Morning was upon Madoka as she sprang out of bed. She picked up her school uniform when, "Hi."

Sitting at her desk was a smiling Sayaka, already changed into her school uniform. "Oh! You're up early! And you already showered?"

Sayaka said, "Yeah." She leaned back in the chair, "I could get used to this; waking up to a bewildered you, maybe next time, I'll prepare breakfast for you?"

Madoka giggled, "That won't be necessary! Papa always does that for me, remember?"

Sayaka looked awkward, "Oh yeah, huh? Well, I can't think straight right now."

Madoka prepared for school. She and Sayaka left after Junko left for work. As they walked, Madoka looked at the ground, "Uh, Sayaka-chan, about last night," Her voice became low in volume, "I do believe you when you say you moved on from Kamijou-san, er, kun, but, I don't know what to make what of you told me last night, I like that you feel this way about me, since I was getting worried that no boys, er, well, anyone was interested in romance with me, but this is really sudden, and I don't know what to say to your offer, and I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

"Eh heh heh heh heh! That's what I like about you! Always so honest!"

Madoka blushed, "Really? You think so?"

"I know so!"

The two of them met up with Hitomi and went to their classroom.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. Madoka and Sayaka approached Homura, "Well, class is over! What are you gonna do, Homura-chan?"

Homura was arranging the items in her backpack, "Oh, me? I joined a club. Tea ceremony club. I have to be going now."

Sayaka looked pleased, "Really? Tea ceremony? Say hi to Hitomi for us!"

"I will!" Homura stood up straight, "Well, I'm see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!"

Sayaka put her hands on her hips, "She's finally moving up. I'm so proud of her!"

"Heh heh! Yeah! So, what will you do now?"

Sayaka said, "Well, only club I'm in is the 'go straight home after school' school, so I'll do that and get some homework done. Don't want my family losing their heads over my grades again, so I guess I'll take off too. And remember," She whispered suggestively, "My offer's still good."

Madoka blushed and responded, "Okay. Take care of yourself, Sayaka!"

The two parted ways. The pink-haired girl went to the entrance of the school, where the school lockers were at. When she opened her shoe locker, a paper fell out. "Huh?" She uttered. She picked it up. There was a message written.

Dear Madoka Kaname. I am in love with you. Please don't hate me.

At first, Madoka assumed it was a prank from Sayaka, but then she noticed, this letter wasn't in Sayaka's handwriting, yet she recognized it, "This is . . . Homura-chan's handwriting!" Did Sayaka trick her into writing this? Or . . . Am I a magnet . . . for lesbians? Am I like Mama, but desirable to the same sex? But I thought girls didn't like girls like me!

Her head was spinning (metaphorically) on the way home. After arriving home, eating dinner, and finishing her homework, she opened up her cell phone. She composed a text message, "I got your letter Homura-chan! That's really sweet of you! ^_^ I don't know what to say, though. Let me think about it first, okay? Thank you!"

It was the next day of school. Lunchbreak was going on, and Madoka felt uneasy sitting with her friends. She knew an awful truth about her two best friends, even though they still carried themselves like usual. On the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

The warning bell rang, signifying the end of lunchbreak. The girls were exiting the cafeteria when, "Kaname-san." Mami called out.

"You go on ahead." Madoka told Sayaka, Hitomi, and Homura. She looked at Mami, "What is it?"

"Would you like to come over later today? I can help you with any projects you may have?"

Madoka felt at ease with Mami. "Will you be having another party?"

Mami shook her head, "Oh no! That's too much stress! I want to get to know my new companions on a one-to-one basis, if you don't mind."

Madoka put an index finger to her chin, "Mmmmmmm, okay! I remember the way! After school, right?"

"Uh huh. Meet me after final period is over."

"It sure is busy at this time of day." Mami observed. She and Madoka were walking down the street. Cars and people were jostling everywhere.

"Uh huh." The two of them had arrived at Mami's complex. The sempai invited the kouhai into her home, "I still can't get over how nice your house is!"

"Yes, Mom and Dad work very hard for our living." Mami said. "Have a seat."

After slipping her shoes off, Madoka sat on a sofa. She noticed the television across from where she was sitting, "Wow, that's bigger than the tv at my house! How clear is-Whuh!"

Madoka felt two hands caressing her shoulders from behind, "Please, relax. Don't think about school, or homework, or boys, or anything else right now. Just relax."

The feel of Mami's thumbs upon her back made Madoka's tension disappear. "Thanks, Tomoe-san."

"Oh please, call me Mami!" She stopped massaging her guest, "Is there anything you would like to eat? Or drink?"

"A cookie would be good."

"Very good choice." Mami brought a tray filled with sugar cookies.

"Thank you!" Madoka took a cookie and ate it.

Mami sat next to her on the couch, "Do you like the furniture? It adds a Western touch."

"Uh huh!"

Mami then looked straight ahead, almost morose, "Tell me, are there . . . any boys, you have in mind."

"Uh, you mean, like, anyone I'm in love with? No, not right now."

Mami, still looking serious, asked, "Have you ever been in love?"

Madoka shifted in her seat, "Yeah. Once, a couple of years ago, there was this guy in my class. He was really really really cute. I didn't know what to say, so during lunchbreak, I just went up to him and said, 'I love you! I wanna marry you!'"

Mami laughed a belly laugh, "I'm sorry! That must be really embarrassing for you to share!"

Madoka playfully waved her hand, "No, no, Sayaka-chan had the same reaction when she found out! Anyway, he didn't say anything to me for a while. One of his friends eventually said he wanted nothing to do with me. I was devastated. I cried so much that evening. I don't think I've ever been so depressed in my life."

Mami looked down, "So you know what heartache feels like?"

"Yeah."

Mami leaned over, Now's my chance to comfort her! She reached around with her arms, held Madoka, and stumbled with, "Don't worry, lovemuffin! I won't let anything like that happen to you! You're too precious!"

Madoka's face was red, "Eh!? Wha!?"

Mami let go, "Huh!? I . . . I'm sorry! I uh didn't mean that! Let's pretend that didn't happen!"

The two looked away for several seconds. Mami's voice broke in, "Want some help with your homework?"

" . . . Yeah."

It was the evening when Madoka was walking home. "Tomoe-san's behavior sure was strange. It's almost like," She gasped, "She likes me! Am I going insane? Am I becoming the center of the universe for my girlfriends?" She then thought, "I know! I'll ask Mama! She always knows best!"

Madoka arrived at her family home and let herself into the house. Her mother, Junko, was drinking hard liquor on the kitchen table. "Sup, babygirl!" She greeted.

"Hi Mama!" the daughter greeted.

"You've been coming home late lately, a ha ha ha!"

Madoka became nervous, "Oh yeah, huh? Well, good thing you said that, cuz I need to talk!" She sat down across from Junko.

Junko took a sip, "What's up?"

Madoka's face flashed pink, "Okay, remember the other day, we were talking about boys liking me?" It's sort of like that.

"Uh huh."

"Well, it turns out, that, there a couple of guys fighting over me."

"Uh oh!" Junko yelled out, "What'd I say!? Moe is the new shape of sexy! And to think, your teacher didn't believe me."

Madoka's face was cross, "Are you drunk, again?"

"Just slightly."

The daughter sighed, "But this is serious! They're some guys who want me, but I get the feeling that they're competing for my attention. What do I do?"

Junko put down her glass, "Do you like any of them?"

" . . . Maybe."

Junko leaned back, "Well, you're still young. You can still make mistakes at this point of your life, because you'll have time to bounce back and recover. If you wanna go out with any of these guys, go ahead. So long as you use protection, I won't mind."

But, why would I need that when they're all, "Uh, I'm getting sleepy. How 'bout we talk about this some other time, okay?"

"Sure." Junko took a swig, "If you have anymore questions, just come to me or your pop, okay?"

"Okay!" Madoka retreated to her bedroom, still uncertain of what to do next.

Omake #4: An inside look into the studio.

[x] "Princess Tutu was the greatest mahou shoujo ever, yet it is forever relegated to cult classic status. Why is that?"

[y] "Uh, people think it looks childish, and assume it would only be entertaining to three-year olds?"

[x] "Wrong! Because it violated one of the fundamental rules of mahou shoujo! 'There must be a lot of lesbian subtext, or actual lesbian relationships!'

[y] "Hey, you're right! Whoa, wait a minute, true, PT didn't have any yuri content, but there was still a lot of romance. Hetero romance, but statistically speaking, most people are hetero, so that would be more likely than two 'cousins' necking each other."

[x] "Idiot! That's not the point! Okay, look at Cardcaptor Sakura. What was one of its lessons? 'Love transcends everything.' Age, sex, social status, girl-on-magical-creature, heck, you had a teacher willing to wait for a cute little girl to be old enough to get married! Taboo relationships are what's hot!"

[y] "But isn't why PT is the best is because it avoided cliches, such at this one?"

[x] Maybe, but what's important, in the long run, is that we make something familiar to the anime-watching masses out there, so therefore, in this new show, we'll make it seem like the token quiet girl wants to snuggle the token moe girl into oblivion. And don't worry, we'll get Uroduki to script it, so it won't feel half-assed either.

[y] Brilliant!

[x] Brilliant!

[Author's note: Alright, for all of my shilling of Princess Tutu, you're probably wondering, "Why don't you do a fanfic of that instead!?" In fact, you probably noticed I never do fanfics of things I love. Star Wars, Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist, I love these things, yet you don't see fanfics of them by me. Why? Because anything I do is doomed to suck compared to the canon. PT is no exception. To attempt to make something equal to those in quality . . . would be an exercise in futility.

That, and I understand the characters in Madoka better. Speaking of which, if we continue my visual novel metaphors from before, we are now past the "common route". From here on out, it's all endings in this zany experiment of mine. First up, Homura route! Why? Because . . . I support Madochin/Homerun. Or rather, I could see that plausibly happening more than anything else that could fall under the yuri label. From here on out, things are going to get . . . interesting.