Melia turns toward her companion, her modesty forgotten as she supports the stumbling woman. “H-hey. Are you alright?”
Rubbing her head, Libi pushes herself back up, motioning her friend away. “Maybe I should take off early. Tell the boss I’m heading home. He should understand.”
Melia frowns, left alone in the shower while Libi towels herself off. 
She slips back into her casual clothing, first her pants and then her blouse, but when she goes through the pockets of her moist uniform, she freezes. Frantically, she pulls out every bag and checks every loop and pouch. But, no matter where she looks, she can’t find, “My money!”
At that moment, things finally click for Baker’s assistant. She tosses her uniform down on the floor and storms out the door, marching out of the building and into the deeper and darker corner of the back alley.
Lost time. A sense of something peculiar, subtle things not making sense: it reminds her a little of the time when that ghastly gorgon got a hold of her, but this is much more subtle.
“Hypnotize me and steal my money, will you? We’ll see about that!”
A few moments is all it takes for Libi to transform into her Magical Girl form. Soon, Purity is rushing out of the alleyway and across the rooftop of Anteronia, beelining it for the park.
Back at the Bakery, Melia, dressed in a pastel green uniform, approaches the wooden confectioner, bowing gently before him. “I’m sorry, boss, but Libi’s not feeling well…again.”
Baker looms over a humanoid mold, pouring into it a pastel batter with a practiced and careful tilt from a bowl twice the size of Melia’s head. “Don’t worry about Libi, sweetums”, he says. “We can more than make up for her today.” He places the large empty vessel on the floor with a resounding clang.
“Just remember, everyone here has to support one another. We’re ingredients that are part of a whole, and none of us can make a delightful dessert without the others pitching in to do their part. Why don't you tell me everything that happened when you two darlings were in the showers.”
—
Fully transformed, Purity travels across the dusk-streaked city, hopping from building to building until she makes it to the park. There, she approaches from the opposite direction from her original approach, making her way to the gazebo with quiet dedication.
Mesmer finishes another set, bowing to the cheering crowd and motioning to his donation hat. “Please, provide a round of applause and any loose coinage you happen to be carrying, and we can curtain this show.”
Before the magical girl’s eyes, the substantial audience claps and cheers for Mesmer, emptying their pockets of more money than most would make in a week! They dig into their pouches and bags, pouring out more and more of their change while laughing and cheering in non-stop applause.
Soon, Mesmer takes his hat and pours the overflowing haul into a large sack. He then walks through the quiet crowd, reaching into the frontmost gentleman standing there, pulling out from his pocket a golden watch and then pocketing it in his cape as he adjusts his sack of stolen goods.
Purity raises her shield and leaps to the grass beside the stage. “Hey, Mesmer!” she shouts. “I’m onto you. Give those people back their money!”
Mesmer wheels around, and his eyes widen. He drops his ill-gotten gains and rushes past the audience, all of whom pay him no mind as he disappears.
And thus, the chase begins.
Mesmer races away from the pink-haired woman with the fires of justice burning in her heart-pupil eyes. He turns down an alleyway during the desperate pursuit, past members of the citizenry as oblivious to his passing as the audience was to his robbery. Soon, he finds himself up against a wall, panting heavily, desperately scanning the old stone buildings for means of egress.
Landing in the alleyway from a magical vault is Purity. She steps forward, her heart shield materializing through bright light and her heart-infused eyes furrowed under pink brows. Her boots clop over the cobblestones as she approaches, cornering the evildoer. She raises her weapon, opens her mouth, and tenses up for the confrontation and-
“Stop!”
The cry comes out as a panicked desperation from a two-bit criminal with nothing else to try. He lifts his hands over his face to protect himself from the vigilante’s violence, his body shuddering and shivering in the late afternoon air, waiting for that first strike in an inevitable beatdown so typical of those in their relationship.
And yet, nothing happens.
He blinks, lowering his arms and gasping at the sight.
Purity stands before Mesmer. Her eyes, once filled with righteous fury, now wait with baited compliance.
Of course, he was confused...but confusion gave way to a realization...and realization to opportunity. "Wh-when," he breathed, a smirk slowly easing itself onto his face as his heart rate relaxed, "did you invite me into your mind, Purity?”
SNAP!
Purity blinks, standing in an alleyway, fully aware that she’s in the alleyway where she cornered Mesmer, but fully frozen as she stands in the middle right in front of him.
The hypnotist regained his calm, presentational demeanor as he stands before her, a smirk spreading wide over his cheek. “I could have questioned you while you were entranced, you know,” he reveals as he circles the magical girl. “But it seems that, instead of having you divulge your secrets under a trance, it’d be more fun to make you my puppet and let you know how your body answers to me.”
“Don’t act like you don’t already know me. You hypnotized me!”
He shrugs. “My dear, I hypnotize so many lovely volunteers. I don’t know if you’re brunette baker Libi from this afternoon, that charming blond Charlotte from this morning, or even the somewhat effeminate fellow, Julian, from the other day. Many of my previous volunteers could find out that I liberated them of their spending cash, so I make sure to put up a defensive suggestion in their minds, barring them from harming me.”