CHAPTER 3: We Were Too Late

2007

Hiiragi Household, Takanomiya

"G'morning, Kagami… wow, you look like hell. What happened?"

That was the middle Hiiragi sister, Matsuri. The oddball of the family in appearance as well as behavior, Matsuri had light brown hair, hazel eyes, a lazy attitude, and an extremely blunt manner. She smirked and leaned back in her chair as Kagami lurched down the stairs, rubbing her eyes.

"Leamme 'lone, Matsuri," she mumbled as she sat down at the table, fighting the urge to nod off again. Much as she hated to admit it, Matsuri was probably right… after the night she'd had, she almost certainly did look terrible.

"You poor thing," said a gentle voice from the kitchen. Miki Hiiragi stepped gracefully over to her daughter and brushed her bangs aside, laying a cool hand on her forehead. "Did you stay up late studying again? I thought I've told you about pushing yourself too hard."

"I'll be fine, Mom," she lied. Her heartbeat quickened just slightly at her mother's touch, as she remembered what Akemi had done yesterday… No, she thought. I'm not gonna think about that yet. Breakfast first, then school, then I can find out what the hell is going on. "Is Tsukasa up yet?"

"Still snoring away," said Matsuri, shrugging and going back to her plate. Nothing much fazed her.

Kagami allowed herself a small smile of relief. At least that's normal.

Miki had returned to the kitchen. Her quiet voice was somehow perfectly audible over the sounds of bubbling pots and chopping boards… just hearing it lifted Kagami's spirits a little. "I can make your breakfast if you want. What do you feel like?"

"Mmm… eggs," said Kagami. "Over-easy. And I'll need some very strong tea…"

"Oh? Do you have a test today?" said Miki, rummaging through a cabinet.

"Something like that," said Kagami.

Ryouou High

She was already there when Kagami stepped into homeroom. Akemi was just sitting there, staring off into space at nothing in particular. Not caring what anyone else would think, she marched straight over to Akemi's desk and slammed a hand down on it. "We need to talk," she said by way of greeting.

Akemi didn't even flinch. "Not now."

"This is the way it's going to be? Fine," said Kagami. "When? Just give me a time."

"Later," said Akemi.

Kagami's cheeks began to burn. "Listen, you…!"

"Whoa, Hiiragi, chill out!" said someone across the aisle. It was Misao; she had come to class unusually early and was using the time to chat with her classmates. Her mouth hung wide open at Kagami's display of temper, and her one snaggletooth fang was clearly visible. "Sheesh, I usually only see you get so worked up around the midget…!"

"Can it, Kusakabe, it's none of your business," Kagami snapped. She was in no mood for foolishness, not today.

Misao stood up and grasped Kagami's shoulder, to the latter's annoyance. "C'mon, c'mon, settle down," she said with an infuriating smile. "What's the matter? You havin' cramps in your lady parts today or somethin'?"

"Thank you, Kusakabe-san," said Akemi with infinite calm. "Hiiragi-san, I don't know why you're upset, but this is not the time to discuss it. Class will be starting very soon. Please sit down."

She could almost feel steam erupting out the top of her head, like in one of Konata's anime. Kagami fumed silently and allowed Misao to push her into her seat. How dare she? How dare she, after what happened yesterday? Her teeth ground together as she opened her bag and slammed her books down onto her desk, with far more force than necessary. I swear, when I get my hands on her, I'll-

On the roof, during lunch break.

Kagami almost fell out of her chair. She was hearing Akemi's voice inside her mind, as clear as if she were standing right next to her. Once again, her skin broke out in goose bumps; Akemi was staring at the back of her head, her eyes boring holes in her skull. She didn't even have to turn around to confirm it, she could feel the stare.

Wha… She struggled to form a coherent thought. What… how… how are you- G-get out of my head! Get out!

We will talk on the roof, during lunch break. Is that acceptable? Her thoughts were as cold and even as her voice.

Yes, fine, whatever, now stop that! Kagami was trembling with the effort of staying silent; it came as a blessed relief when she felt the mental connection close. A huge breath escaped her; she hadn't even realized she had been holding it.

"You're really on edge today, aint'cha?" Misao gave her an odd look across the aisle, raising an eyebrow. "Must be somethin' goin' around… Ayano-chan barely talked to me in the hall."

"I'm fine, I'm fine," muttered Kagami, feeling anything but. Sakuraba-sensei was coming in the classroom door, now it was time to get to work.

Schoolwork proved to be far harder than it should have been, however… a million little things kept distracting her, and half a million of them led back to thinking about the girl sitting several seats behind her. In fact, Kagami missed several very easy Biology questions that morning, questions she should have been able to answer in a heartbeat. It stabbed at her like a knife when she saw a brief look of disappointment flicker across Sakuraba-sensei's face after one particularly bad answer.

After that embarrassment, she groaned as she slumped forward on her desk, putting her head in her arms. Magical girls! she thought to herself, framing the words as a curse.

At least it was wonderful weather for eating on the school roof. Sometimes in the summer months it would be roasting up there… you could see the heat waves shimmering just a half-meter ahead of you on the worst days. But today the sky was cheery blue and patterned with huge, fluffy clouds that provided excellent shade from the relentless midday sun.

It was so bright outside that it took a moment for Kagami's eyes to adjust as she stepped out of the rooftop stairwell. She squeezed her eyelids shut and shielded her face with her arm as she called out. "Akemi…?"

"Here," came the reply. She was leaning against the fence at the very edge of the roof. A lesser light, apart from that of the blazing sun, was shining faintly across her face, projected from a flat black object in her hands. It was too large to be a cell phone, it was almost the size of a book cover. Akemi's eyes were intent on it; she didn't even look up.

Kagami checked to see that they were alone, then stomped over to her, throwing a long shadow across her body. She opened her mouth to let Akemi have it, to tell her that it was her fault she didn't sleep, her fault that now her classmates thought there was something weird between them, her fault that she was unable to concentrate all day… and suddenly found herself struck dumb.

She couldn't say exactly how she could tell. It wasn't Akemi's face that gave it away; her expression was as neutral as always. Nor was it her body language… leaning against the fence presented the impression that she was perfectly relaxed. She wasn't twitching or shuffling her feet or sagging her shoulders or doing anything that should have indicated her feelings, but it was clear nonetheless: Homura Akemi was on the point of tears. A lesser person would have broken down into sobbing already, but she remained stoic and dry-eyed.

Angry as she was, Kagami somehow sensed this sadness, and felt it wouldn't help matters to start off the conversation by yelling at her. Hesitantly, she asked, "Is- is this a bad time…?"

"No." And just like that, Akemi was back to normal. Nothing visibly or audibly changed at all, but it was entirely clear that her moment of emotion was over.

Kagami couldn't help but feel that she had just intruded on something very private. Searching about for something to say, she finally landed on the black panel. "What is that?"

"It's called a tablet computer." It had no buttons; she was manipulating the data on its surface by brushing her fingertips across it, and occasionally tapping the screen. At the moment, she was looking at a series of photos of girls in odd costumes.

Kagami wasn't into technology, but she was impressed regardless. "It's like one of those new touch phone things, or a DS… but I've never seen one so advanced before…"

"They haven't been invented yet."

"Wait, what?"

"There are many things I must explain to you, Kagami Hiiragi," said Akemi, darkening the tablet's surface with a brush of her hand. "Much of what I tell you will be hard to hear, and even harder to believe, but it's clear to me now that you have to know. The magic I cast on your memories was ineffective, and that alone tells me something is very wrong…"

"M-my memories?" Kagami stammered. "Akemi, you were standing on the roof of our neighbor's house, you weren't exactly trying to keep out of sight!"

"I followed you all afternoon after you left the train, to be sure that the experience had not… changed you," said Akemi. "However, late last night you were able to see through my barrier and recover your memories of the incident. That should not happen, Hiiragi-san. Once cast, magic always works… it may not work in the way that you expect, but its effects cannot be dispelled, or muted, or broken, unless the caster wishes it to be so. You broke two works of powerful magic from an experienced Puella Magi without even trying … without even knowing that you could."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Kagami, holding up her hands. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck rising. "I don't want to know about your magic or whatever, though I'm sure that's great and all… I want to hear about you. Why you're here, what you want with me, and what that Demon thing was doing on the train!"

"Very well," Akemi said simply. "I shall try to make this as simple as I can." She sat down and motioned Kagami to do the same. The clouds passed over the sun as she spoke. "I am from a city called Mitakihara-"

"Hold on," said Kagami. "That's in Japan, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I looked it up online last night before I went back to bed, and I couldn't find anything about it at all… No city called Mitakihara in Japan, or anywhere else for that matter. It's not on any maps, and didn't show up in any search listings…"

"That's because Mitakihara does not exist yet. It's possible that in this timeline, it may not exist at all."

There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence.

"You're telling me…" said Kagami slowly, trying to process that information, "… that you're a magical girl… from the future."

"2013, to be exact. Approximately six years from now."

Kagami shut her eyes and shook her head. "Honestly… Konata's going to have a field day when she hears about this…"

"May I continue?"

"Go ahead."

"I am from a city called Mitakihara-"

"Kono sekai ni umareta… sono imo wo…" The song came from the pocket of Kagami's skirt, muffled considerably by the fabric.

"Rrrgh! What now?" Kagami almost screamed as she snatched her phone from her pocket. Was the universe conspiring to keep her from being told the truth or something? As Homura waited patiently with her hands folded in her lap, Kagami mumbled an apology and flipped the phone open.

kagamin we r at lunch where r u? read a text written in Konata's signature mixture of mangled Japanese and chatspeak.

Kagami swore; she had forgotten to tell Tsukasa that she wouldn't be joining them for the usual lunch in the cafeteria. On roof with new transfer student, she typed, taking pains to do so legibly even though it took far longer. Important stuff for school. Don't bother me! She jabbed the SEND button with her thumb, then waited… Konata would never let her have the last word. "Sorry about this," she said to Akemi, rolling her eyes. "It's my friend Konata. I usually eat with her and my sister…"

"I don't mind," she said, brushing her hair back. "It's good to know that your friends care about you." Was that wistfulness in her voice?

No more than thirty seconds later, the second text arrived: w00t! it said. Go Kagamin! EVENT FLAG GET! d（￣ω￣）b

Kagami just stared at the screen, baffled. "Sometimes I swear she's not speaking Japanese…" She shut off the phone, clicked it shut, and placed it back in her pocket, then looked at Akemi expectantly. "Well?"

The other girl cleared her throat. "I will skip ahead a bit. Here is what you need to know most of all: Puellae Magi exist only to fight Demons. Some of us choose to try to save the lives of the Demons' targets, but that is by no means the norm."

"So… no fighting for love and justice, then?" The quip didn't sound nearly as light-hearted as it had in Kagami's head. She felt oddly cold.

Strangely, the smallest ghost of a smile flickered across Akemi's face for an instant. "Someone I used to know did, but she was… an oddity." Then she was all seriousness again: "Demons are creatures formed from human sorrows. They are beings of concentrated hatred, grief, and madness. When they target someone, they will feed on that person's Heart-"

"H-Heart?" The coldness escalated; Kagami's veins filled with ice as she clutched at her chest, as if something might try to take her heart at any moment. "I-Is that what that thing was trying to do to-"

Akemi shook her head. "You have the wrong idea. It's not the heart in the physical sense… a human heart is little but a muscle which pumps blood. It's vital to the body, but useless to a Demon. The Heart that Demons feed on is something intangible… the core of human emotion. They take people's joy, their hope, their capacity to feel happiness… if left unchecked, all that will remain is a person's most bitter feelings, their deepest inner darkness. Not many live long after a Demon is done feeding… those that do are little better than the Demons themselves."

If anything, that was even worse. To live without even the idea of happiness, to lose all hope… "H-How… why…" Kagami couldn't reply coherently, she simply sat there trembling.

"No one knows," Akemi said in a whisper. "Most likely they're driven by hunger, or by instinct. However, that only answers what the Demons do, and I still must explain why I am here.

"I told you that I come from the future. While that is true, I am also from another universe… a parallel reality, of which there are countless billions, each with their own differences. On my plane of the multiverse, the Demons have…" Here she paused, and briefly reached her hand up to touch the red ribbon in her hair. "… have always existed, and there have always been Puellae Magi to stop them… my allies and I are but a small number of the hundreds around the world.

"One night, a year and a half ago from my perspective, one of my fellow Puellae Magi had a terrible vision. A catastrophe would befall the entire world should the Demons succeed in killing one particular person. Using her unique abilities, she was able to do something unprecedented: she brought together all of the Puellae Magi from Mitakihara and the surrounding cities and united them with one cause, to find the Demons' target and protect them at all costs."

"Who was the target…?" In some way she couldn't explain, Kagami knew the answer before she gave it.

"One of a pair of twins living in Saitama, born on the day of the Tanabata Festival," said Akemi. "The Kagami and Tsukasa Hiiragi of our universe. We only gleaned the briefest fragments from Oriko's initial vision. The rest we had to piece together… there were no Magi in Saitama, no one local who could point us in the right direction. We had every intention of ensuring the safety of both you and your sister, not knowing which of you was the target, but…"

Akemi looked down at her feet, and her eyes disappeared beneath her black bangs. "We were too late. By the time our forces gathered… Tsukasa was dead."

Was it the world she felt spinning wildly out of control, or was it herself? Kagami honestly didn't know. She thought she might faint at any moment. Tsukasa, dead… she had never imagined life without her sister. Tsukasa was a constant in an ever-changing world: her eternally smiling face, her nearly hopeless struggles with schoolwork, her uncanny ability to anticipate when Kagami had had a bad day and be ready with a homemade snack, her goofiness that never failed to make her laugh, her charming innocence… She was closer to Kagami than anyone, friend or family. To have her taken away… "No," she whispered pleadingly. "No." She shook her head, trying to erase the images playing in the dark corners of her mind: Tsukasa bleeding, Tsukasa falling…

"You… the other you…" Akemi's voice was still in that dreadful monotone. How could she be so cold? "She simply… broke. There was nothing we could do. Somehow, impossibly, her anger and grief transformed her… and the creature that was born from that grief wasn't just a Demon, it was a nightmare... chaos given form. It tore into our world, into time and space itself, rending them apart… We couldn't defeat it alone. Oriko began to gather all of the Puellae Magi in Japan, then from all across the world… There were hundreds of us, nearly a thousand all together. All our power against one Demon… and in the end, less than half a dozen survived."

Kagami dropped to the ground, numb and sick with guilt. She had started to cry moments ago, but she didn't realize it until she saw the dark pools of teardrops blotting the cement beneath her. "Why… how could I…?"

"It wasn't you, Hiiragi-san," Akemi whispered. "The thing that destroyed us… its malice was beyond anything a human mind could conceive. Our world's Kagami Hiiragi ceased to exist the moment that the Demon was born."

Her vision blurred from tears, Kagami glared up at her furiously, meeting those cold violet eyes with her own, daring them to comprehend even part of what she was feeling. "That's supposed to make me feel better? Just shut up, Akemi! Shut up and leave me alone, I don't want to hear any more…"

"You have to," said Akemi. "You have to know, for your life is in danger. Not knowing the truth will lead to another catastrophe, even worse than the one that befell our world."

"Worse? What could possibly be worse than-"

"After the final blow was struck, as the Demon's body crumbled, its power bled throughout the multiverse. Demons appeared in realities where they should never have existed, worlds without Puellae Magi to stop them. Worlds like this one… and of all the Hiiragi sisters in every reality, you and your world's Tsukasa are in the most danger of all…"

Kagami shook her head fervently, and her pigtails spilled over her shoulders. She wished that she were somewhere, anywhere else, just to get away from this madness that had invaded her life… "I don't want to hear it. I don't want-"

"… because you and your sister are the focal points of the multiverse itself."

Kagami froze. The sun was beating down on her, but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel anything… "No," she said. "No. We're not. You're crazy, we're not anything special! We're not your focal points or whatever! There's no way! No way in hell!"

Akemi moved, and a shadow fell over Kagami's body. Her cool, slender arms wrapped around her, embracing her…

… and Kagami, who was feeling as if nothing at all could possibly shock or disturb her more than what she had just been told, felt an entirely new and foreign kind of shock as her body began to tremble involuntarily. "A-Akemi… what…"

"I'm so sorry," Akemi said softly, holding her close. "I've given you a terrible burden, more than any person should have to bear. I wanted to spare you from it, Hiiragi-san. I wanted to be here to stop them before they found you, so you would never have to know the truth… but that's not possible anymore."

"Akemi…" Kagami's heartbeat quickened. Her most basic instincts, to push this strange girl away and get the hell out of there, didn't seem to be responding. What's wrong with me?

"Please," she said, with more emotion than Kagami had ever heard from her. "Call me Homura…"

They remained that way, the girl from one world holding onto the girl from the other, for what felt like hours… Everything seemed to have stopped, frozen in that one moment. The stars could have fallen, the world around them could have crumbled, and neither would notice or care.

Homura finally let her go once her shaking had stopped. She brushed her hair back and looked away… and saw that they were no longer alone on the roof.

Homura, said the small white catlike creature. We have a problem.

Kagami stared. It looked nothing so much like one of those stuffed plush toys of the mascot to some anime series or another, and was sitting so still that it could be mistaken for one. But then it blinked its round red eyes, and Kagami heard its voice in her mind, as she had Homura's earlier… Its thoughts were clean and clinical as a surgeon's knife, blunt as a wall and about as warm.

I didn't wish to interrupt you, said the creature, but it appears someone in this building has been Branded.

"What is that thing?" said Kagami to Homura. "Why is it talking in our heads?"

"This is Kyubey," she said. "He's… a friend, of sorts. An ally from my world."

Kyubey turned and looked at Kagami. It… he… had a catlike smile that made her think of Konata, but unlike Konata's it gave her the creeps. Greetings, Kagami Hiiragi. I'm sorry I can't stop to introduce myself properly, but this matter can't be ignored.

"What matter?" said Kagami, feeling herself spinning out of control again. "Did it say 'Branded'?"

Homura stood up immediately. "This is very bad. A human that's been marked with a Demon's Brand will be under its influence… a slave to its will for it to feed off of until it's strong enough to emerge from its Curse Seed. I'm sorry, Hiiragi-san, but we need to go."

"Wait a minute!" Kagami rose to her feet somewhat haltingly, as her legs had fallen asleep. "Go where?"

"We must find the Curse Seed and destroy it before the Demon inside it is born. There isn't-"

The three of them froze. There were voices coming from the open door of the rooftop stairwell, loud ones. Two people were arguing…

"I don't understand what's wrong!" said the first voice, close to tears. "Did I do somethin' bad? Just talk to me, please!"

"No!" The second voice was shrill and near-hysterical. "How many times do I have to tell you? Go away, just leave me alone!"

Kagami's eyes widened as she recognized the first voice. Without thinking, she clutched at Homura's sleeve. "That's Kusakabe! But she's never that upset…"

Homura didn't answer. She was staring at the amethyst set into her silver ring, which was glowing brighter by the second. "No," she muttered to herself. "Don't tell me…"

The stairwell door made a thunderous racket as it was pushed aside with enough force to crash it into the wall behind it. It took a moment for Kagami to recognize the person storming out of the egress… because she had never seen that person so angry before, never imagined her face could twist into such a grotesque scowl.

Ayano Minegeshi was red-faced and wild-eyed, seething visibly as she emerged onto the roof. She was followed barely a second later by Misao Kusakabe, who was crying freely, lost in total confusion. Both girls were in such a frenzied state that neither of them noticed the others on the roof.

"Ayano-chan, stop!" Misao sprinted across the roof and caught her friend by the arm. "Whatever it was I did, I'm sorry! I'm sorry… please don't be mad at m-"

Ayano spun around on her heel, and there was a sickening sound, a hard, wet thwump as her fist connected with Misao's cheek. The brown-haired girl crumpled into a quivering heap as Ayano stood over her, her blue eyes livid with rage. "Shut up!" she screamed, raising her hand as if to strike again, despite the blood flowing from her knuckles. "Just shut up, Misao! I'm sick of you, do you hear me? Sick of your stupid jokes, sick of you following me around all the time, sick of having to do every little thing for you! I've spent half my life babysitting you, wasting my time hoping you would act your age and stop being such an immature, lazy-"

"Minegeshi!" Kagami's jaw dropped in horror. Her feet moved of their own accord; this was insane, Misao and Ayano never fought, they were the best of friends, as close as Konata and herself… and Ayano was always so gentle and soft-spoken, even when Misao was at her worst… This couldn't be true, it had to be a nightmare. "Minegeshi, stop!"

Homura's arm stopped her in mid-step. "Stay back, Hiiragi-san. It's her… she's the one that's Branded!"

"Screw that, I'm stopping her Brand or no Brand! She's gonna kill Misao!" She pushed ineffectually against the arm, but Homura refused to budge.

Misao was past the point of words. She lay there helplessly with blood trickling down her lip, sobbing uncontrollably as her best friend's tirade rained down on her.

"Go away!" Ayano shrieked, raising her fist high above her head. "I never want to see you again, I hate-"

The remainder of that sentence dissolved into a wordless howl that seemed to tear itself from deep within Ayano's body, a terrible, primal sound, barely even human. Her red-rimmed eyes went wide, and her fingers uncurled from the tiny object she had been holding tightly in her fist… a black, translucent cube, with a sinister-looking spindle rammed through its center. The cube pulsed, dark clouds leaked from its angles like smoke and spread across the roof…

"Minegeshi!" Kagami shouted fruitlessly into the darkness as Ayano was lost from view. "Homura, what the hell is happening?"

The answer came not from Homura, but from Kyubey, who was watching the terrible smoke clouds spread without even a flicker of change coming over his eerie, frozen expression. He said simply, It's hatching.

END OF CHAPTER 3