It was of no strange coincidence that the two met. They were living in the same town, the same neighborhood, and as she recalled; the same school. Mami Tomoe vaguely remembered her pink-haired twin-tailed body walking the hallway of the academy. At the time it felt like something she wouldn't remember, like the save file of some retro game she hadn't played for three months, but when she finally remembered it all clicked in her head. A master of kendo not joining the kendo club while lugging a sword all over the campus close to her at all times.
And now, she was having tea with said kendo master. The girl sat like a lady. Shin against her red-colored heart-shaped pillow. It wasn't grace that filled her atmosphere, but reckless danger that came from the katana laid on the pink-haired samurai's shoulder.
Taking a deep breath, the blonde girl started.
"Let me be frank. Are you an ally or an enemy?"
Mami Tomoe placed an emphasis on "ally". Presenting the choice first to indicate the topic of the conversation. This was never an idle conversation. This was always with interrogation in mind.
"Neither."
And with that Mami's decision was clear.
"Please, elaborate."
"I'm neither an ally nor an enemy to Magical Girls," the tone that came from the samurai's mouth was terse, cold. There was bitterness in her tone of voice. Her beast-like glare was a long-shot from a feral cat. It was as if Mami had locked her eyes to an apex predator, the king of the savanna. Even if it was her room, it felt like she was overstepping her boundary inside a lion's den. "Sooner or later, the galaxy as we know it will end, but we will not be there to witness it unfold. What use is a cause that only benefits the future and not the present? Those critters aren't Gods, you know. They die if they are killed, they are wounded if they are harmed, and their numbers are finite despite their unbridled arrogance."
"So you know about Kyubey... no, the Incubator's plan?"
"And you willingly accepted a fool's errand," Madoka sighed. "You know that you are being used, right? There will be nothing but strive and suffering ahead and still you are going to gamble on uncertainty? Magical Girls can still die. You're not invincible."
"As long as I can help other people I'm prepared to sacrifice everything."
"Spare me your holier-than-thou excuses. No one in this day and age are born dreaming a martyr for themselves." She set her tea cup on its plate, apparently empty. "Are you that afraid to come up with something selfish for a reason?"
"Then what's your excuse!?"
"I want to defeat that my friend cannot defeat," Madoka picked up her sheathed blade and showed its clean and polished entirety to Mami. "This sword is the proof of my bond with her. This blade, En-oh Homura, is what tied me with her. A bond that someone like you will never comprehend inside this blade she lived eternally inside my soul. My friend's will that was passed on to me, I will enact her desire upon the world. The consequences be damned."
The burning glare inside Madoka's eyes spoke truth to her conviction.
It was neither her selfishness nor her aforementioned friend. There was something more to her thirst for revenge. Her desire for vengeance. It was as if a hot and burning wind began enveloping her room. The temperature suddenly shot up a million degrees and it was both pressuring and deafening.
She cannot compare to the Pink Samurai.
That girl had completely lost her mind.