Sayaka was staring at her homework intensely, as if it would do itself when Kyouko got back late from hanging out with Homura. She didn't even bother to raise her head to acknowledge Kyouko when she limped past Sayaka and flopped on the couch facedown behind her. "I'm home," she said unnecessarily, voice muffled by the cushion.

"Yeah," Sayaka sighed, finally looking up. "I heard you before you even entered the room."

"Wha—how? You some kind of watchdog now or something?"

Sayaka snorted. "Does 'ow, holy shit, who the hell left their boots out in the –wait, these are mine' sound familiar?"

"Hey, hey, it was dark out. I had an excuse!" Kyouko retorted, but she was obviously a bit embarrassed, if the tips of her ears turning a bit red were a bit of an indication.

"Yeah, but who was it that left their boots out in the open again?"

Kyouko just buried her face farther into the cushion and grumbled something incomprehensible in reply. Sayaka snickered, amused. Kyouko swatted at Sayaka blindly, and Sayaka easily avoided her hand. Despite Kyouko being the veteran and the wiser of the two, she was still pretty much a child.

Sayaka never expected to see this side of Kyouko when she agreed to helping Madoka out by supervising this world, to be honest. She was expecting to end up clashing with Kyouko because of opposing morals again, just like in the last world before Madoka rewrote everything, but instead she ended up spending more time with Kyouko than with Madoka. They got so close to the point that she feels right at home when she's with her, feeling at ease with Kyouko guarding her back and she guarding Kyouko's. Kyouko didn't have any reason to oppose her in this world, since it was Homura's ideal world. This world was peaceful, relaxed, and happy, opposing the real world's cruelty. Kyouko was the most carefree in their group now. Nothing like the prickly utilitarian she was before, who only lived on to survive, stepping on everyone else if it's for her own sake. At least, she was like that before she had her change of heart. She wasn't like the seriously passionate girl that she became after she changed for the better, either. She was just… plainly happy.

Kyouko has grown onto her too much than she would like to admit, she realized.

Sayaka glanced at the girl behind her, and she was still burying her face in the couch, as if urging it to swallow her whole to bury her in its softness. She was completely defenseless. She could probably sit on Kyouko's legs to pin her down and start tickling her to get her back on all the times Kyouko randomly stuck her fingers up Sayaka's armpits ever since she found out that Sayaka was ticklish there. But, as tempting as the idea was, there were more pressing matters than revenge served colder than all the glaciers in the world.

"Hey, Kyouko?"

"Mmm."

"Have you done your homework yet?"

Kyouko stiffened and stopped absentmindedly drawing circles on the carpet. "…Shit."

Sayaka scoffed. "Knew it. Thought you'd get help from Homura, though. I'm disappointed in you," she gravely said, though the last part was said jokingly. Kyouko groaned and raised her head to look at Sayaka, her bangs sticking up messily.

"Oh, gimme a break! Homura wanted to check out something with me, and we had to walk for ages! I couldn't just stop and pull out my schoolwork in the middle of the road like, 'oh, screw whatever important thing you wanna check out, do my homework for me!'"

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. Homura might be realizing things faster than intended. It might be a false alarm, though, so she asked, "Important…? Like what? A mysterious ramen store that appears in the middle of nowhere?"

"No, idiot. We ended up with more questions than answers, and Homura got all weird. She wanted to investigate it by herself, though."

Dread for the possible upcoming events settled heavily in Sayaka's stomach. Looks like this happy everyday life won't last for too long, now that Homura got curious. Homura was smart, and she would probably get it all figured out by tomorrow evening. Might as well savor this life while she still has it. "While she's investigating by herself, you should probably do your homework by yourself, now that you're free."

Kyouko groaned and sat up, then draped herself on Sayaka. "C'mon, lemme copy yours instead," she whined, placing her chin on Sayaka's head.

Sayaka immediately closed her halfway finished homework so Kyouko won't see her answers. "No. Do it by yourself."

"Oh, Sayaka the horrible! Why are you doing this to me?!" Kyouko cried out, dramatically falling back on the couch and clutching her hands over her chest, winning a small giggle from Sayaka. "I can't take it anymore! Living with a cruel monster like this, it's horrible! I'm running away!" She pretended to sob, and Sayaka broke out in a fit of giggles.

"This is like the fifth time you've said that this month and yet you're still here. Learn how to keep your promises to yourself!"

Kyouko pulled a face. "Nah."

"What? Worried that you won't be able to get food when you're out of the clutches of the horrible Sayaka-chan, who may be cruel, but is willing to feed hopeless, hungry souls like you?" Sayaka teasingly asked.

"No way! I can get food by myself! The only reason I'm sticking around is for your sake, actually," Kyouko proudly declared.

"Really? Why won't you leave me behind to stave in my own cruelty for your own benefit?" Sayaka asked, tone light, but she was still somewhat intrigued.

"Don't worry, Sayaka. I know you don't want to be alone. That's okay. I'll be here with you, Sayaka," Kyouko said. Despite her earlier sentences being nothing but jokes, she sounded… sincere.

Sayaka scowled a bit, since that sentence sounded familiar. Hadn't Kyouko said that to her before? She opened her mouth to call Kyouko out for recycling old lines, but then it hit her. Kyouko hadn't said that to her. At least, not in this world and most definitely not in this form.

Kyouko said that to her when she was deep in her despair right before she destroyed Oktavia von Seckendorff and herself in one fell swoop.

Sayaka's harsh joke died in her throat, and her vision got misty. She swallowed back a sob.

"…wait, shit, Sayaka, are you crying?" Kyouko asked, the concern in her voice obvious. Sayaka didn't reply.

Kyouko sat up and was immediately at Sayaka's side, rubbing circles on her back comfortingly. Kyouko peered at Sayaka's face, which was covered by her bright blue hair.

Kyouko looked so worried for her sake, it reminded her of the way Kyouko acted before she turned into a witch. Going out of her way to try to make Sayaka conform to her ideals, insisting that she would be happier living for herself than giving her all for some insensitive guy. Sure, she was going about it the wrong way, but she was still expressing her concern. This time, though, her morals were still somewhat intact and she didn't have a bad girl attitude to keep up, so Kyouko is a lot more willing to show her true feelings.

Another wave of emotions hit her again, and she let out a sob and threw herself into Kyouko's arms, catching her off guard.

Kyouko eventually wrapped her arms around Sayaka, and pet Sayaka's hair awkwardly. She let Sayaka bury her face in the crook of her neck, not minding that the sleeve of her uniform was getting wet with tears. She hummed a lullaby softly, perhaps to comfort Sayaka. Sort of like a mother comforting a daughter who just woke up from a horrible nightmare.

Eventually, Sayaka cried all the sudden emotions out. She didn't bother getting up, feeling safe and secure in her friend's arms. Sort of like the warm feeling she gets when she fights alongside her team, except the adrenaline is replaced with contentedness, and the warmth was all over her instead of just inside of her heart.

"…Sayaka?" Kyouko asked, voice soft.

"Mmm?"

"Was… was there anything wrong with the thing I said? If it's okay, can you tell me what's wrong?"

Sayaka went quiet, mulling over what to say. She couldn't just say that she was reminded of events from a world that Kyouko wasn't supposed to remember. "…what you said before I had my tiny emotional outburst reminded me of a dream I once had," she eventually answered.

"What kind of dream was it?"

"A long, horrible nightmare. A horrible dream where both of us died."

"How did it happen? I mean, how did we die, if you don't mind me asking?"

"…I fell into insanity. You were there. You didn't care whenever I said cruel things to you when you tried to help. Eventually, you had to kill the both of us to finish everything once and for all. You said that exact phrase to me."

Kyouko went quiet for a while. She never stopped petting Sayaka comfortingly, though. Sayaka's eyes felt heavy, and she was pretty ready to nod off.

"It's sort of funny how joking about homework turned out like this. Homework, always the heartbreaker," Kyouko muttered, trying to lift Sayaka's spirits. Sayaka weakly laughed.

"I still won't let you copy my homework."

Kyouko drooped, dismayed. "Even though you're in an emotional state, you're still cruel. I can't believe this."

Sayaka laughed at Kyouko's expense. Kyouko pulled back and pouted at her, which made Sayaka laugh even harder. Kyouko scowled exaggeratedly and huffed, pretended to be miffed. She crossed her arms and looked away, nose haughtily pointed up. Sayaka was wheezing by now, tearing up from laughter. Eventually, Kyouko gave in and grinned at her, proud that she got Sayaka laughing.

She stood up and held her hand out at Sayaka. "C'mon, the Chinese restaurant that you like so much should still be open by now. Let's just decide who'll pay for it when we get there."

Sayaka grinned and took her hand.