our realm.”

Hitomi did so, and Diva produced a forked rod made of black metal shimmering with the light of another world. Words were spoken, unrecognizable, mysterious, powerful, and as on command, a portal swirling and flashing with eldritch energies swallowed them both, leaving only the stench of brimstone slowly dissipating into the air.

Monsters barked in unison almost as if in some form of agreement before they spread their wings and left to find the Magical Girl.