Kazumi Magica Chapter 18: Connect
Continuing from the last chapter, a shocked Kaoru asks Niko why she shoved an Evil Nut into Saki, with Niko holding Kazumi's body safely stored in a container. Niko repeats her statement from the previous chapter, that she couldn't let "those humans" kill Kazumi. When Kaoru demands to know the meaning of this, Niko responds by saying that she and Kazumi are the only composite magical girls in this world. Both Umika and Kazumi have a shocked face at those words. The girl claiming to be Niko shows sadistic pleasure at their screams. Mirai rushes over to Saki, who is turning into a witch as a result of the Evil Nut. Mirai frantically tells Juubey to cleanse her Soul Gem. Juubey says that it's too late and tells Mirai to run away. Mirai refuses. We then see a flashback of Mirai talking to Saki, with Mirai revealing the reason she didn't have any friends and Saki reassuring her she's not strange. Saki says that she sees her old self in Mirai, which makes her happy. Mirai appears to be very moved by this. It flashes back to the present, with Mirai crying out that Saki is her and she is Saki. Saki, who is turning into a witch as a result of the Evil Nut, tries to say Mirai's name. Mirai then notices her Soul Gem has completely turned into a Grief Seed, tearfully saying that she can't kill Saki. Just then, Saki completely turns into a witch. Mirai proclaims her love for Saki. In the next scene, Mirai is quickly decapitated and killed by Saki's witch form. Kaoru, Umika and Kazumi are all horrified by this.
Suddenly Niko calls out "Connect" and stops the witch with magic. Kazumi pleads with Niko to let her out, but she ignores her, saying that two are left in Pleiades and she's almost done with her revenge. Niko starts talking about the gun tragedy that happened in Niko's childhood, saying that both the only survivor and the one who pulled the trigger was Kanna Hijiri. We then see another flashback of Niko's past, in which it is shown that the guilt from the gun incident made her become depressed. Kanna starts wondering how her life would have been if the accident had never happened and imagines a hypothetical version of herself, named Kanna Hijiri. Umika realizes that the girl before them is actually Kanna Hijiri.
The flashback continues, with Kanna being shown to have a normal life with friends and family. However, one day she sees Niko and the rest of the Pleiades facing Yuuri Asuka's witch form. Kanna is shocked at the monster, but even more so at the girl who looks just like her. Juubey suddenly appears, telling her that's her original self, explaining that she was created from the wish Niko made when she formed a magical contract, so she's a duplicate of the original Niko. The truth about her origins appears to make Kanna completely break down, wanting revenge on Niko and power. Since Kanna has feelings like a human, Juubey is able to grant her wish and turn her into a magical girl. Her wish is the ability to connect to others without drawing attention. It's revealed that Kanna was the creator of Evil Nuts, which she gave to Yuuri/Airi and the Souju twins. It ends with Kanna telling them of her plan to kill the normal humans and replace them with beings like Kazumi and herself. The "new humans" will be called Hyades, the half-sisters of the Pleiades.