The next day, an exhausted Madoka reluctantly dragged herself out of bed and went through her usual morning routine (albeit a little sluggishly).

She didn't want anything to do with school. After the shock she and Sayaka had had when they saw the remains of the hospital, the pinkette honestly didn't even want to leave her room. The only thing that got the girl our of bed was the fact that she knew that Sayaka was probably feeling much worse. Unlike Madoka herself, the bluenette actually lost someone precious to her. She was well aware that despite how much her friend would never admit it, she had a crush on the boy. Naturally, she knew a lot of other people there as well because of how often she visited.

The teen made her way to Sayaka's house first, having left her home extra early. Knowing that girl, she was going to try to skip classes...which meant she'd have to try to convince her to attend.

It didn't take much time at all to reach her best friend's house. What did take a while, however, was getting her to open the door. The pinkette knocked several times, and once it was clear that Sayaka wasn't going to open up, she shouldered her schoolbag and went to climb a tree that was close enough to the girl's window.

Hopefully, no one would say anything about the schoolgirl sneaking into a house like a sorry excuse of a burglar.

Having known her since she was little, she knew the bluenette had a habit of leaving her bedroom window open.
The knowledge served her well as she clumsily flopped in through said window...and landed on Sayaka, who'd been in bed and under her covers.

Madoka promptly apologized and picked herself up and off the other girl, who had yet to react. In fact, she barely even moved.
Sighing, she yanked the blanket off her.

"Sayaka-chan, we really should be on our way to school now - we'll be late of you don't hurry!"

"..."

"Please? I'm sure Kamijo-kun wouldn't want you to get so depressed..."

"..."

"Everyone is going to get worried, Sayaka! I know you're sad but you can't be moping all the time... Did you at least eat after I brought you back home yesterday?"

Sayaka finally looked at her. It hadn't been more than a day since she started acting that way, but her hair was matted and greasy to the point that she could have sworn it'd been at least a week. The girl clearly didn't get a wink of sleep if the bags under her eyes and the dried tear tracks running down her face were any indication. Heck, she hadn't even changed out of the clothes she'd been wearing the day before...
"...I'm not hungry..."

"That's not true! Come on, I won't force you to go to school but you really need to eat... I'll make breakfast, okay?"

"...I'm not hungry..."

Madoka didn't pay her any mind and went downstairs, where she knew the kitchen and dining room were located. She brought out the tray the two had used many times to bring food to the bedroom during sleepovers.
Snooping around a bit for ingredients, she eventually settled for just making a simple breakfast in order to get back upstairs quickly. She had a feeling the bluenette still hadn't even gotten up.
The teen put a few slices of bread in the toaster and set on preparing some scrambled eggs. Her cooking was average at best, but it'd have to be good enough. Not that Sayaka would be that picky anyway.

Minutes later, she served the food - and she had to admit it looked a little messy, but hey! She tried! - and put it on the tray along with a glass of milk and some butter.
Madoka checked the time on her phone and, judging by how Sayaka was acting, ended up grudgingly accepting that she'd have to skip school and face the consequences later in order to take care of the other girl.

It was at moments like these that she wished the bluenette's parents would be around more often instead of being 'too busy' with their jobs. It was saddening for her to see that Sayaka always had to be the one to call her parents to be in contact with them at all - they never seemed to actually give their own daughter much (if any) attention. The bluenette would tell them whenever she was going to hang out with her friends or some other activity, but they clearly didn't really care, which made it unnecessary. It was just another way to communicate with them while trying not to look too clingy.

Shaking her head, Madoka took the tray and walked back up the stairs, careful not to spill the milk on her way.

She never noticed the burgundy-colored eyes watching from outside one of he windows, or the dead body of an incubator hanging from the very tree she'd climbed to get in the house.

0.0

Homura wasn't surprised to see that Sayaka and a few other classmates were absent because of the hospital incident. She was still disappointed when the pinkette didn't turn up, though. She fought down the urge to go check on them; everything would be fine. They were under Mao's protection.
Despite the fact that the girl wasn't completely sane, she knew for a fact that no harm would come to the two girls as long as she was alive, no matter the cost. The proof? She had preferred the death of more than a hundred innocent patients of a hospital over that of just one of the girls Homura wanted to protect. It was an immmoral way of thinking, but it worked in the ravenette's favor - at least, for the time being.

Thinking back to the day before, she had to admit that it was slightly amusing to see the supposed 'captain' practically explode in rage and almost freeze her entire apartment as Mao would continue mocking him for his apparent age and his height (as if she could talk; the maroon-haired girl was actually an inch or two shorter than him, making her incredibly small in comparison to everyone else). Once she and Kuchiki finally got her to just shut up, the two apologized on her behalf as she stuck her tongue at him in the background.
Homura didn't miss the fleeting, calculating looks Mao shot him, as though she was checking if he had any weapons on him, and by the amount of prodding her magic had been doing to him, she must have also taken a look at his reiatsu's level.
The only reason the teen had noticed at all was the fact that she'd known her for a pretty long time.

It was almost scary how the girl could be supposedly playing around with someone - or just having a conversation - when in reality she was actually thoroughly scrutinizing and sizing up the individual.

After that little shenanigan, she noticed that the boy seemed to be tailing Mao almost everywhere, and was significantly less cold towards her than anyone else (though she could tell that the 'nicer' attitude was forced).The teen wasn't kidding when she said she was being watched.

0.0

Toshiro watched as Suzuki continued to stalk the two girls. He couldn't see why the girl would feel the need to constantly monitor her two supposed friends. She didn't give a straight answer when he asked, though - even if she would have, he had the feeling she'd omit important details.

Looking back at the dead cat-like creature she had called 'Kyubey', he also had to wonder why the girl felt the need to kill it if it was harmless to the two of them and out of reach of the teens she was keeping an eye on. But again, she clearly didn't trust him enough to actually tell him.
That was a problem he'd have to fix soon if he was to accomplish his mission.

Hours passed. Despite the sheer number of times he'd adjusted his position on the tree branch, he had cramps everywhere. The maroon-haired girl smirked at him as she saw his little struggle, making him grumble under his breath.
The two girls in the house stayed in the bedroom, meaning that Suzuki wasn't planning on going anywhere...meaning that he was still stuck in such an uncomfortable place.
The fact that many people passed by, giving them strange looks, pointing, making rude gestures, and some even making them hide to avoid getting spotted by police once they were called wasn't helping. Well, in hindsight, they did look like burglars or stalkers from other people's point of view...

Suzuki suddenly perked up, as though listening to something, before she sighed and jumped down from her spot in the tree.
"Come on, Chipmunk-kun. We gotta go help Mami-chan!"

The young captain wasn't quite sure what she was talking about - he wasn't sensing anything - but instead of asking (she probably wouldn't answer anyway), he latched onto the one thing that bothered him as he jumped down.
"I told you not to call me that! That's Hitsugaya to you!"

"Don't care!", the maroon-haired girl chirped dismissively as she walked away, obviously expecting him to follow.

She.

Was.

Infuriating.

For what was probably the hundredth time that day, the boy was forced to reign in his anger, grit his teeth, and shut up in order to refrain from saying anything that could potentially botch his assignment.
Speaking of which, when was he supposed to let her know of the reason he was there? Should he have done it when he first came, or would that have been too soon? Could he tell her now? Or was he supposed to wait some more?

...They really should have given this job to someone who was better with this kind of thing...he wasn't even sure if he made a good impression (okay, scratch that - the rage he'd shown at Akemi's house was probably incredibly immature) or if he was truly on the Puella Magi's good side. Trying to sneak around and befriend the others in order to lure her to his side wasn't going to work - he'd tried less, and found out the hard way that she was just too perceptive and analytical for him to try to manipulate, even for the simplest things.

"Okaaay! We're here!", said girl announced, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Toshiro looked around, finding himself right in front of where the hospital used to be. He remembered when he'd been forced to temporarily abandon his post tailing Suzuki because of the sheer number of souls he'd had to send to Soul Society once the incident happened.
What was the point in bringing him there? The area was deserted...
It was then that he was suspicious of the Puella Magi once more. She'd been sneaking around and had entered the hospital whilst clearly trying to avoid being seen minutes before the entire place had been bombarded and collapsed. He wasn't entirely sure it was really a 'terrorrist attack' as everyone else seemed to think.

The captain looked up at her and found her smiling at him. His eyes narrowed. Was it his imagination, or was she expecting something from him? Her stance was laid-back though, so she wasn't planning to fight, as far as he could tell...or was that to bring his guard down?...she was almost as hard to read as Ichimaru.

...

Just thinking of the snake made him almost sick, and for a second he tensed, instantly shoving down those thoughts - along with his sudden bloodlust.

"...Why are we here? There is nothing in particular in this area."

Her smile just widened, eyes boring into his soul.
"You really don't feel it? There's a witch nearby!... You seem to be thinking of something else, though."

She took a step closer. Toshiro stood his ground.
"Yasutora went after Mami-chan, so I think they'll be able to hold out on their own...buuut, it's not like I'm always right, and that one's a strong one..."

Another step, and he was starting to feel a little threatened. He wasn't quite sure how - perhaps it was just instinct telling him, or maybe the way the smile was starting to look more like a mask than a genuine one - but saying the wrong thing now would definitely not end well, he was sure if it.

"...but I wouldn't prefer having someone who might stab me in the back pretending to fight alongside me in there. Don't think I didn't feel the way your reiatsu fluctuated just now, Hitsugaya-kun."

And there it was. He was almost sure the girl could practically see the gears turning in his head as he mentally scrambled to find a good answer to that. What could he possibly say, though?
She beat him to it.

"You know, I'm perfectly fine with becoming allies with the Gotei Thirteen. I mean, my friends would be under it's protection, so it's in my best interest!", she said in her usual cheery voice.

He didn't relax. Something was off -

Toshiro found himself abruptly grabbed by the collar with a bruising grip and yanked down to meet her dead in the eye. The smile had turned into a toothy grin, and her eyes had widened and become almost dull, giving her an unsettling appearance.
His pulse was thundering in his ears now, and he was barely restraining the urge to shove her away to create some distance between them. It was only now that he was able to feel her bloodlust, and it almost shook him to the core. The pent-up rage was practically tangible, and he was pretty sure the murderous intent that rolled off of her in waves could give Kenpachi a run for his money.
What she said next was barely a whisper, but she may as well have yelled it to his face with how loud and clear he'd heard it.

"But if any of you even sneezes funny..."

The hand gripping his collar snapped up and wrapped itself around his throat, severely restricting his breathing. The captain's pride prevented him from showing it, though.

"... I'll dismiss the fact that the little Kurosakis like you, and you'll have a sworn enemy on your hands. Do you understand, Hitsugaya-kun?"

He set his jaw and was careful not to glare, disliking the way she was threatening him.
"...Yes."

Suzuki immediately let go of him, her usual cheery smile back on her face, skipping ahead of him as if nothing ever happened and opening the labyrinth she'd been looking for.

"Glad we came to an agreement! Now come on - Yasutora and Mami-chan are obviously having some trouble with this one - otherwise, they'd already be back!"

Toshiro rubbed his neck while her back was turned - that was definitely gonna leave a mark - and followed, debating on his next course of action. She accepted the alliance without much insistence at all, but...this wasn't going to work if she was distrustful to the point of resorting to violence so easily.

The question was: how on earth could he gain her trust?