View source for From Despair to Hope (Sayaka Miki)

{{Cutscene Header
|Date of Scene=2024/02/24
|Location=Outskirts of Tokyo
|Synopsis=Ever since she was saved from being the Witch Oktavia, Sayaka has had a question ringing again and again in her mind: can full Grief Seeds be kept away from Kyubey?
|Cast of Characters=32
}}
Somewhere in the outskirts of Tokyo, Sayaka and Ula are walking by themselves, not a single soul around them except random animals, probably.

There are lots of expectations for her that lie in this trip, and the bluenette is more than a little nervous: the first time she actually enters her Labyrinth, the fact others aren't going to find her for at least a day while she lies in wait, and finally the hesitation she always feels when looking at the Grief Seeds she collects.

That's the blessing of ignorance in a way: what once upon a time were just the remains of monsters that she used to recharge her powers are now victims, and she just can't bear to give them over to Kyubey anymore. Grief Seeds... That's not the quite what Sayaka wants to call them anymore. If she has a Soul Gem, they should be Grief Souls.

But despite all that, her step isn't heavy at all: instead she now holds more hope than she has ever had. After all, Kyubey pushed her fellow magical girls to kill Oktavia, he didn't actually want to let them see if she could be saved. His system isn't as rock solid as it seems, and Sayaka herself is the proof of that. If she actually could be saved from being a Witch and now even holds that impossible power for herself, what else could be done?

Can a way be found to actually reverse the course other Puellae experienced? Can the despair that tainted them turn to hope once more?

To her the answer is yes, and she ardently believes in it. While she does not know how, to reach that point something must be done to keep the Grief Souls away from Kyubey.

And that's why she is making this trip, away from any life that can be considered human (or with any sort of participation in human civilisation, she now knows better than to assume all that look human actually are human). To test if what she has now is enough, in a way that keeps the secret at the center of the Puellae Magi safe.

And so the remote outskirts of Tokyo ares actually a perfect place for this. Sayaka stops and takes a last look around herself, taking a Grief Seed out of her bag.

The intricate lines form stylised angel hands repeated thrice in the central midsection vaguely shaped like a almond, traversed by representation of static. The structure on top of it features a box, a halo, a rectangle placed vertically and three ribbons piled on top of each other. She never quite ended up filling this one until recently.

"Ok, let's do this", Sayaka says to Ula. In a blue flash, the Sharpsong Puella makes her appearance and looks at the empty space in front of her, at which a portal blue at the border and white at the center appears in front of her. In the white section, a thick C with a small sphere and a curved line that extends diagonally to the upper right and ends in a curl.

The two of them enter, leaving the district to find themselves in a huge concert hall. At Sayaka's behest, the portal disappears behind them. The bluenette places the Grief Seed on the ground and then sits there, waiting while she stares at it intently.

And then they wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

It is Sayaka who breaks the silence first, a long long time later. A triumphant and relieved smile is on her face, thinking that the days she has to give full Grief Seeds to Kyubey are long over. She won't actually have to give him the Puellae he reduced to this state.

"Rest now, H.N.Elly", she tells to the Grief Seed. "One day, we will save you. I promise."