"And that's why a man shouldn't get all wrapped up in how you make breakfast!" Saotome-sensei cried, looking equal parts despondent and fierce. It seems her latest date had, just like all the others, ended terribly. "So girls, don't get involved with men who judge your merit on your cooking!" She looked over at one boy in class and leveled her pointer at him. "Don't you think so, Nakazawa-kun?"
I sighed and looked out the window as Nakazawa nervously stuttered out his agreement. It was just another day at school, which was thankfully approaching its end. I could have sped it up, but I was reluctant to abuse my control over reality too much. Too many discrepancies with the world meant a greater chance for issues to pile up, issues that Madoka might notice before I fixed them. What was important was the illusion of normality. I could settle any problems, of course, but it was easier to let things mostly handle themselves.
The world wanted to run a certain way. I'd found that out soon after I'd taken control. For the most part that was fine with me. I only required a few changes to ensure my universe ran smoothly, and so long as it did I was happy to let everything else sort itself out properly.
Soon enough school ended for the day. I couldn't help but smile as Madoka and I walked outside, Sayaka and Hitomi chattering away. We didn't have any club activities, so we had the afternoon all to ourselves. Mami and Kyouko would not be joining us any time soon, however. While we were free this afternoon, those two did have extracurriculars that required their attention.
"So, what should we do today?" Madoka asked as we made our way from the school.
"I don't have any plans," I said. "Whatever you want is fine with me."
"The arcade!" Sayaka all but shouted. "School took forever to finish! Let's play around for a while! Get something to eat, too. I'm starving!"
"Not too long, though," Hitomi said softly, holding herself in that refined way that came to her so naturally. "There's a report due Friday. You should probably get started today."
Sayaka grimaced. "Ughh. I don't want to think about that right now. History is so boring!"
Madoka and Hitomi laughed at Sayaka's antics, and I allowed myself a small smile as well. It was mostly for appearances sake, of course. I couldn't say I really cared much for Sayaka, not after all the times I'd seen her crash and burn. Her attitude during my capture by the Incubators also didn't help my perception of her. But she was important to Madoka, so I would at least treat her courteously.
Something caught my eye as we made our way through the park near the school. There, sitting down on one of the benches, was Lucifer. The man had a loaf of bread in his hands, and he was tearing off portions to feed to the birds. There were a surprising number of pigeons surrounding him. It was almost a peaceful sight, if it wasn't for the man's rather stony expression. Normally someone would smile while feeding birds, but Lucifer's face was the epitome of neutrality. It was almost as if he were deep in thought on some other matter and simply wanted something to do with his hands.
"Excuse me for a moment," I said. "I'll meet up with you all at the arcade."
"Are you okay, Homura-chan?" Madoka asked. I smiled back at her.
"Yes. There's just something I need to look into right quick."
"Don't take too long!" Sayaka called. "Or we'll eat without you!"
"We'll do no such thing," Hitomi said, playfully shoving Sayaka.
"All right," Madoka said, looking between her friends and me with a nervous expression. "See you soon. Be careful, okay?"
"Of course," I said. "You don't ever need to worry about me, Madoka. I'll be fine."
Madoka nodded and went off with the others, though she glanced over her shoulder back at me. I just smiled and waved. Eventually she nodded and went off with Sayaka pulling on her arm.
My smile faded to a frown, and I turned to Lucifer. He had ceased staring blankly into space and turned to me, one eyebrow arched as if to question what I was doing. In response, I kept my expression stoic as I approached him.
"Feeding birds?" I asked as I came close, startling said birds and scattering them. "You don't seem the type."
"Just something to do while I focus on other things," Lucifer responded, tearing up another chunk and tossing the pieces on the ground.
"What are you even doing here?" I asked.
"Observing the fundamental fabric that makes up your universe," he said. He threw the last of the bread on the ground and wiped his hands together to disperse the crumbs. "I'd gotten a brief glance last night, but I felt it warranted a closer inspection. Frankly, it's a mess."
I couldn't help the twitch of my eye at the criticism, and was surprised at the stab of annoyance I felt. "In what way?"
He gave me a wry look that told me he understood exactly what his words had done. "The basic framework is the same as what I'm used to, with effect following cause being a cornerstone that everything else is set upon. I've issues with that on a personal standpoint, but I'll admit that's not relevant to our conversation." He frowned and looked up at the sky. "What's more important is that several structures in the metaphysical schema of reality seem either greatly altered from what I recognize or almost gutted entirely."
"You're not really answering my question."
"I can't make the explanation much simpler," Lucifer said, looking me in the eye. Even sitting down he was just about equal height to me standing. "It's not my fault if you don't understand the greater workings of the cosmos you appear to be in charge of."
"And you've experience being master of a universe, then?" I asked, not able to keep a bit of heat from entering my voice. This strange man, this person who called himself the Devil… By what right did he have to criticize the perfect world I had created? This world I had made to ensure Madoka's happiness… By what standard did this anomaly judge what I had wrought?
"Yes, actually," he said before standing up. He looked down at me, and I was forced to crane my neck in order to keep eye contact. I was fairly certain he'd done that intentionally just to make things more awkward for me. "So I can speak with some understanding."
He waved a hand through the air, which shimmered as if in a heat haze. Then, with an almost wrenching pull, he brought something down and put it before my eyes.
It was a swirling mass of black fog, oily in its consistency. Flashes of red and violet emerged every few moments, but for the most part it was simply a dark cloud twirling above Lucifer's palm.
It looked very familiar. More to the point, it felt familiar. It took me only a second to match the feeling.
It felt like the Wraiths. And, though perhaps to a lesser extent, Witches.
"A mixture of emotional energy," he said. "Though rather base, overall. There's a lot of despair, a good deal of fear and anger. Desire, too. It's all leaking out from the people of this world and not going anywhere, just congealing into a thick mass."
Lucifer pulled his hand away and released the energy back into the atmosphere.
"It makes me wonder just how much the Endless touch this universe," he continued. "Despair and Desire might play their little games, but I wouldn't say they're so irresponsible to just let something like this leak out everywhere. Not without their knowledge, anyway, and I'm almost certain they would be aware of something like this."
I narrowed my eyes. Lucifer was talking about concepts as if they were actual people. He'd done similarly last night, though I had been distracted by his introduction to make much of it.
"Despair?" I asked. "Desire? Are these the 'Endless' you spoke of?"
Lucifer gave me an odd look. "So you don't know about them?"
"No."
"I suppose that figures," he said in a despairing tone, and I had to hold down another flash of irritation. "Well, I've neither the time nor the inclination to tutor you on the movers and shakers of wider reality. But suffice it to say they're seven of the most fundamental aspects of all sentients everywhere."
"Perhaps the Incubators are the cause for the disturbances you've found?" I asked, moving the conversation along. Lucifer hadn't been quite this forthcoming about his knowledge yesterday, and if he was feeling talkative I might be able to get more information out of this odd creature who had invaded my world. "Before I took charge they had set up a complex arrangement to harness the emotional energy of young girls."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed as he mulled that over. "Perhaps that's the case, or partially the case, in any event. But there's more to it. It's almost as if there was something set in this universe's framework, some embodiment of a law that's just not there any more and its making the entire system not function properly."
I tensed up. Had Lucifer figured out what I had done to free Madoka from her duty as the Law of Cycles? I had originally placed the man as an annoying but mostly harmless anomaly, but if he was able to deduce all this despite the work I had done to hide that I'd separated Madoka from her greater self, then he was more dangerous than I had first thought.
I forced myself to relax, to cover up my lapse of composure. It was a wasted effort, over all. Lucifer had seen my reaction, the recognition in his eyes made that obvious. I was beginning to realize that there likely wasn't much Lucifer didn't see if he focused.
"Ah," Lucifer said, understanding dawning on his features. "So you're already aware of that."
"This is not a line of thought you want to continue pursuing," I said with ice in my voice. "You will regret it if you do."
Lucifer's perpetual scowl deepened, and the atmosphere around us seemed to tense as our wills clashed and began to interact with the world around us. If one paid attention you could almost see landscape ripple as if it wasn't quite solid. The threat I was making was obvious to anyone with more than human senses, but Lucifer didn't seem to care. He looked more annoyed by my hostility than intimidated.
I pulled some of my power to myself. Would I need to finish what I had begun last night? Would I have to take the risk and unmake Lucifer, despite that it would require everything I had in the face of his infinite will? There was a chance Madoka could become the Law of Cycles again if I was distracted in the confrontation, but allowing Lucifer to continue investigating might have been just as bad. That was a possible liability, and not one I was sure I could accept.
"Homura-chan?" Madoka called from near by.
Immediately I released what power I had gathered and turned to her. I kept my expression neutral, purging my face of the feelings that had been etched on it for the last several minutes.
Madoka wrung her hands a little before approaching us. "You were taking a while," she said timidly. "I was getting worried."
"It's fine," I said before walking over to her, pointedly ignoring Lucifer. "I was just discussing some things with an acquaintance of mine."
"Oh!" Madoka said, looking to Lucifer. She gave him a short bow. "Hello! I'm Kaname Madoka. It's a pleasure to meet you…"
"You may call me Morgenstern," Lucifer said. "I've been addressed that way before, and it's as good as any other name."
"I'm happy to meet you, Morgenstern-san!" Madoka said with a smile and bowed again, though it was obvious she was still shy around this person she'd never met before.
Lucifer, for his part, gave a slight bow back. "And to you, young lady. It's nice to see someone with some manners. I've been lacking in good social graces amongst the company I've been keeping."
… Was that an insult? More to the point, he was certainly one to talk about manners.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Madoka said. She turned to me and smiled. "But I'm sure Homura-chan has been nicer to you. She's a good girl."
Lucifer no doubt had something he considered clever to say in response to that, but I didn't give him the chance. I grabbed Madoka's hand and walked away, all but dragging her after me. She protested the impoliteness of the action, but I didn't let up. I kept walking till I could no longer feel Lucifer's eyes on my back, and it was only once we were several blocks away that I lessened the pace.
"Homura-chan!" Madoka said as she took back her hand. "It's rude to just leave a conversation without saying goodbye."
"Morgenstern doesn't care much about that," I responded. "You should stay away from him, Madoka. He's not a pleasant person."
"He didn't seem that bad," Madoka said softly.
"Trust me," I said. "It's best to avoid him. The more you get to know him the more he grates on you."
"If you say so," Madoka responded. She looked like she was going to say more, but the arcade came into view and in just a few minutes we had enough distractions around us that, hopefully, Lucifer left her mind. Sayaka was already in the midst of one of the dancing games, with Hitomi watching on. Both greeted us as we approached. In no time Madoka was distracted by the games and food that often made up a normal middle school girl's after class activities.
I only hoped that things stayed that way. I hoped they stayed that way forever.
