"Is this some sort of ruse?" James asked the girl.
"Huh?" she replied.
"You're obviously the girl who captured me earlier, you just changed your hair and added glasses." he said
"No, no, no." she said. "She's a duplicate of me. I don't know how, but she is."
"Okay then answer something only she would know, what did you give Madoka Kaname?"
"Who's she?" she asked, with utmost sincerity.
"My God, so you aren't the same. I'm sorry if I troubled you."
"That's okay, I'm confused as well."
"What's your name?"
"Homura Akemi. You?"
"James Kozuki."
"Foreign, perhaps?"
"Part American. My father's Japanese."
He checked his cellphone, but the battery was dead. "Damn, no chance of contacting Madoka at this rate," he said
"I can't remember what happened. But something happened so that me and the other one split." said Homura.
"Join the amnesia club, I'm having trouble remembering everything before today. Plus I had this weird dream that keeps coming back to haunt me."
"That's kinda freaky."
They looked around for a while. "I can't see any other exits." Homura said.
"I found a cracked wall, I might be able to bust through there." said James.
James pushed through the wall. It broke, leaving an opening just big enough for both him and Homura to get through.
He noticed his ring was lighting up while he was pushing. "That's odd." he said.
He and Homura when down two stories to find the exit. "We're almost there." he said.
Right as he was saying that, mysterious familiars taking the shape of the other two girls in his dream appeared. They were about to attack when Homura grasped his hand and time stopped when she inexplicably changed into a different outfit.
"Do you know how to operate a gun?" she asked.
"I actually shot for sport some." James replied.
She tossed him a gun that somehow came out of a shield on her arm. She grabbed one of her own and they both fired at the familiars. The bullets somehow stopped in midair.
She then resumed time and the bullets took out the familiars.
Some more familiars were about to make a move when they were suddenly taken out by a blue streak and some gunfire.
It was Sayaka, accompanied by the yellow-haired girl from his dream.
"Hardware store, my ass." she said.
"Let me expla…" James said, before Sayaka started violently interrogating Homura at swordpoint.
"Explain yourself, devil" she said.
"W-w-what do you want?" she asked sheepishly.
"If you want the devil, you're looking at the wrong person." the clone said coming out of nowhere. "Freak of nature, though she is."
Sayaka did a double take. She eventually pointed her sword at the supposed clone. "You got real balls showing up here, Homura. Capturing James was a bad move."
"Wait, she's Homura too?" James asked.
The clone Homura tossed a school uniform to the other Homura. "I might as well not bother." the clone said. "the naïve one might as well take my place."
"If you try to harm us magical girls or our friends again, you will be sorry." the yellow-haired girl said to the clone.
"Why is it, when I try to fix other people's messes, you have to make more?" the clone asked.
"Speak for yourself. Get to the point" said Sayaka.
"I'll be back." said the clone, and then vanished.
"What a douche." James said.
They started heading back home. "I'm sorry I lied to you and Madoka, I was curious what about a noise coming from the building." said James.
"That's okay." said Sayaka. She spoke to Homura. "Sorry I barged on you like that. That clone is pissing me off and I don't know why, something about a devil."
"Join the amnesia club." said Homura.
"That's my joke" said James.
"I'm Mami" the yellow-haired girl said to James. "Feel free to come by anytime. I live by myself."
"You have no parents?" James asked.
"Probably not," she replied, "My mind is fuzzy."
James made it back home and he was on the receiving end of a vicious hug of relief courtesy of Madoka.
"You're alright!" she said.
"Why didn't you answer our calls?" her father asked.
"Phone died." James replied. "How convenient."
"Don't worry." Mr. Kaname replied, "We're planning to buy Madoka a better phone tomorrow, anyway. You can upgrade as well."
Someone came in through the door as they were talking. It was Mrs. Kaname, visibly drunk.
"How y'all doing!?" she asked, before collapsing.
"Oh shit." James muttered as he helped her to a chair with some ice.
"So, does this happen a lot?" James asked Madoka.
"On occasion. She's trying to not drink as hard on times like this, though it still tends to happen."
Out of the blue, he asked, "Do you ever feel like you experience amnesia?"
"Now that you mentioned it," she replied. "I might remember having superpowers or something, but it only feels like a dream."
"So," James said. "Dreams."
to be continued…
