“I heard a mind controller was messing around town recently, but he doesn’t fit the description. I think he’s just an average crook.” She uses another chain whip to grab something from the alley before handing Purity her discarded clothing. “It shouldn’t be hard to find him like a normal criminal. Name’s Jaci, by the way.”
Purity looks to this woman in her green and black skirt, long black hair, and blinks. She hesitates for a moment.
“What’s up?”
Purity shakes her head. “S-sorry, It's just déjà vu.” She glances down at her dress, her face burning red, and she snatches it from the girl. She buttons herself hastily, her buttons misaligned and her dress wrinkled.
“Thank you, anyway”, Purity says. “Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t swoop in to save the day.”
“I’m just glad to know there’s more of us out here, protecting the populace”, Jaci says, nodding. “Life gets lonely, sometimes. So, you’re Purity, right?”
“Yeah, and you don’t have to worry about that mind controller, by the way. A friend and I took care of her a few days ago.”
“Oh, another magical girl?”
“A dragon, actually”, Purity says, hopping up along a stairway of heart-shaped lights.
Jaci whips up to the top of this makeshift platform herself, and the two girls scan the crowds from this higher vantage point. “No kidding? Well, you’re just filled with surprises, aren’t you?” She pauses after saying this, frowning slightly. “But, there’s one thing that bothers me.”
Purity winds up next to her by her platform's edge, blinking, frowning. “Huh, what’s that?”
“If you’re a magical girl like I am”, Jaci says, folding two chains around herself, “then you should have magical fortifications to your mind to protect you.”
“Yeah, when I faced the mind controller earlier, she got me, but I was able to fight it… more or less.”
Purity remembered stumbling down another alleyway, her mind a rush of feverish need, her body desiring nothing more than sexual gratification. There was no need to tell her new companion about all that, though, nor about how she took dragon dicks to clear her mind of those thoughts.
“If that’s the case, then the only way that a simple street hypnotist should be able to take on your magically-warded mind is if you let him. I… didn’t interrupt anything, did I?” she asks, giving a sidelong glance toward Purity.
“W… what!? N-no!” Purity waves her hands, stepping back. “It’s not like that at all, uh… hey, look at the time”, she stammers, pointing to one of the many clocks adorning the streets. “I really must be going, toodles!”
Purity hops off the roof and rushes away, ignoring the other magical girl’s shouts of protest as she disappears into the evening.


As night takes the City of Anteronia, Purity disappears amidst the bustle of burgeoning nightlife, only for Libi to reappear, sore and exhausted but still a long way from calling it an end to her excursion.
The clock chimes the next hour, and the woman slumps onto the public transport bench, sinking into her seat, her arms reflexively crossing over her body. Even sitting there, the phantom feelings of illusory bodies probing and caressing her do not leave. She shivers, biting her lip, her eyes darting around at the other potential passengers. Each of them is just as normal as her–people seeking to get home from work or heading out to some club or locale to have some sort of debauched fun in one of the private venues. She brings her knees together, biting her lip and staring at the ground.
She can’t keep her mind off Jaci's words and what she felt deep within her heart.
“Hey, are you listening, girl? Getting in or not?”
She glances up at the transport driver, reaching for the rail to climb on but pulling her hand away. “N… no”, she says, picking herself up entirely. “I think I need to take a walk.”
The driver frowns. “You sure? Things get pretty rough in this part of town.”
“Yeah,” Libi says, turning around, a smile spreading across her face. “But I can handle them.”
Her journey takes her through the park and back to that gazebo. Her heart thumps harder with every step she takes toward that place, even though her mind tells her there’s nothing wrong with it. The only negativity that comes from it is the memories and lack of memories that flood her mind.
Indeed, she could take another path. She might even be able to cut out sometime, but she doesn’t. This is what is familiar to her. Without the cheering crowds and the conniving con man to alter its purpose, it is a lonely little public spot. She’s free to sit upon its steps as much as she wants and to stare at the stars.
She’s not sure how long she sits there or dwells on the thoughts that swirl in her mind. Nor does she know why she would reach her hand down into the dark hole between the steps. But when she does, her hand rests not on grass or dirt but on the cold dryness of leather.
Libi blinks, but then she spins around, kneeling against the steps, staring into the darkness. With a little incantation, she conjures up pink light that illuminates her face and the space between the stairs. And underneath, she sees a familiar pink wallet with a tiny heart on the corner, right where it would have fallen if she had dropped it walking up or down these steps earlier in the day.