When the Scout woke up, all he could do was stare at the window, trying to shake off the voices in his head. Soon, the door opened as the nurse came in.

"Akemi, I have wonderful news. Reports have shown that your health has increased rapidly, and now you're healthy enough to be discharged." The nurse said. Scout turned around and looked at her in a half-asleep state.

"Joy." He said in a dull tone.

"… It's those "memories" again, right?" She asked him. The Scout nodded. "Look, I think you need some more fresh air. I'm permitting you to go out and spend the day however you want. Just come back before sundown, alright?" She asked him. The Scout nodded and got up, dressing himself in the school clothes again. He sighed and decided to head out.


Chapter 4: It Was All In Vain


The Scout explored the town, not sure of where exactly to go. He could probably try the mall, but that was what started his confrontation with the lady, who The Scout soon referred to as Mami. And remembering the first time they met also reminded him of the last time they talked.

"Makes me think if you were ever bullied before and this is just your way of acting out." Those words were more accurate than what Mami said, as the Scout remembered more about his childhood. To avoid being beaten by his brothers, Scout ran away from them. Soon, he became better at running, to the point in which he could outrun his brothers. And when they were out of breath and weakened by each other's punches, he'd beat them up. The memory caused Scout to realize that she was right. Now she's apparently dead. Scout's knees hit the ground as tears fell out his eyes.

"… Akemi?" Scout heard a voice and turned to see Kaname. Scout quickly dried his tears.

"I… I wasn't cryin'… I wasn't cryin' damn it!" Scout said, his voice trying to sound bold, and yet has some cracks in it that suggest otherwise. Kaname walked closer and put her hand on his shoulder.

"… It's okay, Akemi… I…" Kaname said.

"Is… Is she really…" The Scout tried to ask, the cracks becoming more obvious. Kaname simply nodded and went on her knees too. She soon began to cry. Without thought, the Scout held Kaname in his arms, and had her cry into his chest while he cried on her shoulder. They were like this for a while.


"…and she was right. I was just some bully victim actin' out." Scout said, walking with Kaname soon after their cry session.

"I… I see… Akemi… How… How many times have you seen people die like that?" Kaname said.

"A lot. I actually lost count ta be honest. Didn't help dat I killed a lot of 'em." Scout said. This caused Kaname to freeze up a bit. Scout realized what she was thinking and quickly corrected himself. "No. I don't mean girls, or dose "Puller Mages" either. I'm talkin' guys wit weapons. Guns, flamethrowas, bombs, machines, heck, one guy even tried ta kill me wit syringes." Scout said, chuckling at the last detail.

"Oh… that's a relief…" Kaname said, catching up to the Scout now. However, she had her head hung low.

"What's the matter?" Scout asked Kaname.

"Well… I was thinking… Had you and Mami been a little nicer and talked things out… she wouldn't have died." She said.

"Yeah… Somehow, I doubt it. Even if me and Mami were buddy buds, she had a point in me having no experience in the terms of fighting that… worm thing…" Scout said.

"A Witch. That's what Mami called them." Kaname said.

"Witch? Sorry, but when I think Witch, I don't think Da Very Hungry Caterpillar!" Scout said. In the midst of their talking, they bumped into a girl.

"Oh… Sorry about- Hitomi?" Kaname said, knowing the girl. Scout saw her too, noticing the wavy green hair.

"Oh Jeez! I knew I forgot somethin'!" Scout muttered.

"Oh, hello, Kaname." The green-haired girl said. Kaname noticed something on her

"Hitomi, where are you going?" Kaname asked her, the Scout was confused at her voiced concerns. "I am going somewhere better than here. I'd like you two to come too…" She said as if she was high on a drug. This caused Kaname to be even more concerned, almost beginning to tremble. But soon, she and Scout were huddled by a couple of other people and were soon locked onto a path towards a warehouse.


As they were in the warehouse, the Scout noticed that Kaname was starting to feel panicked. "Da hell's goin' on? What's makin' ya so scared?" Scout whispered into Kaname's ear.

"It's… she's been kissed by a Witch." She whispered back.

"… Can caterpillars even kiss?" He asked back.

"No… it's…" Before she could finish, the door closed behind them with a loud clatter.

"How many of you feel that you're useless? That you just don't belong?" A man said in front of the crowd as there was a bucket by his feet. "How many of you feel that it would be better if you'd just…" He then reveals a jug of bleach. "Die?" Kaname started to worry again, and she tried to run, but Hitomi punched her in the gut.

"Don't interrupt this grand ritual!" Hitomi said. It took the Scout a few seconds to realize what was going to happen. He ran, as Hitomi was busy with Kaname, grabbed the bucket, and threw the bucket out the window. The crowd noticed the window breaking and the bucket falling out. They soon advance towards the Scout, who noticed that they're pretty mad at him. He transformed into his Puller Mage clothes and pulled out his pistol from the shield.

"Akemi! Don't!" Kaname screamed. Scout tried to find something to shoot at to distract the oncoming crowd, and then he saw it: a water sprinkler. Aiming quickly, the Scout fired at the sprinkler, breaking it and causing the water to be sprayed onto the crowd. As they were distracted by the water, Scout ran past them and grabbed Kaname by the arm.

"Come on! Dis way!" Scout shouted as he opened a random door. The two went in and closed the door behind them. They soon noticed they were in a storage room. "Great! We're toast!" Scout said. Soon, the storage room came apart in tiny square particles. Scout and Kaname soon looked up and saw two large angel-like puppets carrying a large T.V. "Wat da crap?" Scout muttered.

"Kaname Madoka… Had you not been so weak…Tomoe Mami would have lived…" A voice said as clips showed of Mami's confrontations with the worm monster, and her eventual downfall as the worm munched on her, starting with her head. The Scout gagged a bit from the imagery, before the angels focused on him.

"And you… Akemi Homura… You had been betraying your friends… and breaking their trusts…" the voice said, now showing several clips of the Scout, in his normal male form, shooting at a canister and causing a massive explosion that destroyed a warehouse. Soon, a clip showed the Scout, in Akemi's body, shooting Kaname, or rather, an object in Kaname's hand, but still had the same effect in killing her. The clip showed and switched back to more clips of the Scout shooting the canister so fast, that it was impossible for Scout to notice any additional details, like the fact that this Scout had braided hair or glasses. He wasn't even sure what was in Kaname's hand or why shooting at it killed her. He turned to see Kaname's shocked expression. The Scout got out his pistol and shot at the T.V.

"Shut da hell up! Don't ya dare slanda me or Kaname wit yer stupid clipshow!" Scout shouted.

"Very well… prepare to be punished…" The voice said again as the angels dropped the broken T.V. closed in, grabbing Kaname and lifting her up.

"OH HELL NAW!" Scout said as he shot bullets at the angels, who drop Kaname. Scout grabbed the falling Kaname with one hand and continued shooting with the other. One of the angels exploded into bits of data as the other swooped in and tried to hit the Scout. He ran until he was backed into a corner and tried to fire, only to hear a clicking sound. "OUTTA BULLETS? GREAT!" Scout shouted as he saw the angel close in. Suddenly, the angel was sliced in half and exploded too. The Scout looked to see who killed the angel and saw a woman with blue breast armor, a white corset, a blue skirt, and a white cape. Then he noticed the hair. "Great… Saved by dat girl." Scout muttered as he recognized the short blue haired girl. The girl then saw a figure, some girl with long hair on the top of a boxy computer and flew to her. She then stabbed her sword downwards at the figure, bringing her and the computer flying down to the ground and smashing into it before going out the same way as the angels. The blue-haired girl got up from the attack, holding a Grief Seed in her hand. The entire room changed back into the storage room.

"So, how did I do, Miss Transfer Student?" The girl said to Scout.

"FREAKIN' EXCELLENT! I was all like, "save me! Save me!" and you were like "HIYAH!" and that woman was all like, "GAAAAAAAAAAH!" and it was AWESOME!" Scout said. Soon Kaname got off the Scout's shoulders.

"S-Sayaka?" Kaname said to her.

"HOLD DA HELL UP! YOU'RE MIKI SAYAKA?" Scout blurted out. The girl turned to him with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, and?" Sayaka asked him.

"Er… it's nothing…" Scout muttered as Sayaka pointed to the door leading to the storage room.

"Well, we better go, Madoka." Sayaka said.

"Uh… O… Okay…" Kaname said. Scout followed the two as they exited. They saw that the suicide cult were getting up and messaging their head like they just had a party in Las Vegas and this was their hangover. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later…" Kaname said to Sayaka.

"Okay, Madoka." Sayaka said as she left. Soon Kaname turned to Scout.

"So… What happened in that T.V. back there, when that Witch said you betrayed people?" Kaname asked.

"… Well… Back in my days, I was assigned ta distract da enemies long enough for my teammates ta steal some intelligence. We were doin' good, til dis fat guy came wit dis huge ass Gatling gun. He was unstoppable! Soon, he and da rest of my team was at dis large warehouse where da intelligence was, and nobody could get past him ta get out! Dat's when I noticed dat dere was a canister of explosive liquid and he was standing right next ta it. I figured I'd blow him ta smithereens, and so I shot at it. Little did I know it'd cause a big-ass explosion! Everyone died in dat fire! Except for dat fat guy. I killed my team ta get dis fat guy, and it was all in vain…" Scout said.

"…And… what about that other image… You… You shot me…" Kaname said.

"I have no idea about dat. Honest." Scout said.

"Oh… Okay…" Kaname said before taking her leave.

"Wait!" Scout said to her. Kaname soon turned around.

"That girl… Sayaka… she called you Ma… Mada…" Scout tried to pronounce the last bit.

"Madoka. Yeah, it's my given name. You can call me Madoka if you want." She said.

"Ma… doka… Okay then." Scout said.

"What about your given name? You only said it once in class…" Madoka said.

"Oh, I think it was something like Homer…" Scout said.

"Homura, was it?" Madoka asked.

"Yeah. Dat's the one." Scout said.

"Well, I'll see you later, Homura." Madoka said as she left. The Scout then looked at the waking victims, then spots Hitomi, who wakes up and notices him.

"A…Akemi? What happened?" Hitomi asked.

"Wait, ya don't remember da whole suicide cult and punchin' Madoka in da gut?" Scout asked her. Suddenly Hitomi put her hand to her mouth and gasped.

"W… What? No… There's no way I would try to…" Hitomi then looked at the others, scratching their heads in confusion. She then noticed the bottle of detergents. "I… I did…" Hitomi then ran out of the room, crying. Scout sighed and went back to the hospital.


As he went back, the nurse was expecting him in his room, with a suitcase on the foldout chair.

"Hello, Akemi, how was your walk?" She asked.

"Perfect. Helped me feel a bit better." Scout said.

"Good." She smiled. "I have some great news, however. The doctors have noticed a boost in your health and have decided that you're healthy enough to be dispatched." She said.

"Uh… Great?" Scout said.

"Is there something wrong?" the nurse asked.

"Well, I have no idea where I live, for starters, that and I have something to finish." Scout said.

"Don't worry, you have all of tomorrow to prepare. We'll give you an address of where your residence is to boot." the nurse said.

"That's good." Scout said.

"Well, I'll leave and have you rest. Bye." the nurse said as she left the room. The Scout then laid on the bed, thinking of what to say to Kamijou and how to ask him the question. All he knows is that it had to be done tomorrow. And with that, he went to sleep.