After the siblings had discovered the secret fate of magical girls under contract, Tsuruko began to wonder what she was living for if not only her eventual despair. She had entered middle school, and the pressure to be a normal girl was on. She, of course, couldn't make any deep and lasting friendships, as she realized she could disappear from this world on any day.

"Onee-chan," Umeko approached the Puella Magi in her room after school one day, "We should go witch hunting soon. You're running low on grief seeds, aren't you?"

"Umeko..." the girl sighed from her bed, "What's the point?"

"Hm?" she sat down beside her.

"What's the point of all this?" Tsuruko questioned again, her brow furrowed.

"Onee-chan..."

"I mean...seriously," she chuckled, "Why am I fighting?"

"You always said...you were fighting for me. Remember?"

"Yeah. But you'll be fine...even if I don't. Right?"

"If you don't...you know what will happen."

"Yeah. It'll be alright."

"How can you say that? You'd be as good as dead!"

"Heh. I'm already as good as dead," she closed her eyes and threw her head back.

"You're not dead to me!" Umeko yelled.

The room was silent for a few moments. Just as she thought, whether she fights or not she'll only end up hurting her. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling fan, slowly turning in the breeze from the open window. "Umeko...even if you say that...I don't think I can anymore."

"Then let me contract!" the younger sister turned to Tsuruko and pleaded, her hands in fists on the bed in front of her.

"Absolutely not," Tsuruko snapped, positioning her head upright again. "You don't have to get involved in this."

"It's not fair that you have to fight alone!"

"No! That's how he tricks you! Just let the cycle end!"

"Not if it means losing you!"

After a short silence, Umeko spoke up again. "It's not fair. You contracted to save me, but you won't let me do the same for you!"

"Umeko, you're my little sister! What am I going to do if I can't protect you? What kind of 'onee-chan' would I be if I couldn't even protect you?!"

"That's exactly it! We're family!" she retorted, "Just what kind of a sister would I be if I didn't help you out in your time of need? Now you get up this instant and fight for the both of us, or I will go make a contract and get your grief seeds myself!"

And so the two found themselves out patrolling Mitakihara City.

The mood was melancholic. The two had never fought like this before. Not sure how to handle it, they walked in awkward silence.

"Are we near one?" Umeko eventually asked, quietly after nearly half an hour past with nothing but walking.

"...Yeah," Tsuruko responded. "Close...she's close."

"Okay."

The two walked in silence until they reached the barrier entrance not too much later. Tsuruko transformed, summoned her castor board on one hand and took her sister's tiny fingers in the other as they entered the barrier. The place was lined with wooden bookshelves reaching up forever. They resembled a library modeled after a labyrinth with their maze-like layout. The two proceeded cautiously, however it wasn't long before the witch noticed their presence, and swamped the girls with her fox-like familiars. They were small and sandy coloured - almost cute, if it weren't for the extra set of eyes atop their heads like horns, and three pairs of legs ended in sharp points. They put up a good fight, but Tsuruko was strong, even in a condition like this, and so she dealt with them quickly. It wasn't long before they came face-to-face with the queen of the barrier.

Distinctly feline in spite of her canine slaves, she looked like she'd walked out of an ancient Egyptian library, just as her place of dwelling resembled. Beige skin with gold jewelry and bright sky blue accents, she fought by hurling the many books from seemingly never ending shelves at the girls from her place, seated upon a throne with a whip and cane in either hand.

"Stay there," Tsuruko commanded her sister as she spawned a small link-chain cage around her, more weapons, and skated off towards her target.

With ease, the puella dodged and countered the onslaught of attacks. Not only was she quite the experienced fighter by this point, but also fast due to her own nature, and impervious to many illusions and conditions that would hinder and destroy other puella, due to her wish. But of course, this left her far from invincible.

For many anxious minutes Umeko watched her sister fight from the safety of her own barrier. It would seem she was doing magnificently, to any onlooker. But Umeko knew her sister's fighting style better than anyone, and she could tell with ease that every movement was off.

From the left, Tsuruko dodged a falling bookshelf, from above she whacked away a tome, and from underneath she just barely managed to dance around the runes snaking around, trying to ensnare her ankles. However, from her right she could not avoid the hook of the witch's cane, slamming her high up into a wall to where she was pinned by a huge book as the cane released her, grew sharp, and aimed for her neck.

"Umeko—" she glanced over to the barrier she'd made not long ago, only to find it destroyed. When had that even happened? Well, if her sister had already been taken, then she could at least die with the hope of meeting her soon. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," Umeko's soft voice sounded from behind the witch, who was sooner knocked to the side by a giant hammer than Tsuruko could piece together what had happened.

The monster's attention now refocused, Umeko stood on the ground across from her foe. Her cream-coloured hair had grown absurdly long, and it trailed on the floor behind her, hiding her brown dress, and her entire body for that matter, from the angle at which Tsuruko looked on, still pinned to the wall. The only things visible from out of her hair were the thick, curled horns at the sides of her head. In her right hand, she summoned a hammer in the shape of a ram's head, whose size rivaled the ridiculousness of her hair's length, swung it, and the witch splattered against her bookshelves. Tsuruko was released, the barrier began to fade, and the girl reached the ground just in time to see her little sister retrieve the grief seed, which they would now have to share.

"Sorry," Umeko turned and reached out her open hand with their prize in the middle as an offering, "I couldn't just watch anymore."

Tsuruko was silent for a while, then accepted the last remnants of the witch. "Our parents would freak, seeing you with those horns."

Umeko chuckled. "Yes, I believe so. They'd think I were possessed by a demon or something I suppose."

"So...What did you wish for?"

"I wanted...to be your strength."

And yet still, fate befell them.

Some years later, as Tsuruko begins eighth grade, the two continue hunting witches as usual. Less usual, however, was the state of Umeko after their battle.

"Nee...onee-chan. Can you do me a favour? I don't want to turn into a witch. I think it's possible after all, because it's not a sickness...and it's not like it's death either. But I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Umeko, no, it's alright. I'll get you another grief seed! We can still fight!"

She shook her head and smiled, "I can't anymore. So fight for the both of us. Don't let Kyuubey trick anyone else you see...and please, crush my soul gem."

"Umeko—"

"Call for an ambulance, okay? Tell them...that I just collapsed, and you don't know what...happened," she instructed, out of breath.

"Umeko! Just hold on—"

"Please. I can't—"

The younger Puella winced in pain as her soul gem began to blacken its last specks of pale colour, while the older screamed, raised her board and slammed it down on the gem's center, shattering it.

"Nngh," the younger puella sighed as her breathing stopped and her magical clothing was exchanged for her school uniform.