Spring. A time that can be seen as the pathway to new beginnings. A time where everything can change. This is no more true here at Mitakihara Middle School. All it takes is the first step. In this case, it is a new transfer student introducing himself to the class.
A young man turns around after writing his name on the board and faces his new classmates. He has messy black hair, gold eyes, and peach skin, dressed in the standard uniform for his new school. "My name is Shirou Wright. I'm a transfer student from America, and shall be staying with you until graduation." He then bows to the class. "If you ever need help with anything, just ask me."
GoLion Magica: Beyond the Rebellion: Prologue
After introductions, the first break began and many students were crowding around Shirou. "So what's America like?"
"Not too different from here," Shirou answered calmly. "Aside from the language that is."
"What brings you to Japan anyway?" another student asked.
"My dad had some business to attend to. And my mom thought that this would be a good chance to introduce me to her homeland."
"What does your dad do, anyway," another student asked eagerly.
"That is," Shirou paused whilst grabbing everyone's attention. "A secret!" Cue massive groaning at the obvious Slayers' reference.
"I see that your adjusting pretty quickly," a calm voice cut in. Shirou turned to see a boy his height with silver hair and eyes and peach skin. "I'm Kyosuke Kamijo. It's nice to meet you Wright-san."
"Same to you Kyosuke," Shirou replied. "Anything I should be aware of immediately?"
"Not that I can think of," Kyosuke answered. "It's the first day of school after all. We'll just have to wait and see." While Shirou let this information digest, he noticed two girls that stood out from the rest of the class, one with pink hair in twintails and pink eyes, and a pale girl with long black hair and violet eyes. Out of all of the students in the class, these two were the only ones who weren't talking to anyone. It just didn't sit right with him.
"Hey, Kyosuke," Shirou motioned over. "Who are those two girls? The ones that no one is talking to."
"Oh, you mean Madoka and Akemi?" Kyosuke replied. "Well, the girl with pink hair is Madoka Kaname. I knew her back in Grade School, but she and her family moved to America four years ago before coming back last year. It's kinda depressing to see her on her own, but she hasn't really reached out to anyone since she came back. As for the girl with black hair," Kyosuke looked nervous about this subject in particular. "Her name is Homura Akemi, and that's really all anyone really knows. She used to be the nurse's assistant until she quit last year. Now the position belongs to Madoka. Aside from that, Akemi's really a mystery. 'Mitakihara's Ice Queen' she's called."
"Now that is strange," Shirou replied. "Why does nobody talk to them?"
"That, I don't know," Kyosuke replied in honest confusion. "With Akemi, her attitude is just offsetting. But with Madoka, well, I'm just not sure. It's almost as if no one wants to get near her for some reason."
"Why don't you?" Shirou asked. Kyosuke looked surprised by this question. "You said yourself that you knew her in Grade School. Doesn't that make her your friend?"
Kyosuke was silent for a moment. "Well, she was my friend back then," he answered. "But it just feels awkward to talk to her after all of this time. It feels awkward when talking to any of my old friends these days."
"Why's that?" Shirou inquired. Kyosuke jumped in surprise.
"Oh, um, reasons. Yeah," Kyosuke finished lamely. "Well, welcome to Mitakihara." He then quickly shuffled back to his seat. Shirou looked on in concern.
(Later)
After homeroom and a few classes had passed, it had quickly become apparent that Shirou was no slouch in studying, though not to the level of being a paragon. Now he was in his first P.E. class of the day, starting up with a few laps. As anyone could see, he was about average with everyone else, so there wasn't much to talk about. Though he did gain a bit of attention during the second half of the class when he raised his hand.
"Coach, I'm feeling a bit light-headed. Could I be excused to the nurse's office?"
"All right, all right," the coach responded. "And don't call me Coach! Call me Sarge next time! Kaname, bring this fella to the Medical Wing, stat!"
"Yes sir, Sarge sir!" The aforementioned girl replied. While she didn't really talk with people that much, Madoka did talk to her teachers. Though really, no one could really deny the teacher who acted as if he were in a boot camp or something. "Um, right this way Wright-kun!"
"Thank you kindly," Shirou responded as he followed her to the nurse's office. Along the way, he decided to strike up a conversation. "So, I hear that you were in America for a while. What was it like?"
Madoka looked surprised that someone struck a conversation with her, so she stuttered a bit. "W-well, it was nice, I think. I don't really remember much about it. Though I didn't really make any friends while I was there, so there really isn't anything to talk about."
"If that's the case, how come you haven't been talking to any of your old friends here?" Madoka stopped walking at this question, prompting Shirou to stop as well. "Madoka?"
"I'm not sure if I can talk to them anymore," Madoka explained. "Sayaka-chan is hanging out with a girl named Kyouko, Hitomi-chan has moved to a private school far away, and Kamijo-kun seems to always be busy, so I don't want to intrude. It just feels like they've all moved on."
"You can't think like that," Shirou interjected. "I talked to Kyosuke earlier, and to him it just feels awkward to talk to his old friends. I don't know who this Sayaka girl is, but she's probably feeling the same. As for this 'Hitomi', haven't you tried to call her or something?"
"Um, no actually," Madoka replied. "Now that I think about it, that would make more sense to just call her. Heh heh heh."
"Now's there's a nice sight," Shirou commented.
"Um, what's a nice sight?" Madoka asked in confusion.
"Your smile," Shirou explained. "That was the first time that I've ever seen you smile since I got here. It's pretty good."
Madoka blushed at his comment. "Um, thanks. I guess?"
"You know, if you ever have a problem, just come to me," Shirou suggested.
This proposal caught Madoka by surprise. "Wait, why?"
"Because we're friends now," Shirou answered. "And friends help each other out when they need it."
"But, we barely even know each other," Madoka replied. "Why would you want to be friends with me?"
"Because I don't like it when people are alone," Shirou clarified. "We're still young, so we should be spending time with friends while enjoying our youth, not moping around on our own, waiting for the next day to come, right?" Shirou held out his hand in offering. "And if we become friends now, we can learn more about each other, right?"
Madoka was greatly caught off guard at this request. This boy, who only just transferred in, wanted to be her friend just because he didn't like people being alone. She couldn't help but find it admirable. Not to mention a strange sense of deja vu washing over her. She then grasped his hand. "I accept your hand in friendship, Wright-kun!"
"Ah ah ah, call me Shirou," the boy corrected. Madoka looked confused, so he clarified. "Since we're going to be friends, we really don't need to be formal, right Madoka?"
"Um, right," Madoka replied. "S-Shirou-kun."
"Close enough," Shirou shrugged. "Wait, you aren't questioning how I know your given name?"
"If you really talked to Kamijo-kun like you said, then it makes sense that you would know my name," Madoka answered. "So, I take it that your light-headedness has passed by now?"
"Yeah, we should probably be heading back before someone starts spreading rumors about us," Shirou laughed. Madoka merely giggled at his statement before they headed back to P.E.
(Later, in the Evening)
"I'm home!" Shirou called out as he walked through the door to his house.
"Welcome back, Shirou," an articulated voice responded. Shirou turned towards the owner of the voice to behold a sight that most people would find surprising: a small spherical blue robot with two glowing red eyes and what appeared to be a mouth. It seemed to be flapping in the air with two circular parts on the top of its head...or what counted for it's head. For fans of the Gundam series, they would recognize it as a Haro unit, though that was just its appearance.
"Hey AUTO," Shirou replied, not looking phased at all by the little robot in his house. "How's your day been? And where's mom?"
"Izumi-sama left earlier for extra parts for one of her latest projects," the little blue robot, now known as AUTO answered while the two moved to the living room. "Other than that, my day hasn't been very eventful. How was your first day at school?"
"Well, it was good, and I thankfully didn't suffer from any jet-lag today," Shirou replied as he sat down on the couch, AUTO flying down as well after putting his 'wings' away. "I also managed to make a new friend."
"Let me guess, this new friend looked depressed and you wanted to help them out," AUTO replied in a knowing tone. "Shirou, you really need to find a way to make friends other than trying to be a hero."
"AUTO, you know I can't just leave someone on their own," Shirou argued back. "Besides, this girl seems a bit different."
"A girl?" AUTO repeated. "I suggest you don't make that statement around Izumi-sama, she'll tease you mercilessly."
"Shut up AUTO!" Shirou lashed out with a pillow, which the little robot managed to dodge by flying off the couch. AUTO moved back to his seat after Shirou calmed down, though he did notice that the boy still looked a bit flustered.
"Sorry, couldn't help myself," AUTO responded with a chuckle. "Now, what's so different about this girl from the other friends you've made throughout the years?"
Shirou got a serious look on his face. "She has a lot of power inside. A lot of magical power."
"Really?" AUTO asked in surprise. "But I thought no mages lived in Mitakihara City. Well, none but you and William-sama."
"Dad told me the same thing, though he didn't look to sure when he told me," Shirou replied. "But this girl, Madoka, doesn't exactly feel right as a mage. Her power feels like it's been awakened, yet at the same time it's not.
"Do you think she has anything to do with those anomalies that your father is searching for?" AUTO suggested.
"I'm not sure. Madoka wasn't the only one with a strange reading," Shirou shot down the suggestion. He then got up and headed for the stairs. "AUTO, can you start up dinner for when mom gets back?"
"Of course Shirou, though all I can do is start up the oven since you haven't finished my arms yet," AUTO answered in a snarky tone, causing Shirou to scratch his head in embarrassment. "And what are you going to do in the meantime?"
"Me?" Shirou looked back with a smile. "I'm going to bring Madoka and her friends back together!" With that, the young man walked up the stairs, leaving the robot to sigh in acceptance.
"Jumping the shark as always, Shirou," AUTO commented. "Then again, what do you expect from the teenage son of a Magus and a Scientist in Robotics. The crazy just runs in the family."
(The next day)
Shirou was walking to school when he bumped into Madoka again, so he decided to call out to her. "Good morning, Madoka!" The girl jumped in surprise, but smiled when she saw him.
"Good morning, Shirou-kun," Madoka greeted. "I didn't know you took this path to school too."
"Well, I didn't exactly expect to run into you so early this morning," Shirou replied. He too a minute to admire the beauty of the path that they were on. "You know, I should come onto this path more often. Is that okay with you?"
"Well, it's not my path alone, so you can walk on it whenever you want," Madoka answered with a giggle. "So, shall we head on?"
"Lead the way, my friend," Shirou replied. "So, did you manage to reach Hitomi?"
"Yeah, I did," Madoka replied with a smile. "We managed to talk things out, and we agreed that we should've talked more often. Though that did keep up a little later than I should have." The two then continued onward to school, not realizing that a girl with blue eyes and shoulder-length blue hair was watching them.
"Madoka?"
(Later at school)
"Okay, Wright, what's your secret?" Kyosuke whispered. It was minutes before class would start, and he just asked Shirou this ambiguous question out of the blue. Also, people seemed to be looking from Shirou to Madoka since they walked in.
"What secret?" Shirou whispered back in confusion.
"You know, how you managed to get Madoka to open up after all this time?" Kyosuke explained. "She barely talks to anyone ever since she transferred back last year, and then this morning you were spotted walking to school together making pleasant conversation."
"Okay, I can understand being seen walking to school with her, but where did people get the idea that it was romantic in any way?" Shirou asked incredulously. He had not let the tone that Kyosuke was setting go unnoticed.
"Well, it's just gossip." Kyosuke rubbed his head nervously due to being found out so quickly. "Still, that doesn't change the fact that you're the first student to have been seen having an actual conversation with her. How did you do it?"
"Why is there such a big reaction over this?" Shirou asked in mental exhaustion. "All I did was talk to her, and we became friends. Nothing else happened."
"Well, everyone else in the school is acting like something happened," Kyosuke argued. "Look, my point is, you need to clear the air with everyone before you cross the wrong people."
"Oh come on, Kyosuke, who would want to hurt me for being friends with Madoka?" Shirou waved off. He then felt a shiver up his spine. "I shouldn't have said that aloud, should I?"
"Yeah, you did kinda walk yourself into that one," Kyosuke confirmed. The two boys never noticed that Shirou was being glared at by Homura Akemi and the bluenette from earlier.
(Later, at lunch hour)
"I know that I forgot to ask this yesterday, but are all dining pavilions in Japanese schools so extravagant?" Shirou inquired. He was currently eating lunch with Madoka and was choosing now to comment on how over the top the lunch room seemed to be.
"Well, they certainly weren't back in Grade School," Madoka replied. "I had the same thought when I transferred back over here, and this is a public school!"
"You can say that again," Shirou laughed, Madoka joining in. It was then that he noticed a shadow coming over him, causing him to look for the source. What he found was a girl a few inches shorter than him, yet taller than Madoka, with blue hair and eyes. "Um, can I help you?"
"S-Sayaka-chan?!" Madoka exclaimed in surprise, getting Shirou's attention. If what Madoka told him yesterday was anything to go on, then this was one of her old school-friends, though it certainly didn't explain her glaring at him.
The bluenette, Sayaka, looked towards Madoka with a softened expression. "Long time no see, Madoka," she greeted before hardening her expression at Shirou again. "Transfer student, could you come with me for a sec?"
"Um, I would, but I'm kinda in the middle of eating right now," Shirou tried to turn down gently, before being grabbed by his jacket.
"You can eat later," Sayaka said in a no-nonsense tone. "We need to talk."
"U-um, Sayaka-chan! Shirou-kun!" Madoka called out in worry. Shirou just flashed a grin at her.
"Don't worry Madoka! I'll be back soon, just keep my spot and food safe!" That was all he managed to convey to her before Sayaka pulled him out of the lunch room and into the hallway. "You do realize that you caused quite a scene back there, right?"
"Shut up!" Sayaka interjected. "What are you planning with Madoka?" Shirou didn't answer. "Well, aren't you going to say anything?"
"You just told me to shut up," Shirou snarked. He was rewarded by Sayaka shaking him around by his collar.
"Is this some kind of joke to you! I clearly saw you talking with her on the way to school this morning!" Sayaka exclaimed. "What?! Are you trying to seduce her or something?!"
"What is with everyone assuming that I'm trying to make an advance on a girl just because I'm being nice to them?" Shirou asked with a deadpan expression on his face. "I was walking with Madoka because she's my friend. I'm being nice to Madoka because she's my friend. Why is that so hard to understand?"
"Because you've only known her for a day?" Sayaka argued. "And why are you acting like this is an everyday occurance?!"
"Because this isn't the first time that someone assaulted me due to a misunderstanding," Shirou replied. "And seriously, why do you even care? You barely even talk to her." This certainly caught Sayaka by surprise, for it resulted in her letting him go(and considering that she was able to carry him by his collar despite being shorter than him, Sayaka had a lot of upper body strength).
"T-that's not your concern," Sayaka tried to brush off.
"I believe that it is my concern," Shirou pressed. "Even though I've only known her for a day, Madoka is still my friend, and I worry about the fact that she's been alone here at school since she transferred back. Do you mind explaining to me why you haven't even tried to talk to her?"
Sayaka was quiet for a few moments, turning her head away in shame. "I..."
"Look, I know it wasn't my place to ask, but you really need to clear things up with her," Shirou told the bluenette. "From what Madoka told me, you're always hanging out with some girl named Kyoko, so she doesn't want to get in the way of that." Sayaka looked up in surprise before smiling ruefully.
"She told you that? Man, she really doesn't change, always putting others before herself," Sayaka commented.
"You know, you could hang out with us today?" Shirou offered. "I'm sure that Madoka would like to talk to you."
"No, I'm not sure if I should," Sayaka turned down. "You two look like your having fun." She then walked away, leaving Shirou to his thoughts for a moment. He then returned to the table he was sharing with Madoka.
"U-um, how did your talk with Sayaka-chan go?" Madoka asked nervously.
"Nothing special really happened," Shirou replied. "I offered her to sit with us, but she didn't want to." Madoka looked down in sadness before Shirou spoke up again. "Though she did want to talk to you on the roof after school today."
"She really said that?" Madoka asked with hope in her eyes.
"Yeah, she did," Shirou answered with a plan forming in his mind.
(Later, after school)
Madoka opened the door to the roof to find Sayaka, just as Shirou had told her. She wasn't expecting Kyosuke to be their as well.
""Madoka?"" Sayaka and Kyosuke seemed to share in her surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Shirou-kun told me that you wanted to talk to me after school today," Madoka asked in confusion. He did say that Sayaka was expecting her, right?
"Wait, Wright told you to meet here?" Kyosuke asked for confirmation. Sayaka was much more vocal about this new information.
"The transfer student?!"
"Yep!" Shirou's voice was heard. The three turned towards the source to find Shirou at the door to the roof, with a satisfied grin on his face. "I'm surprised myself that I managed to come up with this plan so quickly!"
"Plan, what plan?!" Sayaka demanded. Kyosuke, on the other hand, had a look of realization upon his face.
"Wait, you told us all to meet here?" Shirou nodded in confirmation. "Most likely to force some sort of confrontation between us to clear the air." Another nod. "And now you're going to close the door and lock us on the roof until we've settled our differences." A final nod.
"You can not be serious," Sayaka deadpanned. "And Kyosuke, why are you so calm about this?"
"Because this is the most cliche way of getting old friends to settle their differences, and I sort of suspected something like this would happen after I got to know him," Kyosuke answered. "I just didn't think he would make his move so soon. I thought even if he would go through with this, he would at least wait for a week."
"Well, I don't like it when people let their problems drag on for so long, so when I saw this chance to get you guys to finally settle this problem, I took it!" Shirou explained. "Sorry about this mild deception though. I promise to make up for it." He then closed the door before anyone could get the chance to stop him from locking it.
A few moments of utter silence passed before it was broken by Madoka. "Well, I didn't know that Shirou-kun could be so, eccentric." She laughed nervously.
"I am so going to get him for this," Sayaka declared. "Seriously, forcing a confrontation before I'm even ready." This certainly caught the other two's attention.
"Wait, Sayaka, were you actually planning to talk to us at some point?" Kyosuke asked. The girl in question blushed at being heard, cursing herself for saying that aloud.
"Well, at some point, yeah," Sayaka began. She turned toward Madoka. "Madoka, when you came back, I thought that I could try to talk to you about Kyosuke being distant, along with Hitomi making things all kinds of awkward. But whenever I got close to talking to you, either something came up out of no where, or I would just lose my courage very quickly. As of late, all I could really manage to do would be to watch you from a distance, never getting a word in. Then that transfer student just comes in and talks to you so easily, and even gets you cheered up in no time."
"Sayaka-chan, are you jealous of Shirou-kun?" Madoka asked. Sayaka blushed again.
"Well, sorta. To tell the truth, when I saw you two walking down the path to school, it looked like a scene out of a romance flic or something, and tried to use that as an excuse to see him as some jerk."
"Sayaka-chan." Madoka was surprised to hear this from her childhood friend. Sayaka always seemed so strong and confident. It just didn't make sense to see her so vulnerable. So she walked over to Sayaka and gave her a hug. Sayaka was surprised by this action, but accepted it.
"Sayaka," Kyosuke mumbled. He lowered his head where his bangs covered his eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Huh," The girl in question looked towards him in confusion. "About what?"
"About not talking to you for so long," Kyosuke clarified. "When my arm healed up, I was busy getting back into my normal life, talking to friends that I hadn't seen in a while...trying to forget about the accident...and the hospital..." His fist then clenched in frustration. "I didn't want to remember being so weak. Not being able to move on my own, not being able to play my songs, living with the knowledge that I may never play again. And the worst part of that, was that in trying to forget about all of that, I was trying to forget about you."
"Eh?" Sayaka was shocked. What had he just said?
"I'm sorry," Kyosuke let out. "I'm so sorry. You were there with me the whole time. You were trying to make me feel better in your own way. And I just yelled and pushed you aside. I even tried to distance myself from you because I was so ashamed just thinking of that. I'm so sorry..." It was only a single moment later that he felt a pair of arms wrap around him, catching him by surprise. He looked down to see it was Sayaka, shortly followed by Madoka. That was all it took for the dam to break, and his tears to flow freely.
They weren't sure how long they stayed like that, just standing in that position. Though it was only took minutes until Kyosuke calmed down, it felt like hours had passed for them in those moments. "I'm sorry," Madoka mumbled, getting the other two's attention. "I'm sorry that I hadn't come to you. If I just came to you earlier, then you wouldn't have had to keep all of this pain bottled up."
"Madoka, it's not your fault," Sayaka placated. "From the way the transfer student put it, you thought that we had moved on with our lives and you didn't want to take our attention away from that."
"Yeah, if anything, it's our own faults for all of this happening," Kyosuke said as he wiped away the remains of his tears. "For now, I'm just glad that we can finally put the past behind us."
"Mm-Hmm!" Madoka nodded. "Though there is something that still bothers me." This grabbed the other two's attention. "I called Hitomi-chan last night, and when I asked her why she hadn't talked to you guys in so long, it's because she confessed to Kamijo-kun and he turned her down."
"Wait, Kyosuke, you rejected Hitomi?" Sayaka asked incredulously.
"Well, I wouldn't say 'reject'," Kyosuke drawled. "More like, turn down gently."
"Why would you turn down Hitomi?!" Sayaka demanded. "She's a cute girl, why would you turn her down?!" She left it unsaid that she was relieved that Kyosuke was still free, but that was besides the point!
"Well," Kyosuke stammered. "There's someone else and I haven't told her my feelings yet."
"Really, who?" Madoka asked intently. Kyosuke looked very nervous at this question and immediately sprinted towards the door, Sayaka no too far behind.
"And where do you think you're going?" the bluenette demanded.
"Nowhere important!" Kyosuke exclaimed as he opened the door...wait. "Wait, why is this open?"
"What?" Sayaka let out.
"It's open?" Madoka repeated. "But didn't Shirou-kun lock it up?"
"Actually, now that I think about it, I get the feeling he never locked it in the first place," Kyosuke remarked. "We all just thought he did because I said that he would lock it. He probably never even had a key to lock us out." Madoka merely laughed nervously at this revelation, while Sayaka summed up her and Kyosuke's thoughts on the matter with the following exclamation.
"THAT BASTARD!"
(First floor hallway, a few minutes before the door was opened)
"You do realize that Sayaka Miki, at the very least, will attempt to physically harm you once they discover that you never locked the door, right?" AUTO remarked. Shirou was currently walking at a leisurely pace towards the school entrance while the little blue robot floated in the air next to him.
"I'll be fine AUTO," Shirou waved off. "I can take whatever punishment they can dish out at me. Besides, I'm sure that they'll find it in their hearts to forgive me for that charade."
"I worry about you, you know," AUTO sighed. "Still, why did you bring me with you to school today? I don't see what role I have in bringing those three together again."
"Actually, I brought you with me for a different reason," Shirou answered in a serious tone. "Do you have that item I told you to keep in your mouth until I needed it?"
"Yeah."
"Good, because I'm going to need you to hide in the air ducts for a few moments. The other reason is approaching."
"Wait, you mean to tell me that you brought me to place where there is a highly powerful and dangerous being lurking around," AUTO asked incredulously. "And you want to put on a show of bravado in front of them? Are you mad?!"
"No, just a little stir crazy," Shirou replied. "Now get in the air ducts, before she sees you!"
"Alright, alright," AUTO said as he quickly moved into the ducts. It was only afterwords that he noticed the pronoun Shirou used. "Wait, how do you know this being is female?"
Shirou didn't answer immediately, instead reining his nerves in as the source of the powerful signature he had been feeling since the day before came up behind him. "It's nice that we can talk like this, Akemi-san."
"Indeed, Wright-san," a young yet strangely mature voice answered back. Shirou turned around to behold Homura Akemi, the 'Ice Queen of Mitakihara' as she is called by his classmates. Now that he got a closer look at her, he noticed three odd things about this supposed ice queen. "The first was the strange earring that she wore on her left ear, made of black metal and covered the entire outside of her ear, with a small purple jewel dangling at the bottom. The second oddity was her eyes, wich looked older than her appearance gave away. But the third oddity was the most concerning, the bags under her eyes, giving the impression that she wasn't well. "I've been hearing so much about you."
"Hopefully it's not the rumor that Sayaka spread that me and Madoka are dating. We're just friends, why does nobody notice that?" Shirou asked in an exasperated tone. Homura's eyes seemed to harden at the mention of Madoka's name.
"Yes, your relationship with Madoka," Homura spoke. "Tell me, why do you think that you are her friend?" Shirou was confused at the question, for it's not one commonly asked.
"Because we are friends?"
"You've only known her for a day, at the least," Homura pointed out. "You can't just declare yourself her friend after so little time."
"Is that really how you see it?" Shirou asked. "Look, I don't know why you care so much about me and Madoka's relationship, but she's my friend. We know each other's names, we have fun talking to each other, we help each other out when we need it, we're friends. And why do you care so much about Madoka, anyway?"
"Why does that matter?" Homura demanded. Her eyes seemed to glow as she spoke.
"Because if you cared about her, why didn't you reach out to her?" Shirou demanded back. "From the way you talk, you care quite a bit about Madoka, yet you didn't even try to hang out with her since she transferred back to Mitakihara. In fact, from what I hear, you barely had a conversation with her last year, and you haven't spoke to her ever since! So, why would someone who doesn't even hang out with Madoka care if I hang out with her!"
"Shut up!" Homura yelled, her eyes truly glowing, and glowering, now. "You don't know anything!"
"Really, I don't know anything?" Shirou asked rhetorically. "Well, I know that you aren't a normal human." This instantly got Homura to shut up. "Oh don't look so surprised, you have the same amount of magical power as Madoka, only you actually act like someone who knows that they have so much power. And with how you speak about Madoka, it seems that you're trying to make sure that she doesn't know about the power she holds. In order to do that, you would have to mess with her memories. And considering that she doesn't really remember much about America, I suspect that she never left for America. That was just something you put into her head, most likely because the source of her great magical power came from here in Mitakihara before she 'transferred back'. Am I wrong?"
Homura was quite for a moment before she slowly clapped her hands three times. "I'm surprised that you were able to figure that out. But I'm afraid that you won't remember any of that. Or Madoka for that matter." With that she clapped her hands once more. And all was silent...
...for a solid minute. "Is that supposed to be how you manipulate memories? Because I think that it's broken," Shirou snarked. Homura was shocked by that statement. His memories should be gone! She clapped her hands again. "You really think that's going to work after the last time. I think that it should be fairly obvious that I'm immune to your mind tricks."
"But, how...?" Homura asked in shock. She had never come across anyone like this Shirou Wright before. No one who had gained knowledge of the world's truth has ever resisted her control before! Just who was this boy?!
"How, well I believe that I can explain through this." Shirou raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. Above in the air vents, right above Shirou, AUTO moved aside the grating and opened his mouth dropping the item inside into Shirou hand. Shirou then twirled the object around a bit before holding it in a ready position aimed at Homura, revealing that the item was what appeared to be a replica of a flintlock pistol, but with a strange cathead-shaped green gem engraved on the opposite side of the flintlock. "It's magic, I don't have to explain it." He then pulled the trigger, releasing a ball of red energy at Homura, pushing her off of her feet.
To say that she was caught by surprise would be an understatement. Homura was absolutely flabbergasted. Never before had she come across a boy that could use magic. Nor had she come across any magic user that was immune to her power. Moreover, she was just shocked that she had actually been harmed since she had stolen Madoka's power over the Law of Cycles. "Who are you?"
"My name is Shirou Wright. I'm a magus in training under my father, a rookie roboticist under my mother, and Madoka's newest friend," Shirou declared. "And your stunt to make her forget her power has made her believe that she has been alone for three whole years, separated from her friends when they were right next to her the whole time. You split them up just so that you can ensure that Madoka can never access her power, making them all miserable, just barely able to cover it up so that no one would notice. Well guess what, I noticed." Shirou then pulled back the hammer on his Magic Gun. "And God help me, if I find out that you try to mess up people's relationships and make them miserable for your own gain ever again, you will make me your enemy. And you don't want me as your enemy."
The tension between the two was so thick that it could be cut with a butter knife. Homura just slowly got back up on her feet. "...don't think that this is over." Homura took a few steps back. "I won't let some boy who understands nothing ruin all that I've worked for." With that said, Homura was surrounded in what appeared to be Raven feathers before the feathers blew away and disappeared. Once she was gone, Shirou let out the breath that he didn't know that he was holding.
"Well, that was tense."
"That would be an understatement, Shirou," AUTO commented. "Her power level was higher than anything I've ever felt before. And you were right, her power is equal to that of Madoka Kaname's. Why would you make such a big risk against such a being?"
"Because despite all of her power, I had to make the assumption that she doesn't know much about the magical world," Shirou answered honestly. "After all, according to dad, the closest magical community is miles away from Mitakihara, and you know how mage communities like to gloat to each other."
"True. If someone of that amount of power was a member of a magical community, we would of heard of them a long time ago," AUTO conceded. "Still, was it really a good idea to antagonize her? There was a chance that I wouldn't have been able to get the Magic Gun to you in time."
"If it came to that, I would've thought of something else," Shirou explained. "And I had to make my point, I wasn't going to accept her actions towards others, and if she tried to do something that extreme again I would deal with her. She seemed surprised enough to know that I'm serious."
"Oh very well," AUTO conceded. It was then that the two heard the sound of thundering footsteps. "Well it appears that Madoka and her friends are done talking, which means that Sayaka Miki will attempt to harm you now."
"I can handle it. Oh, before I forget, take the Magic Gun and hide," Shirou said as he put said weapon back into AUTO's mouth. The little blue robot floated back up to the ventilation shaft to hide, while Shirou stood ready for the inevitable. Said inevitable thing was Sayaka running around the corner and holding him up by the scruff of his uniform jacket.
"You a$$!" Sayaka yelled. "You tricked us!"
"Technically I never said that I would lock the door, that was all Kyosuke," Shirou replied in a jovial manner.
"That doesn't change the fact that you forced us into that awkward situation!" Sayaka argued.
"Well, at least it all worked out in the end, right?" Shirou asked in a hopeful manner.
"It did, actually," Madoka confirmed as she and Kyosuke came down the hallway at a more sedate pace than Sayaka. "And Sayaka-chan can you please put Shirou-kun down?"
"But-" Sayaka looked towards Madoka, only to see a determined look on her face. "Okay." Sayaka muttered before letting go of Shirou. "Still, I, guess I should thank you. For, giving us that chance to make up."
"True, that was the first time I actually managed to tell someone about my problems," Kyosuke admitted. "So thanks for the help Shirou." That got the young mage's attention.
"Wait, did you just call me by my given name?"
"Well, according to Madoka, you say that friends should call each other by their given names," Kyosuke clarified. "So, I decided to do just that. We are friends, right?"
"Yeah, we should be friends," Sayaka agreed. "After all, despite you being a total a$$hole to get us to make up, you still helped us out. So that makes you my friend too, Shirou!"
"Isn't this great, Shirou-kun?" Madoka asked cheerfully. "We're all friends!"
"Woah, and here people say that I jump the shark a lot," Shirou commented before a smile came upon his face. "Oh, what the heck. We're all friends." Out from his hiding place in the ventilation shaft, AUTO watched the entire scene.
'Shirou, you really have a strange affect on people,' AUTO thought to himself. 'It probably has to do with your unwillingness to give up on anyone who's in pain. You just reach out to those who need it, and they reach out to you in return. I'd do the same, but you still have yet to give me proper arms.' And so the newly formed group of friends walked on home, with AUTO following discretely.
They had no idea at the time, but this would spark the beginning of a journey, a journey of understanding and growth. Where in the end, despite the hardships and bumps in the road they come across, they will finally become free of the machinations of higher beings and reach the happy ending that they so deserve.
Variable Zero: ...okay, I have no excuse. I've been delaying on my other stories for far too long. I could say that this one was forming in my head recently and refused to stay under wraps, but I don't think that you would like that explanation(even if it is the truth).
Now, first off, I would like to say a few things. I'm in college now. So I unfortunately cannot focus my entire being on posting my stories. Secondly, I want to write this at my own pace, so don't constantly fill the review section with questions on if I'll update soon or not, leave actual reviews in there. Thirdly, don't ask me about major plot points in the future. I would actually like for people to read this. Because if I just told you guys what would happen in a PM, what would be the point of writing these stories.
I believe that's all of them. Also, OathToOblivion and Symbolic Joker have started a REDUX of HeartCatch Precure: Just Live More, so check it out!