Oriko Magica Sadness Prayer: Chapter 4
Kirika thinks about her encounter with Oriko while having lunch. Oriko has ordered her to continue attacking magical girls and collect a lot of grief seeds. While Kirika doesn't quite trust her, Oriko hasn't lied to her about her soul gem as she is still alive and well, while also telling her about the truth that magical girls become Witches if their gems are too impure. Oriko hasn't elaborated upon much of it and has run her ragged, making Kirika wonder if she's being fooled instead.
Elsewhere, Komaki talks to another student who is mocking her attitude and grades, but Komaki turns it around into an insult as the other student comes from a family of doctors and is losing to someone lesser than her who has far better grades, infuriating the girl into insulting her family. Komaki becomes very angry and says the other girl's expression is annoying and tells her to stop taking credit for things she hasn't done and that she's very rotten on the inside. Oriko then shows up behind the stunned student and adds that when the girl's status falls, she will soon realize just how pitiful she truly is. The flustered girl eventually leaves them alone and Oriko and Komaki go elsewhere to talk.
Oriko notes how angry Komaki always seems to be, though she's rarely seen her so mad as she was when talking to that student. Komaki answers that hearing someone bad-mouthing her parents set her off, especially since that girl never met them, and Oriko adds that it just shows how much she loves her parents. Komaki spits out her drink in surprise at that statement and exclaims who says things like that. Oriko says she truly loved hers, and flashes back to her childhood with her father, who was a lawyer at the time looking to become a politician. Her father asks her what's wrong and if she can't sleep, but Oriko cries to him and asks if he's going to turn into someone exactly like her aunt and uncle too. He reassures her that he won't as he's looking to make the town better rather than the country, and he would like to repay the town for their kindness in helping the family. He does add that one day he might make an attempt at running the country, to which his wife playfully teases him saying that being low and limited suits him more. Oriko smiles, convinced that her father will always be the kind and gentle father she knows and loves.
Back in the present, Komaki snaps Oriko out her daydream as it's late and they need to go home. Oriko asks her if she's going to patrol today and Komaki says yes despite being tired. As Oriko walks home alone she thinks about how long it's been since she's last thought about her father, as everything going on has given her little time to think about it but Kirika has now given her enough free time to do so. A car suddenly pulls up beside Oriko and calls out to her, revealed to be her uncle Kimihide Mikuni running errands in Mitakihara, and who hasn't seen her in 8 years since her mother's funeral. Inwardly Oriko is angry that he has some nerve talking to her now.
In a flashback Kimihide is shown to be a member of the national House of Representatives and was the one who gave an apology to the press over her father's case. But soon after the incident he cut off all contact with Oriko and never attended the funeral. Oriko says that he was the very first person to throw her father to the wolves. In the present, Oriko tries to hide her angry memories but then notes her uncle's sudden strange behavior in him leaving. She stops him and he answers that it's nothing, that he's been a lot of lapses where he just spaces out lately. He apologizes and leaves once more, but Oriko quickly notices a Witch's kiss visible on his neck and yells to stop him again. Kimihide turns to her and reveals a strange look in his eyes, one that Oriko remembers as having frightened her as a child the first time they met. Oriko thinks about leaving him be as she has no motivation to save the man who abandoned her and her father when Kirika suddenly appears out of nowhere and kicks him in the face, knocking him out cold. Kirika mistaken him as being a pervert trying to pick up Oriko, but the other girl quickly corrects her that he's her uncle and a politician. Kirika panics thinking she's going to get arrested for assaulting him, but Oriko laughs and tells her relax and not worry. She directs her to the Witch's kiss on his neck and orders her to find and defeat the Witch while she covers for her assaulting her uncle. Kirika feels like she's being tricked, but Oriko insists that she hasn't lied about anything. Kirika leaves to hunt down the Witch as Oriko watches over her uncle. She thinks to herself that her uncle is also a part of this world, and that she will save this world as it's her purpose to do so and casts aside her younger self.