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Kyubey stalked its prey, moving confidently between light and shadows in the abandoned upper floors of the music store. It was on the hunt for an especially powerful magical girl, an irregularity whose magical potential had mysteriously increased a hundredfold in an instant. Kyubey had been hunting for many days now, but every time one of its bodies got close it lost her. This time however it would have its prize.
Out of the darkness another irregularity appeared. As magical girls went, this one was fairly mundane. Her power level was quite average, unlike the blazing sun somewhere below. Long dark hair in twin braids, purple eyes hidden behind red glasses, she carried herself nervously. She was clearly looking for something though, and there was nothing of interest up here except Kyubey's prowling body.
"Hello". The alien greeted her. It turned to face her, tail lazily waving from side to side. Its red eyes lacked emotion but still shone with intelligence. "I must admit, you have me at a disadvantage. You are clearly a magical girl, but I don't remember forming a contract with you".
"Oh, Kyubey, you don't? It's me, it's Akemi Homura!" The feigned surprise and disappointment came easily to her. She'd had plenty of practice pretending those closest to her heart were strangers after all. It also helped that her foe had difficulty in understanding the difference between true feelings and a performance.
The dog-like creature (at least, Homura thought it seemed like a dog) looped around the magical girl, looking at her from every angle. "Akemi Homura" Kyubey repeated, trying the name out for itself. "I remember every single magical girl that I have ever contracted, all throughout history. Each and every one of your species, since the first of your kind first wished to no longer live in the trees. I am the only possible way for magical girls to form. Why do I not remember you?"
"I… I don't know" Homura stuttered. Kyubey could easily tell that she was experiencing strong emotions, her pulse was running 50% faster and her breathing was 10% shallower than normal. Unfortunately, Kyuubey couldn't perceive what emotion she was experiencing. Grief at being forgotten, it expected.
Homura continued. "I don't know, but are you sure I'm the only one? I know I'm small and unimportant, maybe there were others like me? If you've been alive that long it's only natural to forget some small things". Certainly her magic was on the smaller side, but not so small that she'd go unforgotten. Her magic also seemed to be tangled up with something else outside her body. That was odd. Was she unaware? If so, Kyubey wouldn't enlighten her. This tangle though, it was something that Kyubey hadn't seen before, it was something that made her irregular.
"I am sure… that this body has never met you before" Kyubey responded uncertainly. It was extremely likely that no part of it had met Akemi before, but there was a small chance, and that was worth investigating. "Please let me think for a moment more". And so it thought. It was impossible for every single fruiting body to contain every single memory from all of time. All of them should share the memories with the main body though, to be stored and retrieved as needed. Perhaps a memory had gotten stuck somewhere? Kyubey was aware of that happening to others before, but this was the first time that itself had experienced it. Every one of Kyubey's bodies stopped completely as it sorted through all of them for any missing memories. This was a vital task after all. Back home there had been stories of fruiting bodies withholding memories, before turning on the main and devouring it in a gruesome act of autocannibalism, and Kyubey had absolutely no intention of experiencing that for itself. After five minutes of total introspection however it had to admit defeat. It had sifted through every single memory in every single body and there was not a single memory of Akemi Homura within itself. Unless one of the bodies had gotten very good at hiding things.
"Any luck?" Akemi asked. Kyubey considered lying. However there was no real benefit in doing so: as the girl had already made a contract with it there was no real benefit in awing her with its supernatural memory. Alternatively, by admitting the truth it could perhaps increase her trust in itself through her pity, and if it was lucky it could speed up her fall through the shame and embarrassement of being forgotten by an omniscient being.
"How long have you been contracted to me?" Kyubey tried to dig up the memory again through this new line of questioning. It circled Akemi again, as if this would help it gain new insights.
"5 years" the girl answered confidently. "Or about that, I think. Every day seems the same after a while." She shuffled timidly. "Do you really not remember me? I wished to be able to save the girl I loved!". A very ordinary wish, not very useful. Kyubey found the girl's quivering and her moistened eyes disgusting, so it turned to its memories once again. It remembered five years ago perfectly, down to each and every contract it had made and each and every grief seed it had reaped. No Akemi Homura. In desperation it tried four and six years ago. No Akemi Homura. Three and seven years ago: no Akemi Homura. Reluctantly, Kyubey decided it would be pointless to try further.
"Um, you know, you said you'd been around since the first magical girl" Akemi started nervously.
"Yes, that's correct" Kyubey affirmed. "I have been with you since the dawn of mankind, though I was young then"
"Well, my grandpa was also around a really long time, and he struggled to remember things. It started with newer memories too. The doctors said it was caused by a build-up of something called protons in his brain. Maybe…" Akemi trailed off, but Kyubey, understood the implicit "Maybe that's the case for you too". Kyubey had also heard of this phenomenon, not just in humans but also in many of the space-fairing races. It seemed like a cruel trick that the longer they tried to extend their lifespans the more ways the galaxy found to break them down.
"I must admit, that does sound like the most logical explanation." Kyubey admitted. It was a horrifying possibility, what was the purpose of extending the lifespan of the universe if Kyubey itself was stuck living in the past and unable to appreciate the extra time? It was also a more appealing explanation than the idea of being eaten alive by its own fruiting bodies. Kyubey needed to think more on this.
But first, there was the unusually powerful magical presence it had felt in this area, and hadn't there been a witch here too? Kyubey extended its senses, only to find neither nearby. They had been here, right? Kyubey tried again. Nothing. Akemi picked it up and stroked it gently as if she was familiar with handling its bodies. Had Kyubey met her many times before then? Its bodies required different treatment to any earth animals, yet she held it so well. Had it been held like this many times and forgotten every single one? Perhaps the alien's mind was not as sharp as it liked to think…
Was the girl with the high potential also a product of its decaying mind then? A delusion that its work might be done before it lost contact with reality entirely? Kyubey didn't know.