"Mami-san, this cake is delicious!"

I giggled as I watched my adorable young apprentice drool over my homemade pastries.

"Well, thank you~ If you like it that much, there's no need for you to hold back. Besides, I can't finish the entire cake by myself anyway," I casually offered the rest of the treat to the red haired girl who sat adjacent to me. "Consider it a reward for defeating a witch."

Instantaneously, she put the fork in her hand down and rested it on the coffee table. She turned her head away, almost as if she were ashamed of something. I simply stared at her in confusion.

"Is there something wrong, Sakura-san?" I asked, concerned.

"Mami-san..." she mumbled quietly.

"What is it?" I pressed further, attempting to find out what was bothering her. "If this is about the cake, really, I'm not hungry-"

"No, it's not about that," she replied. She heaved a sigh so loud that it sent chills down my spine. "Are you sure this is okay?"

I blinked at my junior. Just what was she going on about?

"What do you mean?" Right about then, I heard the sound of a soft sniffle. There was no denying that Kyouko Sakura was the one crying. I silently watched as a single teardrop fell from her face and hit the table.

"I'm sorry, Mami-san. I'm really sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? There isn't anything you need to feel sorry about." Sakura-san shook her head. It didn't take long before more tears began flowing down her face.

"I feel like I've been a burden on you, Mami-san. I've done nothing but hold you back. After all, I am a new and inexperienced magical girl. All I can do is increase the risk of death for you, and yet, every day, you continuously shower me with all of these delicious desserts, and you've kept me under your wing. That's far more than what I could ever ask for."

"Sakura-san, that's enough. There is no reason for you to be thinking like that," I retorted bluntly. "We all start out somewhere. I know how it feels to begin this journey alone, and I can safely say that I'd much rather risk my life for you than to allow you to fight witches by yourself. Besides..." I leaned forward and clasped both of her hands in mine. "I need you, Sakura-san. We need each other. Together, we can find out what our weaknesses are, and what our strengths are. You're... you're very important to me."

For the first time ever, Sakura-san looked me straight in the eye. Even though I, myself, was on the verge of crying, I had to hold back for the sake of keeping my sempai image up in front of my junior. I smiled at her, and much to my relief, she smiled back.

Three Months Later, September 18th

"You know, I think we're totally ready to take on the Walpurgisnacht all by ourselves."

I took a quick sip out of my cup of tea whilst gazing upon the town of Mitakihara from a high rise construction site. Sakura-san and I were watching the bright orange sun set for the evening.

"Getting ahead of ourselves now, are we?" I giggled. My apprentice blushed furiously, puffing her cheek.

"What, you don't agree with me? I mean, we make an amazing team! We pummeled that witch we just fought! We've both improved a lot. I doubt there's any witch out there that the two of us together can't defeat!" Sakura-san exclaimed with a proud grin on her face. "Besides," she continued, "I think the Walpurgisnacht can be considered our worst enemy... and I don't want to lose to the likes of it.

I've heard that the Walpurgis has killed countless amounts of people in the past... I don't want to let that happen again, especially not to the people I care about here. That's why... I want to believe that together, we can defeat that wretched witch."

I looked over to Sakura-san. Her eyes were gleaming, but perhaps that was due to the sun. Nevertheless, I could tell her resolve was firm. I had to admit, I was really glad that there was someone else in the world- especially another magical girl- who shared the same ideals as me. I gently put my tea cup down, and stood up in my spot.

"Well, we still have a long way to go," I said while stretching, "but I certainly don't believe it's impossible for us to defeat the Walpurgisnacht. With that being said, how about we make a little promise?"

"A promise...?"

"Let's promise each other that we'll defeat the Walpurgisnacht together- no, let's promise to protect this entire town together. I'm sure we can do it, especially when we have each other." Sakura-san stared at me in confusion for a moment, but once she processed my words, her head bobbed up and down excitedly. I stuck out my hand for a high five and she hit it.

Two Months Later, December 14th

Sakura-san hasn't showed up in Mitakihara City for the past month. I wonder where she could've gone, and what her reasons were for leaving.

I sighed and watched my breath form in the air, only to vanish seconds later. It was already winter. Snowflakes fell everywhere around me as I wandered through the downtown streets of Mitakihara. Just as I was getting deeper into my thoughts, I felt something jump onto my shoulder.

"Not going witch hunting tonight, Mami?" the familiar creature, Kyuubey, asked. I shook my head silently. "You know, if you keep this up, your soul gem will become tainted." I didn't bother responding to him. "If Sakura Kyouko's absence is bothering you that much, then why don't you go find her?"

I stopped in my tracks and turned towards to face Kyuubey.

"Do you know anything about her current situation? Why did she stop visiting Mitakihara out of the blue? ... Does she not need me any more?" I didn't want to think about the many possibilities as to why Sakura-san left unexpectedly. After all, if I did so, I'd surely make myself feel miserable. I'd ask myself, 'was it my fault?' or, 'does she hate me?', but that couldn't possibly be it, right?

I was so zoned out that I barely noticed the empty tears roll down my cheeks. After a moment of thought, I continued on my way back home. 'I'll visit Sakura-san as soon as possible. I swear on it.'

"On to the next news item... A private residence in Kasamino City caught on fire, according to reports from nearby residents. Firefighters rushed to the scene and were able to quickly extinguish the fire, but one section of the building had burned down. Three bodies were discovered in the residence, all belonging to the members of the family that lived there. The bodies were identified as the members of the Sakura family.

According to reporters on-scene, the police consider it was likely that this was a forced multiple suicide, and are continuing with their investigation."

My heart nearly skipped a beat as I listened to the news report that was being broadcasted on a large television screen.

"Sakura...san?" My eyes widened in disbelief. Even though my legs felt weak, I couldn't ignore what I had just heard. I mustered up all of my strength and ran towards the direction of Kasamino City.

A/N: Firstly, the introduction of this is somewhat based off of, "The Different Story", but I'll be tinkering with multiple timelines involving Kyouko and Mami in the later chapters. I do realize that Mami calls Kyouko, "Sakura-san", a lot, but she addresses her this way, so... (I do what I want). Reason why I'm not continuing this chapter is because in the next chapter, I'll be starting with Kyouko's perspective, and I didn't want to mix in multiple POVs in one chapter.

Anyway, this is NOT a novelization of, "The Different Story". I'll be including an "original" plot line, but for now, the intro will be similar to the actual manga. Hope you all enjoy. Favourite / follow / review if you'd like. Thanks!