"So, how'd you two start fighting together?" Sayaka asked between bites of cake, having already commented on its deliciousness.

A few days had passed since the first wraith hunt, allowing the girls to get settled into a routine. Homura would accompany them half the time, though still had yet to reveal much of her history. With her once again absent this evening, Mami opted to divulge some of her own, as per Sayaka's request. "I was hunting wraiths by the hospital and stumbled across Nagisa there," she began.

The topic was a little tender and uncomfortable to talk about, yet Nagisa continued when Mami had paused, "My mom was really sick and after I made my wish and realized I made a mistake I kinda… gave up. Mami found me and didn't let me, though."

"What happened to your-" Sayaka was about to ask, though Mami's gaze answered her question wordlessly. "...Oh… I see, sorry to hear that, Nagisa…"

Nagisa fidgeted uneasily. "Thank you..." she murmured solemnly.

Sayaka decided to change the subject. "So was Nagisa the first time you fought with another puella magi?"

Mami shook her head. "I've attempted to fight alongside others in the past, yet most insisted on going their separate ways almost immediately after…" She took a sip of tea, letting brief memories and faces she never had a chance to get attached to pass through her mind, a subconscious attempt to distract herself from another story. She set her cup down, realizing there was one face she couldn't forget, and looked to Sayaka, hoping maybe she'd be able to find some personal closure. "Though, there was one person in particular who I got close to before we ultimately parted..." she began, hesitating.

"It was over a year ago… After we first met, it was actually her idea for us to stick together. She wanted me to train her, much like I've done for Nagisa and am now doing for you." She paused, before resuming, a nostalgic but saddened tone to her voice. "Her name was Kyouko Sakura. I was convinced she and I shared the same selfless ideals... Her father was a minister at a church, and she even invited me to eat with them over the holidays. It was the first time I've felt like I belonged to a family since I became a magical girl."

"What happened to her?" Sayaka asked. "She's still alive, right?"

"She was when we parted. I'm sure she still is today, she was tough. A horrible accident happened one night, however. From what I found out, a fire burned down her father's church, taking her family with it." She shuddered. "Or… I wish it had been an accident. From what I heard about it over the news, they believed it was a forced multiple suicide."

She hesitated, her words sinking in. "I rushed out to try and find her, and was lucky I did. It was in the middle of winter, she would've frozen to death if I hadn't found her."

"Why'd she leave, though?" Nagisa asked, the story compelling enough to cause her to completely forget about the pieces of cake remaining on her plate.

"She blamed herself and her wish for her family's death. It was clear something fundamental broke inside her. Her fighting became more desperate, she grew mad at me, feeling like I was supporting her out of charity. She started questioning the ideals I thought we shared… just like all other girls I've met." Mami's voice grew quiet and distant as she gave a heavy sigh. "She said she never even really saw us as 'friends'... I should've expected such." Her eyes failed to meet anyone else's, merely staring longingly into her cup, halfheartedly expecting to find an answer to a question she couldn't quite phrase. She suddenly became aware of her posture and snapped alert. "Sorry-!" She quickly tried to recompose herself before finding Nagisa leaning over to give her a hug.

"Mami gets really lonely over it sometimes," Nagisa explained, half-teasing, half-trying to lighten the situation. Mami gave her a disapprovingly playful glare, but returned the hug anyway.

Sayaka offered a comforting smile. "I dunno much about Kyouko, but I can promise: nothing's gonna make me give up on my ideals. I'll fight for what's right no matter what!" She made a confident fist. "As long as you stand by those ideals, nothing's going to stop me from standing there with you."

Mami gave a sighing laugh. "Alright, you two have made your points." She placed her hand on Nagisa's head, stroking through her hair warmly. Nagisa let a small yawn escape, her eyelids beginning to droop with the soothing passes of Mami's hand. "A few weeks ago I was totally by myself… To think that in such a short time I could be surrounded in warmth from such close friends. It feels like a dream..." As she hesitated, she opted to take a passing glance at the clock. "My, it's getting late… Nagisa needs to get to bed soon. And Sayaka, you have homework to do still, do you not?"

Sayaka blinked and stammered. "Well, I mean… uh…"

"You mustn't make excuses for yourself," Mami interjected. "Sometimes justice means destroying wraiths and collecting curses, sometimes it means doing long division."

Sayaka groaned. "Oh come on! Isn't protecting the city more important?"

"The city's important, but so is your mind. In fact, that reminds me, starting tomorrow we're going to begin researching and studying wraith behavior and magic." Mami reached under the table to her bag, pulling out a notebook and opening it to a random page. Runes and notes relevant to the powers of a mahou shoujo were scrawled throughout. "You need to be at the top of your game not only physically, but mentally as well to truly be a powerful puella magi."

Sayaka groaned once more, prompting a giggle from Nagisa at her misfortune, which likewise prompted a glare from Sayaka.

"Hey, at least I don't have a set bedtime," she commented snidely.

"You'd want to be in bed right now if you didn't have homework!" Nagisa teased back. Sayaka huffed once more, yielding to Nagisa as the victor.

Mami laughed lightly and began collecting the used dishware to put in the sink. "Be careful on your way home, Sayaka," she advised.

"Yeah, yeah," Sayaka dismissed. She grabbed her bag and headed out the door, not before turning briefly, "See you guys tomorrow!"


Homura hadn't been seen for the past few days outside of in Sayaka's homeroom. As usual, sometimes she would join the others on a wraith hunt, other times she would go alone, though as of late she had been particularly absent. Sayaka was unable to coax any answers from her, though Mami began to just accept it as part of enigmatic nature, and gradually questioned it less and less. It was another element of her recent shift in her life's routine, which while certainly not unwelcome, was serving to distract her slightly from school studies, resulting in her falling behind on a class project.

"Sayaka, do you think you could watch Nagisa for me today?" she asked her friend in the hall one day between classes. "I need to stay after school today to get caught up on a project."

"Tch," Sayaka stifled a small, sarcastic giggle. "What happened to not making excuses? Don't tell me now Mamisan's shirking off her studies!"

Mami blinked, frowning very slightly. "Sayaka… Please, it's almost finals week." Her eyes were tired. It was suddenly apparent how late she had been staying up after their wraith hunts, and, for all of her resolve, how much this class was taking out of her.

"I'm just teasing!" Sayaka exclaimed, before donning a sheepish expression. "Right, sorry, that was kinda mean… You definitely deserve a break, I'll take care of her."

"Thank you," Mami sighed, relieved. "Sorry it's so sudden, she shouldn't give you any trouble."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Nagsia can practically take care of herself. It's not a big deal at all. I'm always happy to help my mentor," Sayaka answered. "I'll just take her to the park or something."

The bell for next period rang before any further discussion could be offered. The two bade one another goodbye before parting. Mami sat down in her next class, letting another sigh escape. Once this day was done she wouldn't have to worry about any major school assignments until finals week. She just had to get through today with her sanity in tact.

Despite nearly dozing off a few times, the last few hours seemed to go by relatively quickly. Mami soon found herself in the school's library as everyone else was leaving to head home. She took a seat at a table and promptly buried her nose in her textbook. Before long the only sound within audible earshot was the scraping of her pencil on her notes. Gradually, her mind became more and more enveloped in her studies, until finally she was all but totally lost in them. Before she could be fully immersed, something internally alerted to her surroundings once more. Nothing physically had occurred, yet for whatever reason her focus was broken. She paused her writing and sat up. There were two other students in other corners of the library, and no one else. It was odd: for the first time in weeks, she was totally alone, not even amongst apathetic peers. In that short time the sensation had become totally alien.

At first, she didn't know if it was oddly relaxing or not. Her mind began to wander, teasing unsettling thoughts. She suppressed a shudder. Where had Homura been running off to? Did Sayaka remember to pick up Nagisa? What if she forgot, and Nagisa was lost? What if Nagisa stumbled across a miasma on her own? The silence and solitude quickly revealed to be distressing.

She shook her head, attempting to shed the thoughts. She hovered over her notes again, ready to write, yet she could feel her heartbeat and hear her breaths.

Why was she so nervous? She forced herself to put her pencil to the paper. As she pushed herself, her heartbeat steadied. The bad thoughts gradually began to leave her in peace, at least partially, and she was able to resume working. Even alone, she had to believe in the mask of resolve she normally put on for the sake of her students.

She turned a page in her textbook to another wall of text, and sighed. She hoped Nagisa was behaving for Sayaka. The two were probably at the park right now, and most likely were not getting into trouble.

There was no way they could have crossed paths with a wraith or a rogue magical girl. That was just paranoia.

They. Were totally. Fine.

...She could feel her heart pounding in her ears again. The mental half-hearted reassurances weren't working.

She closed her textbook and groaned. Fine, she was mostly finished, she could get the rest done tonight. She didn't need to impress anyone at the moment, what she needed was to be with her friends. She packed her bags and stood up, letting her worries get the better of her, as she turned to head out of the library.

Upon exiting its doors and entering the courtyard, she noticed something amiss. Nagisa was in the middle of the courtyard, intimidated by the school buildings, but still scouring the campus for Mami. She immediately came running as Mami stepped outside.

"Nagisa? I thought you were—" Mami began.

"Sayaka's in trouble!" Nagisa shouted, immediately grabbing Mami's hand and yanking her along.

Mami blinked, hesitating. "Wraiths?"

"No!" Nagisa exclaimed, leading Mami by her hand. "It's Kyouko!"


"Mami's not like you!" Sayaka's voice reverberated down the corridors of an alleyway. "You don't care about anyone but yourself!" The sounds of magic and metal soon followed, as the heroic voice proclaimed: "Magical girls like you are no match for magical girls like us!"

There was a sound of metal clanging and crashing. "I don't get it," a sharp voice retorted. "Fighting for someone else's sake… The hell do you think you're doing? Did your precious senpai teach you all that crap?" The sounds of rattling chains soon followed, as did a loud crash and a yell from Sayaka. "That pisses me off..." The voice was suddenly bitter in the middle of a pause. The sound of a spear scraping along the ground hailed Mami's and Nagisa's arrival."That REALLY pisses me off!" Kyouko Sakura was advancing, spear drawn, upon Sayaka, who was staggering below a broken water pipe.

An impatient click of a flintlock stopped Kyouko from taking another step. Mami's musket was cocked and pointed right at the red-head's back.

"Sakura-san, that's rather rude of you." Mami said assertively, her stern eyes suppressing a powerful yet controlled fury. "Leaving your territory just to attack one of my students? Just what has gotten into you?"

Kyouko hesitated before responding. "Tch… I'd've thought you'd've kicked the bucket by now…" She turned her head slightly to glare arrogantly at Mami out of the corner of her eye with a taunting smirk. "Instead you're wasting your time adopting lost little puppies. Guess it makes sense you of all people would need a pet or two."

"I am not a puppy!" Nagisa shouted from behind Mami, who had to raise a hand slightly to quiet her.

Kyouko turned a little more, opting to say something more hurtful before noticing how young Nagisa was. The pause gave Mami a chance to reassert herself: "I don't know why you're here, Kyouko, but if you ever threaten either of my kouhais again I will not hesitate to open fire."

Kyouko shifted her stance, glancing behind herself at Sayaka, who was rising back to her feet. The busted water line above her had left her partially soaked. "Tch… You've got enough on your hands for now." She twisted her spear around once to extend it. "Just wouldn't be fair for you if I took you on when you're having to carry two block-heads. I'm out of here." She planted her spear into the ground to start a vault. "I've gotta meet someone anyway." Kyouko took a leap to the wall, rebounded off it, and within mere seconds she was gone. Mami sighed and lowered her musket as Nagisa ran over to help Sayaka up.

The rifle's metal exterior soon transmuted back into delicate yellow ribbon as it unwound and dematerialized into the air. Meeting someone? That might explain why the transfer student had been oddly absent as of late. She could feel distrust welling up in her again. "Are you alright, Sayaka?" she asked.

Sayaka shook herself off. She was bruised a bit but was largely unharmed. "Yeah, fine… The hell was her problem?"

"How did you wind up fighting her?" Mami immediately questioned. Sayaka was slightly taken off guard.

"Well, she… Came out of nowhere. Starting talking bad about you, and then about me and Nagisa," she responded, choosing her words carefully. "And when I stood up for us, she got mad and attacked."

"Why were you in the alley, Sayaka? I thought you said you'd be at the park." Mami looked to Nagisa for some confirmation. She immediately gave the whole story:

"Sayaka thought she felt a miasma coming so she wanted to stop it while it was small but Kyouko was in the alley to stop us. She told us to let the miasma grow a little bit first, else it'd be a waste of energy. She then asked if we knew you, and after we said we did Sayaka called her selfish for how she had left you," Nagisa blurted out, before sheepishly shuffling her stance. "Then she got mad and attacked."

Mami sighed as Sayaka tensed up, fearing reprimand. To her surprise, Mami's response was only melancholy: "I guess it couldn't've been helped."

"What do you mean?" Sayaka asked.

Mami shook her head. "I'm too tired to explain right now…. Was Homura in class today?"

"No. Absent again." Sayaka suddenly recalled Kyouko's parting words. "You don't think-?"

"I hope not... Still, I wonder why Kyouko has returned," Mami idled her words, starting to think aloud. Of course her students wouldn't have an answer. She crossed her arms with another sigh. "I still have some work to finish… Would you mind if we postponed our meeting for today? You could use some rest yourself."

Sayaka gave a nod as the two discarded their magical girl attires. "Right… I'll see you tomorrow, Mami." She turned to head off. Nagisa meanwhile stepped towards Mami and took her hand, hugging her arm gently. Slightly taken aback, Mami soon smiled, the affection more than welcome after a stressful day. The two began to walk home.


A small, simple dinner preceded an early bedtime for Nagisa, leaving Mami to finish up the last page of her assignment within the comfort of her own home. She had changed out of her uniform and let her hair down, and was now seated at her desk with a simple nightgown and shawl, laptop and textbook open before her. In the middle of typing the last paragraph, the soft patter of padded feet behind her disrupted her concentration. She looked back to see Kyubey approaching her from the center of the room.

"Oh, hello Kyubey, I haven't seen you in a while," she commented, before reverting her gaze to her laptop. Almost done...

"Indeed. I am curious as to what your plans are for Sakura Kyouko, so I felt I should come over and ask," he commented telepathically.

"So, you've heard about the fight earlier…" She slid her hands away from her keyboard. "I need to find out what she wants, first…" And then what? For as violent and acidic as Kyouko had been that day, she still couldn't bring herself to come to blows. She just wanted to be left alone with her students.

"Do you plan to fight her if need be?"Kyubey continued.

"Only if absolutely necessary… I'd rather her just keep to herself. I won't hesitate to defend myself and my students, however." Mami turned in her chair to face the Incubator. "Something else has been bothering me. Do you know the whereabouts of Akemi Homura?"

Kyubey tilted his head slightly. "From what I have witnessed she appears to have been working with Sakura Kyouko as of late." So her suspicions were right. "Why do you ask?"

Mami turned back to her computer, thinking. If Homura was working with Kyouko, would that make her an enemy? She gave a contemplative sigh. "I'm convinced Kyouko still hates me. Yet, every part of me wants to believe she's not a lost cause."

"Even if she were to rejoin you as an ally, and even with maximum synergy in collecting curses, there likely would not be enough wraiths to sustain all five of you." Kyubey hopped up on the desk and stretched. "Granted, her mere presence in the city is enough to present a similar risk, though she may just be here temporarily. I cannot see why she would give up her territory. The best course of action for you both would be for her to leave."

Kyubey scratched behind his ear a little, expecting a pet or two from Mami. She didn't oblige. "I don't want her to leave again… It's probably wishful thinking, but I'd do anything for her to soften up to her old self." She put a hand to her forehead to rub her temple, thinking. "I need to find out what she and Homura are up to, first." She looked back at her screen. The final paragraph just needed two more sentences. With a momentary pause, she temporarily set aside her thoughts as a conclusion clicked in her mind, and she typed the assignment into completion. She saved the assignment, shut down her computer, and stored it with her notebook in her bag. "It's late, Kyubey, I need to sleep."

"Very well. I suppose we'll simply see what happens,"his emotionless voice responded, yet something in the context of his voice held an ominous undertone. After today, however, Mami was too emotionally spent to worry any further. She walked into the bedroom, Nagisa rolling over on her futon as Mami entered. The second her head hit the pillow she was lost to sleep.