Lancer words made Olga Marie a bit excited, but that was all. To her, his words only confirmed their previous conjectures. They had discussed the specifics several times already. But for the other person in the room, it was like a bolt from the blue.
Lancer had already revealed some information in the car, but as he said then, he had no direct evidence to prove his claims; he had only researched the Grief Seeds.
This time, however, Kyoko Sakura's Soul Gem served as the comparison sample. With the same answer surfacing once again, Kyoko didn't need Lancer to repeat himself to know what he was implying.
According to Kyubey, the Soul Gem contained their own souls. So why was there also a soul inside a Grief Seed?
Kyoko Sakura didn't want to think about it anymore, because the looming answer was far too cruel.
Unfortunately, the only lesson humanity has ever learned from countless historical lessons is that they absolutely never learn.
Even though she knew she shouldn't keep thinking, when the path was laid out before her, she followed it instinctively.
Looking at Kyoko Sakura, who was crouching there clutching her head in disbelief, Lancer appeared by her side before she knew it.
"Calm down."
His words, devoid of any excess emotion, were like ice dropped into boiling water. It made the overheated Kyoko freeze for a moment. Then, she did something no one could have imagined: she lunged directly into Lancer arms.
Lancer, who had been the picture of calm, was instantly dumbfounded. Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he turned his gaze to the side. Sure enough.
There was a trace of surprise left on Olga Marie face, but her current expression was as if she were looking at a piece of human garbage.
'If I say I have no idea what's going on, would you believe me?'
Lancer used lip-reading to explain to Olga Marie. Her response was simple and direct:
'Drop dead!'
If Olga Marie reaction when Kyoko Sakura arrived with Lancer earlier had been half-joking, now she was making no effort to hide her displeasure toward him.
In her view, this man already had a woman like her former teacher, Fiore, admiring him, and someone like Miss Leone willing to follow him to the death. Yet, in less than a month, he was still managing to pick up more girls. He was a total scoundrel!
She felt like she must have had eye problems when she thought he was a good person before.
Lancer held his hands high and stared at the ceiling, his mind gone blank, as if he had entered a "sage state." On the other side, Olga Marie sat with her legs crossed, hands clenched over her knee, staring coldly at Lancer. As for Kyoko Sakura, she simply kept her head buried in Lancer abdominal muscles.
The atmosphere in the room was incredibly bizarre, but Kyoko Sakura was the first to recover.
After all, the reason the other two in the room had ended up like this was entirely because of her. If she didn't recover, the other two wouldn't be able to either.
Kyoko "tragedy" stemmed from herself, but the root cause lay in Kyubey negligence—or rather, its original goal was for Kyoko to turn into a Witch after falling into despair. Who knew that after her breakdown, Kyoko would instead explode with even greater combat power, allowing her to survive until today?
But Kyubey had never told her any of this. Even when faced with her questioning, Kyubey answer was simple.
'I fulfilled your wish. I have given you everything you required. None of this has anything to do with me.'
Clearly, this line of reasoning wouldn't hold up in a modern court of law. Unfortunately, there are no laws in this world to govern the relationship between a Magical Girl and a Contractor. Consequently, the relationship between Kyoko and Kyubey had always been poor.
Kyoko Sakura hunted Witches merely to stay alive, and Kyubey basically left her to her own devices. After all, Kyoko strength meant the Witch she would eventually become would be even more powerful; all it had to do was wait.
But this time, Lancer had effectively flipped the table, placing the reality of the relationship between "Magical Girls" and "Witches" right in front of Kyoko.
Kyoko also realized one thing—perhaps from the very beginning, Kyubey goal in approaching them wasn't to hunt Witches at all.
"Sorry. I lost control of my emotions just now."
She wiped the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. Most of the tears were gone, but her red-rimmed eyes made her look nothing like the usual delinquent girl. She looked more like the middle schooler she actually was. However, after apologizing, she turned to leave, only to pause halfway and reach out her right hand toward Lancer.
"Give it to me."
"What?"
Kyoko didn't believe Lancer didn't understand her meaning, but she still grit her teeth and said it.
"The Soul Gem."
"You planning on going to find trouble with QB?"
Lancer didn't answer her directly, but instead asked a question of his own. Kyoko chose to nod without hesitation, but Lancer shook his head.
"If that's the case, I advise you not to go."
"Are you going to stop me!"
"Yes. But I hope you can calm down first. My teacher once taught me that a warrior must remain calm under any circumstances. I'll ask you this: can you win? Do you know what hidden trump cards QB has? Have you considered what will happen if you fail to defeat QB?"
Lancer wasn't asking anything complex; on the contrary, they were the simplest questions. Yet Kyoko Sakura fell into silence. She hadn't considered any of these things; her mind was currently filled only with how to give Kyubey a piece of her mind.
She had been gradually calming down, but when the terrified faces of her mother and sister and the hysterical, twisted face of her father surfaced in her mind, she found she couldn't control her emotions at all.
"Don't stop me! I'm going to find that guy and get the truth! What exactly is going on?!"
By now, Kyoko had begun to suspect there was some kind of link between "Magical Girls" and "Witches." If it were all true, then what was the connection between Kyubey, who induced her to become a Magical Girl, and the "Witches" she hunted at his request?
Was it possible that all of this was designed by him?
Then she... or rather, they... what were they?
Just pawns to be manipulated and toyed with at will?
What was the point of all their sacrifices!
"Sigh~"
Accompanied by Lancer sigh, Kyoko found that Lancer, who had been blocking her, stepped aside. But before she could even take a step with her right foot, she felt a gust of wind behind her. Then, her consciousness blurred. Before she blacked out completely, she heard only one sentence—
"Just calm down for now."