According to Homura Akemi, Mami Tomoe possessed the greatest combat capabilities of any magical girl she knew.
However, her extraordinary combat strength wasn’t something she had obtained directly from the wish she made.
Rather, it was the result of Mami’s own dedicated research and efforts.
Mami’s magical ability specialized in extending, binding, and connecting objects.
It manifested in the form of yellow ribbons.
Initially, this ability had placed her at a considerable disadvantage when fighting witches.
After all, ribbons focused on binding and connecting things hardly seemed capable of inflicting much damage.
However, Mami had thoroughly researched her magical powers and studied the operating principles of various modern weapons.
By applying those principles, she had successfully learned to weave her ribbons into flintlock muskets and cannons through the compression and conversion of forces.
She could even use her ribbons to magically reinforce ordinary physical objects, greatly increasing their strength and durability.
This was also why Mami had been the first person Homura thought of when she heard Makoto’s request.
When it came to the various applications of magical girl abilities, nobody understood them better than Mami Tomoe.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Actually, there’s something I’ve always wondered about magical girls.”
“Magical girls have different levels of potential, don’t they? So what exactly determines how powerful a magical girl can become?”
The midday sunlight filtered through the gaps between the surrounding buildings.
Having left the café, Makoto followed Mami toward her apartment while casually discussing various subjects that interested him.
Magical girls differed in their innate potential.
The upper limit of the wishes they could make wasn’t the same for every girl.
Take Homura Akemi, for example.
The power to travel through time was certainly not something an ordinary magical girl could obtain merely by making a wish.
After all…
In Makoto’s previous life, stories about people being reborn in the past had remained popular for generations.
Wanting to return to the past to correct mistakes and make up for regrets was an extremely common desire.
If wishes involving time travel were truly so easy to grant, the world should have been filled with people traveling backward through time.
Yet that clearly wasn’t the case.
According to Homura herself, at least within Mitakihara, there were no other magical girls who had experienced anything similar to her.
Mami Tomoe: “According to Kyubey, I believe it has something to do with the differences between people’s souls.”
“The stronger a girl’s soul is, the greater the wish she can make.”
Mami continued leading Makoto toward the apartment where she lived.
As she answered his questions along the way, the gentle upperclassman appeared to be in an increasingly cheerful mood.
Mami Tomoe: “If you’d like to know more, Tsukimi, you could always ask Kyubey directly.”
“Kyubey is the one who guides magical girls in the first place.”
“My own understanding and development of my abilities gradually improved through my conversations with Kyubey.”
Perhaps feeling somewhat disappointed that she couldn’t fully answer Makoto’s questions herself, Mami went a step further and recommended someone who might be able to help. Visit novelping.com for the full chapter.
And just as she mentioned Kyubey—
A peculiar white creature came running toward them at exactly the right moment.
It resembled a combination of a cat and a rabbit, with an unusually large tail.
Its appearance was almost perfectly designed to appeal to young girls’ ideas of cuteness.
The strange white creature ran along the busy street, where vehicles passed and crowds of pedestrians moved about.
Yet none of the surrounding people reacted to its presence.
Apparently, the creature was invisible to ordinary people.
The moment Mami saw it approaching, she bent down and lifted it into her arms.
The creature obediently allowed itself to be held, behaving much like a docile cat as Mami presented it toward Makoto.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Kyubey?”
Mami Tomoe: “That’s right. This little one is my most important companion.”
The elegant blonde girl cradled the white creature in her arms, gently stroking and tidying its fur with her fingers.
When Kyubey rubbed against her hand, Mami’s expression filled with unmistakable affection.
However, the moment Makoto saw the creature, he instinctively became slightly tense.
Having learned the relevant information from Homura, he naturally understood just how pitiful the existence of magical girls truly was.
And by extension, he also understood what kind of creature Kyubey was, the being responsible for forming contracts with those girls.
These days, even salespeople promoting questionable health supplements needed to possess rather flexible morals.
And Kyubey was something far worse.
It guided innocent young girls into becoming magical girls, personally leading them toward an inevitable abyss.
Of course, this wasn’t actually Makoto’s first encounter with Kyubey.
Not long ago, he had watched through surveillance monitors as Homura systematically eliminated several Kyubeys with her firearms.
Come to think of it, given Kyubey’s abilities, could it have detected what Makoto was doing on the other side of the surveillance cameras?
The reason Makoto had been in the surveillance room at the time was to delete the footage of Homura’s activities.
Mami Tomoe: “So it’s just as Kyubey said. Even though you’re a boy, Tsukimi, you really can see Kyubey.”
Perhaps because Kyubey’s appearance had lifted her spirits, the gentle upperclassman failed to notice the subtle change in Makoto’s mood.
Instead, she held Kyubey in her arms and smiled brightly at him, looking genuinely delighted.
After all, Kyubey was normally visible only to magical girls.
The mere fact that Makoto could see it was already a wonderful surprise.
Kyubey: “That’s because Makoto Tsukimi possesses a rather unusual soul.”
“The souls of living beings normally exist as part of a collective on a higher dimensional plane.”
“However, the soul of the boy standing before you, Mami Tomoe, appears to exist entirely independently of that collective.”
“An interesting coincidence, demonstrating just how vast and diverse the world truly is.”
The white creature addressed Makoto in a voice completely devoid of any detectable malice.
Makoto Tsukimi: “If I’m such an unusual existence, aren’t you interested in me, Kyubey?”
Kyubey: “Our responsibilities are limited to matters concerning magical girls.”
“The universe is vast and contains countless unknown phenomena. Wasting resources investigating things without practical significance would be inefficient.” Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
To Kyubey, Makoto’s condition was certainly unusual.
But that was all.
It was nothing particularly important.
His existence was simply another example of the countless strange phenomena that could emerge at any moment throughout the almost infinitely vast universe.
From Kyubey’s perspective, the overwhelming majority of such phenomena were meaningless.
Its kind had no intention of devoting their resources to investigating every strange occurrence they encountered.
Mami Tomoe: “Please don’t misunderstand. As the guide of magical girls, Kyubey has a great many responsibilities.”
“But just because Kyubey can’t help you doesn’t mean I can’t, Tsukimi.”
Perhaps worried that Makoto might develop a negative impression of Kyubey, Mami even took the time to explain its circumstances quite seriously.
However, the happiness visible on her face was impossible to conceal.
And really, wasn’t that perfectly understandable?
Her parents had died, and she had been forced to live alone ever since her first year of middle school.
Her responsibilities as a magical girl consumed so much of her time that she had little opportunity to make friends like an ordinary girl.
Furthermore, because magical girls competed over resources and often held conflicting beliefs, Mami had found it almost impossible to meet another magical girl with whom she could genuinely get along peacefully.
Loneliness had become a constant feature of her existence.
And now, under such circumstances, someone had appeared who could see Kyubey and discuss matters concerning magical girls, yet wasn’t a magical girl himself.
The fact that he wasn’t a magical girl meant he wouldn’t become involved in the territorial disputes and conflicts currently occurring among magical girls.
The fact that he could see Kyubey meant he was someone Kyubey permitted to know about their existence.
Furthermore, Mami would be helping him alleviate the symptoms of his condition at his own request.
That was an act of kindness in itself, wasn’t it?
She wasn’t using her powers as a magical girl to force someone into doing something against their will.
To Mami Tomoe, the current situation felt almost as though she were bringing a friend she had finally managed to make home to meet her family.
She was inviting that friend into her own home as a guest.
It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced in a very long time.
And that long-forgotten warmth made the elegant blonde girl feel almost weak with happiness.
Mami Tomoe: “Are there any other cake flavors you like, Tsukimi?”
“Would you prefer strawberry again, like the one you had at the café earlier?”
“I actually have plenty of different desserts at home!”
The upperclassman asked Makoto with obvious excitement.
Makoto met the radiant smile on her face.
For a moment, he genuinely didn’t know what to say.
Because in his eyes, Mami Tomoe was already standing with one foot in the grave.
And whether the other foot followed depended entirely on the whims of the Kyubey currently resting in her arms.