No, there was no sign of recognition at all. It was obviously difficult to tell much about what the witch thought or felt, with the lack of face, but somehow despite the head being a flame there was almost something cold about her, distant as the witch on the horse just stood there still even as he evolved, as if it was just watching him. Even when he called out to her, called out Kyouko's name.. it was no use. A witch could no longer recognize it or react to it, could no longer feel anything but their own despair that drove them to become this way. They could feel nothing but the instincts that a witch had, like the instinct to destroy anyone who came inside their barrier, magical girl or not.

And this boy definitely had entered her barrier, even if it hadn't been voluntarily.

Slowly but surely the witch raised her staff, and something-- no, some things started to move in the room, the witch's familiars. They almost looked like some kind of geishas or traditionally dressed women, but they were much smaller, more deformed, more unnatural. The familiars wasted no time at all in moving towards him, trying to mob him if he wouldn't react quickly enough.