There was something weird about Madoka and Sayaka today.

Hitomi thought as she took her street shoes out of her shoe locker. There was that incident when Sayaka saw Madoka this morning, where she was shocked at absolutely nothing. There was that non-sequitur blurting of "good morning" by Madoka this morning. And then, there was this weird energy between the two of them throughout the day.

Whenever something abnormal happened between them, though, Hitomi had always felt an inexplicable and weird itch at the back of her head.

Just what was going on between them?

"Uh, sorry, Hitomi..." Madoka and Sayaka had already changed into their street shoes, "We can't hang out with you today."

Wait, what?

Hitomi was a little shocked at Sayaka's words. They have always had some time after school to hang out with each other, going shopping or getting snacks. Never, once, did Sayaka or Madoka miss the chance out of their own volition: it was always Hitomi who could not go because she had one class or another after school.

Hitomi had no classes this afternoon. She had nothing else to do.

So why were they trying to avoid her?

"Keeping secrets, now, are we?" Hitomi's voice was practically dripping with jealousy.

"Well, uh..."

"I'm so envious of you both!" Hitomi decided to play it over the top; after all, this morning she was borrowing a note from Sayaka with her reactions, as well. "No one can come between you now, can they~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~?"

Dragging the last syllable out, she sprinted out of Madoka and Sayaka's sight, before turning around and hiding in a corner, keeping herself hidden from them.

She had no experience of being a stalker nor did she like being one, but she had to find out the details behind this sudden and strange change of attitudes.

They were her friends. She had the right to know.


Madoka usually had two people with her after school. Most of the times, they were Sayaka and Hitomi, but today, Sayaka and Mami were with her instead.

The café Mami chose was a small but elegant one, unlike the Starbucks that were littered all around the city. The seats were comfortably soft, the lighting was similarly accommodating, and small art and sculpture pieces lined the milky white walls.

The place almost felt romantic. Why hasn't she paid attention to such a good coffee shop? Madoka wondered as she sipped her latte. The rich milky taste rolled on her tongue, almost sending her to heaven; Miss Mami really does have great taste!

"Okay. Let's begin our first lesson on the Magical Girl experience." Mami gently set down her cup of cappuccino and spoke with a smile, "Are you two ready?"

"I'm not sure if it'll help, but I brought this!" Sayaka stood up with a slam on the delicate table. Madoka had wondered what the cylindrical-shaped object Sayaka carried was.

With a dramatic unfurling of cloth, Sayaka revealed the content. It was a wooden baseball bat, yet Sayaka struck a pose with it like a musketeer, thrusting it high into the air.

Miss Mami is more qualified for that pose! Madoka almost palmed her face.

"I thought it'd be better than nothing." Sure, it is; it also makes you look like a delinquent. Madoka sighed and buried her face into her hands.

"Well, if you're that prepared, it'll help." Madoka could hear the sweat drop in Mami's voice. Miss Mami is just too nice!

"Madoka, did you bring anything?" Sayaka let the bat rest against her shoulders as she turned her head.

"Huh?"

Wait, me? Would it be okay if I show them those sketches I made in class, I wonder?

Madoka hesitated for a second.

Miss Mami's really nice, so she wouldn't laugh at me, would she? As for Sayaka… well, I kind of expected her to laugh, anyway, so I'm prepared!

"Um, uh, here!"

"Wow…" Sayaka stared at the sketches on the notebook as she let out a drawn-out whisper of amazement. The sketch involved a fluffy and frilly dress, with plenty of bowties and ribbons decorated all over the place. Madoka sketched Mami and Homura too on the other side of the page.

"I… I figured I might as well think about what outfit I'd like to wear." What made I sketch Homura, I wonder? Madoka thought as she tried to explain herself.

"Pff….pfft… hahahaha… HAHAHAHA~~~~~!"

Both Mami and Sayaka burst out in laughter.

Even Miss Mami is laughing at me…

Madoka bowed her head in embarrassment.


Inquisitor Kane moved silently toward the abandoned structure.

A persistent psychic presence permeated the entire structure. It was similar to the one he felt before, the one that led him to the mall, but this one was much, much more powerful.

What could it be?

He approached the side wall of the structure.

Was it a barrier?

It appeared completely unremarkable under normal vision. If the building were surrounded by a daemonic barrier, there would be either a swirling violet mist or an unpleasant sense of impending doom around the barrier.

It had neither; strange, for a daemonic barrier.

The Ruinous Powers may be using this planet as a laboratory for new and horrifying daemon breeds, Kane thought.

But that does not require the presence of what appears to be a naturally occurring psyker population. The Imperium and the Inquisition had encountered previous attempts to create new breeds of daemons before, none of which required unpossessed psykers.

Inquisitor Kane was still baffled at the planet as he reached the building.

A vague fragrance of roses drifted into his nose, but the Inquisitor could tell that his nose was not actually sensing the smell of roses. The daemon's barrier was playing tricks with his mind, trying to lure psychically active humans like him into the barrier for its consumption.

Maybe the daemon at the center of the barrier is a minor Slaaneshi daemon trying to replenish its strength by consuming humans.

The Inquisitor instinctively dropped his psychic cloak. There was no one around, anyway, and his cloak was too primitive to hide from the daemon's senses, no matter how weak it was.

With his reclaimed strength, he probed against the barrier. The fragrance of roses grew stronger as his probe encountered resistance; at the same time, his nose caught a whiff of stench, characteristic of a daemon.

There are daemons on the planet, after all.

Just as the Inquisitor finished his thought, he heard what appeared to be a scream from a girl in front of the building.

Hiding himself with his cloak, he observed three girls—one with blue hair, one with pink hair, and another with blonde hair—standing in front of the building.

And there was one woman in apparent free fall from the top of it.

With a flash of light, the blonde girl transformed into a completely different set of clothes, and created golden ropes and ribbons which caught the free-falling woman and gently set her down on the ground.

Inquisitor Kane could not believe his eyes.

That blonde girl is an active psyker on this planet?

Her psychic output easily matched the Inquisitor's. She appeared no older than 20 years of age, and already she could create material and alter gravity at will. Kane spent decades slowly honing his psychic power, and all he could do at the moment was simple psychic cloaks and mind blasts.

What's more curious to the Inquisitor was the flashy appearance of her transformation and ribbons. They seemed both wasteful and impractical.

But that was not his main concern. One of the girls—he could not tell for sure—seemed to be leaking power. How much power, he could not be certain, but he was sure that one of them were bleeding off psychic energy.

Strange. Very strange.

Inquisitor Kane had never seen such a psyker before. It was unsettling.

There was no time to ponder the discovery further, however, as the girls had already run into the main lobby of the building. The Inquisitor followed, only to see them swallowed into an intricately-crafted portal surrounded by butterflies.

The stench of a daemon leaked out of the portal.

But by the time Kane arrived there, the portal had closed.

He dropped his cloak again and probed against the barrier. The place where the portal opened felt a little tender, but he could not force his way through.

Footsteps. Behind him.

The Inquisitor quickly turned around, whipping out his bolt pistol at the same time.


They sure have walked a long time.

Hitomi hid behind a utility post as she caught her breath. Madoka's group was approaching an abandoned building.

Her heart beat more than twice a second, and her face flushed red hot. She was nervous, and she was embarrassed; nervous, because she did not want Madoka and Sayaka finding out that their best friend had just turned into a stalker, and embarrassed, because she was stalking people for the first time.

She did get some useful information by eavesdropping on their conversation, though. It seems like Mami—the blonde girl—was an upper year student, and they were discussing "hunting witches" and "magical girls".

Could it be... that Madoka and Sayaka fell off the deep end?

Hitomi almost palmed her face. Since when did those two became otaku-like? She knew that Sayaka had always favored shoujo manga, but even Madoka...

No. That's not it. That can't be it. It wouldn't lead them into the construction section of the mall they frequent. It wouldn't make them talk about "soul gems" and "looking for witches". It wouldn't make them talk about "that transfer student" and "partner of justice".

And it certainly wouldn't make them talk about traffic accidents and suicides.

Hitomi dashed forth and quickly jumped silently behind the flower bush in front of an abandoned building.

What are they doing in front of this building?

Hitomi remembered. This residential building was abandoned because there was apparently a structural defect. It was slated to be demolished in the near future, but at the moment there was no one around it.

Or is there?

Maybe this Mami lives here. Maybe she's leading them to a gang whose base of operations is there. Maybe this is a trap!

Hitomi's imagination began to run wild again, but she was interrupted.

"Miss Mami, look at that!" Sayaka's cries caused Hitomi to shift her stare to the top of the building.

A figure—an office lady, to be exact—stood outside the protective barriers around the rooftop.

What's she doing there? Doesn't she know it's dangerous to stand there? Or...!

Hitomi's eyes widened as Madoka let out a shrill scream. The woman hurled herself off of the building! She's trying to commit suicide!

Ribbons of light—physically impossible light—wrapped around Mami's body and she transformed into a different outfit. More ribbons of light knitted into a net and caught the falling woman, before gently laying her unconscious body onto the ground.

What did she just see here?

Hitomi's jaws were wide open.

She just saw something like the magical girl transformation inside an anime for kids, and that upper-year student Mami perform something that defied physics.

That woman should have died! Gravity and the force of impact should have killed her!

Something inside her mind suddenly clicked. The talk about "magical girls" and "witches" were not some meaningless banter between otakus.

They were real.

Hitomi would rather not think about the implications of that. Nor did she have time to, for the trio had already dashed into the lobby of the building after briefly examining the woman's body.

She followed, being as discreet as possible, but the girls had already disappeared.

In their place, was a large man with half his skull encased in metal, and his limbs surrounded by what appeared to be joints and metal bars.

And with a smooth motion, he pulled out what appeared to be a large gun and aimed it at Hitomi.


The inside of the Witch's barrier is even more mind-boggling than what she had seen last time.

Madoka thought as she kept Kyubey in her arms and sprinted between Sayaka and Mami.

"Stay away! Stay away!" Sayaka screamed at these creatures as she waved her enchanted baseball bat. Somehow Madoka wished that she had a pair of enchanted crystal slippers instead; but in that story, there was no kind, loving and protective mentorlike Miss Mami, only abusive step-relatives and... and a witch.

Then again, there was no seven-eyed monsters with wings that fly around in a twisted and bizarre version of reality, either; and that witch did not cause traffic accidents or make people commit suicide.

"Are you scared?" Mami took aim with her musket and shot a seven-eyed creature to pieces. They had been sprinting inside the barrier for quite a while, now, and all they had seen were twisted hallways lined with barbed thorns, seven-eyed monsters trying to attack them, and moustached cotton balls passing roses around.

"N-No way! This ain't nothing!" Sayaka stumbled on her denial. She must be pretty terrified, like Madoka was.

Mami extended her arm and stopped Madoka and Sayaka as they came up to a bridge. About a dozen seven-eyed monsters flew around it in lightning speeds.

With an assured step she whipped out a musket and popped a monster with a single shot. Then, with the spent musket, she swung it like a bat and bashed apart another, sending the weapon flying into a third monster, cutting it to pieces.

Another musket flew out from under her sleeves as her right hand drew a graceful arc in the air. Shouldering the weapon, Mami fired off another shot that pierced a monster and sent the one behind it reeling in pain.

But the shattered monsters were not completely defeated. They burst apart into eyes that flew around Madoka and Sayaka. Sensing their weakness, they gathered together behind Sayaka, into a new group of creatures that focused their attention on the girls.

Sayaka braced herself as she held her bat in a defensive stance, but the clump of creatures were too big for her bat to bash away. The clump spat out a creature at the duo, which Sayaka barely deflected with a loud ping. Madoka winced at the sound; it was loud enough that her ears rang.

Mami's dance of destruction came swiftly as she made a flying stomp at the clump, instantly dispersing them. Her hat in her right hand, she spun around like a ballet dancer, creating a ring of muskets which found their mark a split second later, shattering all of the monsters into pieces.

I'm afraid of these creatures. I'm afraid of this dimension. I'm afraid of the witches.

Mami beamed a small confident smile at Madoka.

But, somehow, they don't scare me at all!

Madoka made a weak smile in return.

Because Miss Mami's with me! Because she will protect me!

So, everything will be all right!


Pathfinder Azrael squatted on the upper level of the main lobby.

The predicament of the creatures down in the lobby was interesting. Kirahla had told him to observe either Tomoe Mami or the black-haired female, but he had no motivation to do as he was told.

The mon-keigh inquisitor, however, proved to be a much better target.

At this moment, its back was turned toward him, and it was focusing its attention on another female mon-keigh with green hair.

Azrael leveled his rifle at the Inquisitor.

It would be but a moment's pause and a fleeting sliver of tranquility; at this point where time stood still, he would become an angel of death, an agent of the War God.

His enemies—the Eldar's enemies—would find death through his shot, but they would find no peace. No, they would finally be cast into the obscene oblivion of the Warp, as befit all who oppose the Eldar.

And only through that, would he find peace and comfort.

His finger curled around the trigger.


Hitomi was mortified as she stared down the barrel of the enormous gun.

This man was obviously not from the city. Not only did he have half his skull replaced by shiny metal plates, his elbows, knees and ankles were surrounded by mechanical arms and joints. Even disregarding all the metal parts, his skin was too pale to be someone from the city.

Inquisitor Kane palmed his face mentally as the girl in front of him shivered in fear. He was pointing his pistol at a native civilian. She was, too, a weak psyker, much like the rest of the planet's population, and she seemed harmless enough.

He lowered his bolt pistol, but did not holster it again. Something was grating against the back of his mind, as if his instincts were trying to tell him something.

Inquisitor Kane took a step forward as Hitomi took a step backward, still too afraid to turn around and run away.

Just what's going on here? Hitomi's brain screamed for answer.

I was too careless, Kane thought, careless enough that I have been discovered by a native.

But this may be an opportunity, Kane's train of thought continued as he kept his gaze on the frozen girl; even though I do not know the native tongue of this planet, perhaps I could communicate telepathically with her, and hope she would understand me?

Hitomi's mind churned slowly as she searched her surroundings. There was nowhere she could hide and nowhere to run; the scary man was going to kill her if she runs! She knew it!

But then, a gruff voice rang inside her head, one that was not her own:

"I am Inquisitor Gideon Kane. I mean no harm."

"GYAAAA!"

With a scream Hitomi clasped her ears and squatted on the floor. Piercing pain accompanied the voice, twisting Hitomi's expression and coaxing some tears from her eyes.

Telepathic communication could cause her pain?

The Inquisitor was surprised, but Hitomi could not decide whether or not he meant what he... "said". The pain was piercing, sure, but it lasted only as long as the man "spoke".

She lifted her eyelids and peered at the towering man, who looked down at her with his emerald eyes. His gaze seemed peaceful enough...

Something collided with the Inquisitor's refractor field. The generator immediately overloaded itself as the egg-shaped field blinked off, but it was all the time that the Inquisitor needed.

Without a moment's pause, Kane whipped around his pistol and fired along the direction from where the shot came from, while quickly moving to cover outside the building.

Now's my chance! Hitomi quickly came out from squatting on the ground and dashed away from the building, never sparing a second to look back.


Tch!

Ranger Azrael could not believe that his bullet did not find its mark.

Rather, it did find its mark, just that there was a Warp-damned force field around the target.

He slid gracefully off of the handrails and landed in the center of the lobby. Exploding bolts blew up concrete and tiles, sending puffs of dust and smoke into the air.

But that was not the end of it. His target was apparently vaguely aware of his presence, as it shifted its fire in response of Azrael's movements, despite the fact that Azrael was cloaked.

Well, isn't this interesting? Azrael had a grin on his face as he made an acrobatic dance to avoid the deadly projectiles from his target's bolt pistol.

You are just itching for a fight, aren't you, mon-keigh scum? Then, you shall have it!

"No, he shall not." Kirahla's voice vibrated inside Azrael's skull as he quickly ascended to the second floor of the building. "Your priority is to observe either Tomoe Mami or the black-haired girl. The warlocks have reported that the black-haired girl had entered the building before the Inquisitor. You are to find her, and stalk her."

Tch!

Azrael spat again with disdain.


"See? That's a witch."

Madoka had always imagined a witch to be an old crone, perpetually stirring a bubbling cauldron of sticky green liquid fueled by dead bodies and rotten wood. They would sometimes dance around the cauldron, chanting their nonsensical verses and casting curses on those that slighted them.

This Witch was beyond her imagination.

It had a sticky bush-like head, with roses embedded on it, and a pair of butterfly wings. Its body was like a pile of clay, or even... or even a writhing stomach, with veins of red across it. It had on short stubby legs, like a centipede, and it sat on a large chair.

"Ugh, it's gruesome!" Sayaka winced.

The image revolted Madoka so much that she wanted to throw up.

So Miss Mami had been fighting creatures like this?

And if we make a wish, we will too, for the rest of our lives?

It suddenly made wish-making a much less enticing compensation for Madoka.

"Are you... are you going to fight that?" Madoka whimpered. She could not imagine the courage and resolve Mami must have to keep fighting Witches.

Did Madoka have it in her? Could she, like Miss Mami, fight these creatures one after another until she die?

"It's all right." Mami took Sayaka's enchanted baseball bat from her, and twirled it in her hand as if it were a musket. "It's not like I'm going to lose to that!"

Her smile was brimming with confidence. It reassured Madoka a bit.

With a thud, the thick end of the bat crashed into the ground, and a small barrier formed around it, wrapping both Sayaka and Madoka inside.

"Stay here. I won't be long." With that, Mami hopped off the platform and stood in front of the witch, squashing a small creature under her foot. She then proceeded to make an elegant curtsey, lifting her short skirt and bowing her head. A pair of muskets dropped from the lifted portions of her skirt, stabbing into the ground and stood on their muzzles.

The Witch finally raised its head, as if it noticed Mami's taunts. With a pained mucous roar, it whipped its head around, and sent the chair on which it sat hurtling toward her.

With both muskets Mami opened fire, and blasted the huge chair to bits, while hopping back to avoid the crash. Taking her hat off again with her right hand, she spun around on her toes, producing more muskets that littered around her in a field of weapons.

The Witch was then adhering to the walls with its legs. The speed at which it moved was beyond Madoka's wildest imaginations—she never knew that something this big could move so fast that her eyes could barely catch it.

Mami, however, did not seem to mind. She pulled her muskets from the ground one by one, and fired them at the Witch. Each shot missed, but each shot forced the Witch higher and higher on the wall.

Madoka was amazed that, although all her shots missed, there was no haste or recklessness in Mami's motions. Even as the amount of muskets around her reduced quickly, Mami made no attempt to make more.

Maybe it was all part of her plan, Madoka thought.

Mami appeared genuinely surprised as small creatures—copies of the one that she squashed as a doorbell—crawled up her legs. They quickly turned into a black tentacle; it tightened around her torso and whipped around, dragging Mami up with a scream from her.

"Miss Mami!"

"Watch out!"

Both Sayaka and Madoka panicked. But Mami seemed not to mind. Even as she was being thrown around, she was pulling muskets out of her sleeves and firing, spraying small shots into the ground in little fissures.

With a crash the tentacle sent Mami into the wall, coaxing a pained grunt from her. The tentacle then pulled her body free from the crater, and hung her upside down in mid air.

"It's all right." Mami replied with a smile. Somehow, her hat was still on her head, even when her head was pointing at the ground.

The Witch seemed to be puzzled as it looked at her. How could this little creature in front of it be so confident, while it had the upper hand?

Golden threads seeped out of the cracked her shots left on the ground. These threads burnt the creatures inside the barrier, and turned them into fragments and pieces.

"I can't let my future apprentices see me when I'm down!" It was all part of Mami's plan. She made the Witch a little overconfident with her constant missing, and tricked the Witch into the right position by feinting surprise as the Witch entangled her with its tentacle. Then, while the Witch sent her into the air, she shot at the ground with scatter shots, planting seeds of mana which then turned into these golden threads.

It was then that the Witch realized its folly. With a panicked roar, it tried to command its familiars to sever the threads, but they all disappeared as the golden threads touched them. Seeing its lackeys fail, its face became a butterfly as it summoned tens of gardening shears with whips of thorn and tried to attack Mami in a desperate attempt to kill her before it was finished.

But it was too late. The clanking of the shears stopped as the golden threads tied around the witch in a tight bind. It struggled and writhed, but it could not escape the bind.

"It's a shame." Mami untied her bow on her collar, and with one stroke the yellow ribbon severed the black tentacle that bound her. "You're not good enough."

Dancing in mid-air, she spun the ribbon around, and somehow a huge matchlock cannon appeared in front of her.

Pointing the cannon at the Witch's head, she winked at Madoka and Sayaka, before calling out her attack:

"TIRO FINALE!"

A bright yellow beam lashed out from the muzzle of the cannon. The Witch's head took the hit; it exploded into a billion bright fragments, as its body started to disintegrate into a shower of light.

Mami landed on the ground with a light hop. Out of nowhere, a steaming cup of tea landed in her hand, and she casually took a sip from it. She then turned to Madoka and Sayaka with a victorious smile.

"She won?" Sayaka could not believe her eyes.

Neither could Madoka: "Awesome!"


Homura caught the Grief Seed Mami tossed at her.

It was no surprise that Mami was aware of her presence. It was also no surprise that she would try to make friends with Homura.

That was of no concern. What was of concern, however, was that Mami tried to teach Madoka the things in their world: Grief Seeds, Soul Gems, and fighting witches.

Knowing Madoka, she would not step back and forget everything so easily. Mami's performance today would certainly inspire Madoka. She would look up to Mami as a respectable mentor, and walk further down the path of becoming a Magical Girl.

That, Homura cannot allow.

"You should be able to use it one more time." Mami said with that annoying smile of hers. "I'll give it to you, Miss Akemi Homura."

Homura had no choice but to emerge from the shadow. The sight of that white creature in Madoka's embrace saddened her. The act of Mami trying to make peace with her through the offering of a Grief Seed angered her.

As long as that white creature still lived, as long as Madoka still thought about becoming a magical girl, Homura would find no peace, no rest, and no respite. Attempting to bribe her with a Grief Seed as if it were something of value was to simply trample on her pride.

"It's her." Sayaka's words had no impact on Homura's expression. She knew that the blue-haired idiot did not like her much, anyway.

Because Madoka is mine to protect, not yours.

"Or, are you not happy sharing with another?" No, that was not it. As intelligent as Mami was, she was simply too blind to the truth.

Grief Seeds held no value for Homura. It was nothing but sugar-coated poison, designed to keep Magical Girls like Mami from escaping.

She wanted nothing short of the complete and utter destruction of the incubators. She wanted nothing short of the complete and utter disintegration of this twisted system.

She wanted nothing short of saving Madoka.

"It was your prey." Homura spoke with as steady a voice as she could. "Therefore, you should keep it for yourself, Tomoe Mami."

With a toss, the black Grief Seed tumbled into Mami's hand.

"So, that's your answer." Mami was less than pleased by Homura's answer. It was of no consequence, Homura thought; as long as Mami could keep herself alive and useful, how she regarded Homura was unimportant.

As long as she could be useful for the final confrontation, Homura need not care.

"Kaname Madoka," Homura turned her back on the trio, "Remember what I said."

And with that, she disappeared into the darkness.


Madoka sat quietly at her desk and looked out toward the night sky. Mitakihara's light made it difficult, but she could still see some constellations.

It was as if she had been in a dream for the entire day. Mami fought off an ugly Witch, and the woman who tried to jump off the building turned out to be okay.

Everything was as it should be. All is right with the world, for the moment.

"It's too difficult to make a wish that I want come true on a moment's notice," She scribbled in her diary. Indeed, even now, she had no idea what her wish would be. Perhaps it was as Sayaka had said: that they were happy idiots, people fortunate enough to not have something that they desperately want to change in their lives, even if it means giving their lives to fight abominations like Witches.

"But seeing Miss Mami doing her best to save others was really, really amazing." Her graceful dance, her confident smile, her comforting voice, everything left a deep imprint on her mind. She was beautiful, both her body and her soul; she was truly the most amazing person that Madoka had ever met.

"If... if someone like me can really help people," Madoka continued. She was not sure that she could be as perfect as Miss Mami is, but maybe... just maybe, when she becomes a magical girl, she could help others just like Miss Mami could, and...

"If that's the case, I think that would be really nice."