Author's note: This chapter contains references to a few things some folks might find disturbing: suicide, murder, and potential assault.
Homura craned her neck up at the building in front of her as she waited for the walk signal to change. The hotel across the street from her was tall, towering over even some of the apartment buildings and business skyscrapers nearby it. Foreign tourists stayed here – those who could afford it, anyway – as well as wealthy executives who would settle for nothing less than "luxury" when it came to their accommodations. The hotel catered to the rich and powerful.
And yet, it also counted magical girls among its guests at times.
Homura had exchanged her school uniform for a worker uniform from a take-out restaurant. It occurred to her that while Kyubey had told her Anzu stayed at this hotel, Homura had no idea what room. Disguising herself as a delivery girl would arouse much less suspicion and enable her to find out where exactly Anzu was. She carried a box lunch she had stolen from the same place her uniform came from. Sure, someone would miss out on their meal, but they could always get another. And Homura needed it more than they did. The smell coming from it was tempting – some kind of chicken and vegetable mix – but Homura had to focus on the task at hand.
If I have to do this all again and encounter another anomaly, I'll proceed with more caution and figure out more quickly if they're a threat. I won't let it come to trouble again.
Homura remembered another anomaly, a magical girl named Asato from Shimanto, who had also shown up in only one timeline. She hadn't been hostile. Instead, when Homura met her at the Mitakihara hospital, she had been depressed and despondent. Homura had quickly learned why: the day before, her best friend had turned into a witch, forcing Asato to destroy her. Asato had been on her way to some city where she'd heard that 'magical girls could be saved,' desperate to bring her friend back. On the way, she had passed out after fighting a witch. Someone had discovered her, and paramedics whisked her away to the Mitakihara hospital.
She had recognized Homura as a magical girl immediately, and they had talked some. In the end, Homura had offered her a deal: if she would stay and help fight Walpurgisnacht, Homura would go with her afterward and do her best to see if there was any way to help her friend.
That girl was hurt and vulnerable, and I manipulated her into helping me, knowing full well it was unlikely I could do anything for her.
Perhaps glad to have something to distract her, Asato had agreed. Her whole demeanor changed after that. She turned upbeat and happy, fighting witches alongside Homura. She wielded a megaphone, a silly-looking weapon, but Homura couldn't deny she used it effectively. She could also temporarily strengthen and rally other magical girls, leading Homura to wonder what exactly she had wished for (though she had never asked). She constantly acted cheerful, annoyingly so at times. Homura suspected it was partly a facade she put up to hide her grief over her lost friend.
Sometimes Asato looked up cheerleading videos on her phone and showed them to Homura, even though Homura never expressed any interest in them. Other times, she'd simply stare at her phone sadly, flipping through things on it in silence. During those times, she never showed whatever it was she was looking at with Homura, but Homura could figure it out well enough.
She was looking at things that reminded her of her friend, pictures, and old messages. She'd never have shared those with me. They were for her and her alone.
With Asato helping her, Homura had managed to keep any major trouble from starting. Mami Tomoe didn't die, Kyouko Sakura didn't pick any pointless fights, and Sayaka even avoided becoming a witch. Nobody except for Homura and Asato knew the truth about witches, and everyone had been getting along. Surely, the five of them working together could destroy Walpurgisnacht. It all seemed too good to be true to Homura, but she started to hope that maybe, just maybe, that girl was the key to finding the single timeline where Madoka didn't perish.
Of course, it was all too good to be true. And things turned wrong in a flash.
This whispering witch didn't appear in most timelines, and that was the first instance it had ever shown up. Asato, Mami Tomoe, and Sayaka Miki had gone to destroy it. Homura, busy watching over Madoka, didn't go with them and had no idea what it was capable of at the time. She hadn't even known anything was wrong until Kyubey had found her and Kyouko Sakura and told them that the three girls were fighting.
When Homura and Kyouko had entered the labyrinth, they saw the effects of the witch's magic and the resulting disaster. Mami Tomoe had gone into an unstoppable frenzy, killing Sayaka and nearly killing Asato, who only survived that fight due to Homura and Kyouko's timely arrival. Kyouko had done her best to hold Mami off while Homura destroyed the whispering witch. That brought Mami Tomoe and Asato back to their senses and ended the magical girl infighting.
It was all too late, however. Asato had used up all of her magic trying to fight Mami and turned into a witch shortly thereafter. Her witch then killed Kyouko, already injured from her struggle with a berserk Mami. Mami Tomoe, in turn, had experienced a complete mental breakdown following everything that had occurred – Sayaka and Kyouko's deaths, along Asato becoming a witch – and committed suicide by smashing her soul gem.
In the space of a few hours, Homura went from four reliable allies to none. She had battled Walpurgisnacht alone, and Madoka had intervened and perished. Homura reset the month after yet another failure. She had been naïve to think some random magical girl could suddenly appear and solve everything for her.
Homura had never met Asato again. In a later timeline, she offhandedly asked Kyubey about her. Kyubey, while suspicious about how Homura even knew of her, informed her that she perished fighting a witch in her hometown. Homura knew exactly what witch it was.
In almost every other timeline, she wasn't strong enough to kill her best friend's witch and joined her in death. Or maybe she occasionally went to that city she mentioned, found that she could do nothing, and collapsed into despair. The results are the same either way. It was a roll of the dice if she survived or not, and the odds must have been overwhelmingly against her.
It had been a powerful lesson, however, reminding Homura that she had to fix things herself. She couldn't depend so much on any other magical girl to destroy Walpurgisnacht and save Madoka. It also served as a reminder she had no idea how easily any other magical girl might turn into a witch, which was all the more reason to keep Mami Tomoe away from any strange ones. She was too fragile to handle the most awful truth of being a magical girl.
Homura blinked as the walk sign changed again. That was all the past. Asato was gone, and now Homura had to deal with another anomaly, one infinitely more troublesome. She took a deep breath and made her way into the lobby of the hotel.
The hotel lobby was open and lavishly decorated, with fluffy chairs and couches sitting on a polished marble floor. Homura had been here before in previous timelines, so she was familiar with its layout. The patrons ignored Homura. She was just delivering food, so why should they have paid her any mind?
The desk clerk fell for Homura's "delivery girl" act easily and provided her with Anzu's room number. Homura stepped into a restroom, transformed, and froze time. She left the boxed lunch on a table in a room behind the front desk. Whoever came across it was welcome to it. She made her way up the stairs and pulled an employee keycard – an acquisition from a previous timeline when she had come here often – from her shield. Thankfully, it always worked.
On the thirteenth floor, she made her way down the hall to the room that Anzu was staying in. Keeping time frozen, she unlocked the door and slowly pushed it open. When the crack was wide enough, she stepped through, pulling a tear gas grenade from her shield as she did. She also had a few canisters of homemade nerve gas she cooked up from online instructions but didn't want to use those with other people nearby unless she had no other choice.
She glanced around, quickly taking in the room. It had the normal furniture one would expect to find: a large soft-looking bed, a table and some chairs, a desk, a door that led to the bathroom, and so on. The far wall was nothing but a window and overlooked the Mitakihara River and the bridge from which Homura had tossed Kyubey.
Otherwise, it was empty.
There was no sign of Anzu in the hotel room. Had the desk clerk given her the right one? There was no reason for him to have lied. Homura slowly made her way into the room. If Anzu was hiding in here, Homura didn't want to accidentally bump into her and stop time for her too. She could gas the room (her weapon of choice for dealing with Anzu), but she couldn't tip her hand too early and reveal herself. And she couldn't give Anzu a chance to use her illusion tricks.
After a thorough search of the room and the bathroom, Homura decided it was indeed empty. She kept time frozen and picked up the only item Anzu must have left – a small brown backpack. Homura opened it up and examined its contents. At the top was a green notebook. She pulled that out for later study then checked what Anzu had. She half-expected to find the other magical girls' soul gems in there but didn't spot them.
Instead, there was an assortment of knick-knacks inside. There were a few things that Homura would have expected a teenage girl to have – a hairbrush, a makeup kit, and a little plush bear – but several things that seemed odd and out of place. There was a broken cell phone with a cracked screen, clearly beyond repair. Next, Homura pulled out a pair of dark rectangular glasses. Were they Anzu's? They didn't look like something a girl would wear. There was a dried red splotch one of the lenses. Under the glasses, she found a folded piece of paper. She unfolded it and saw that it was a schedule of subjects for a cram school on the other side of Mitakihara. There was a splotch of red on it too.
That's not ink. That's something else.
Homura looked at the other items again, the hairbrush in particular. Examining it closely, she noticed that the hair in the hairbrush wasn't green like Anzu's was. It was blue. This wasn't Anzu's hairbrush, but someone else's. And when Homura examined it in the light, she noticed a spot of blood on the handle.
What is she doing with all these things? Where did she get them, and why does she keep them? And why is there blood on all of them?
Homura had an awful feeling about all this. Her stomach turned a little queasy. She picked up the notebook, opened it, and saw that it was a journal of sorts. She flipped through it. There were sketches of people, but Anzu had written entries here and there as well. Homura began reading.
My wish didn't fix everything. People still laugh at me. I hate it.
But now that I'm a magical girl, I can punish them if I want to.
Two girls in my class made my life a living hell. They tripped me, pulled my hair, laughed at me, and called me names. But they won't do any of that ever again. They followed me when they shouldn't have, and that familiar got them. Good riddance. It even turned into a witch afterward. Kyubey told me that happens when a familiar eats enough humans.
"Did she let that familiar kill her classmates so that she could get a grief seed?" Homura wondered. It wasn't unheard of for magical girls to do such things. Homura read on, skimming mostly, trying to find anything that might help her.
There are three other magical girls here in Kyoto. They're all older than me. Two of them go to my school. One of them uses a bird for a weapon, the other a boomerang. There's a high school girl who's been a magical girl for a long time and fights with a shovel. She thinks very highly of herself and bosses us around. She told me there are some truths about magical girls that I'm not ready to know yet. I don't like her. I asked Kyubey what she meant, and he said he couldn't say.
"That other girl must have known about witches," Homura said to herself.
While I was walking to school, a man in a navy suit asked me if I wanted to go with him and have some fun. I followed him for a bit while he chattered about nothing and gave me funny looks and weird smiles. He said I was "cute" and "pretty." He asked me if I wanted him to buy me something sweet. When we were alone in a hotel room, he grabbed on to me, so I transformed. The look on his face was kind of funny. With his mouth hanging open, I plunged my knife into this throat. I don't know why. I just suddenly felt like doing so. He choked and spluttered and–
Homura skipped ahead, not wanting to read the gory details of Anzu's murder. Even she had her limits.
I enjoyed it, but it felt like a waste to me. If familiars turn into witches when they eat humans, then that's what should have happened to that man. I'll remember that for next time. I wonder if his death will show up in the news. I guess it doesn't matter. I took his broken phone with me, though. Again, I'm not sure why. I just wanted to keep it.
Homura shook her head. Even if that man clearly hadn't been up to anything good, it sounded like Anzu had killed him merely on a whim. Ordinary humans were no match for magical girls, and Anzu could have avoided that situation altogether. Everything about what Anzu had written made her stomach churn.
I followed Shovel Girl into a labyrinth today. She mocked me and said I was strange. She laughed and laughed until I finally lost my temper as we reached the witch. Without a word, I pushed her right into the witch's jaws. I hope she regretted laughing at me as the witch ate her, but she was mostly screaming. Her bones crunched, and–
"Ugh." Homura skipped ahead again, shaking her head in disbelief. In addition to the two soul gems she had taken, Anzu had killed another magical girl. She had so many things wrong about her, more so than any other magical girl Homura had ever met. Every little thing Homura found out seemed worse than the last.
Bird Girl and Boomerang Girl blamed me for Shovel Girl's death. I don't know how they found out about the circumstances, but it doesn't matter. They both flew at me at the same time, and we fought. I knew what they were both capable of, however, and took them both down.
A magical girl without her weapon is a dead one.
A magical girl without her weapon is a dead one.
I stabbed them both until they stopped moving. Their soul gems still shined, so I took them with me and ran. They're mine now, reminders that I won, that I was better and stronger. I asked Kyubey what I should do with them, and he said he didn't have input there. Typical.
Homura rubbed her chin. "She took those magical girls' soul gems as trophies."
Then it dawned on her. The random trinkets in Anzu's backpack were probably trophies as well. Were they all from people she had killed?
Homura shuddered in disgust and regretted touching them. She looked back in the notebook.
Someone found Bird Girl and Boomerang Girl's bodies and reported their deaths to the police. They're bound to come after me. I've decided to leave Kyoto and make for that city Kyubey mentioned, the one he can't enter. I'm very curious as to what's going on there. Nobody will notice that I'm gone. Nobody can follow me. I can't have that.
"That's why you were nervous when I mentioned the authorities the other day," Homura said. "You're worried about them linking you to the crimes you've committed."
I was cutting through Mitakihara and Kazamino today when I found a witch in a building. I killed it, and then two other magical girls showed up. One of them was a terrible red-haired girl who laughed at me. I was going to fight her, but she and her friend ran off before I could do anything. I might stay here for a while. Kyubey told me there's a powerful witch that's likely going to appear here. I'd like to see it. I wonder what sort of grief seed I'd get from it.
Homura shook her head. Was this girl seriously thinking of fighting Walpurgisnacht herself? Impossible. Walpurgisnacht would destroy Anzu, not that the world would suffer any significant loss from her death. The entries weren't dated, but Homura figured that the other two magical girls were Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura. That explained how they knew Anzu. She continued reading.
I found a loose familiar in a park this evening. There was a lady in a business suit that I left for it. Then I went to find it more food. I convinced a high school girl to follow me. But when we got back to the park, the familiar and the lady were both gone. I couldn't believe it. How had that happened?
I took out my anger and frustration on that high school girl.
"Nakazawa's sister," Homura whispered, thinking of the cram school schedule and remembering what Rika Tanaka had told her and Sayaka in the classroom.
Then she realized what else Anzu had been doing. She purposefully fed humans to familiars to get them to turn into witches. That's what she had done to those girls in her class in Kyoto, and she was doing it in Mitakihara too. Homura knew a lot of magical girls would simply avoid slaying familiars, seeing it as a waste of magical energy, and simply allow them to continue killing humans until they grew into witches. Kyouko Sakura was one such magical girl, which made Homura wonder just how she and Mami Tomoe handled that. However, Anzu was the first magical girl she'd encountered who would actively attempt to get familiars to kill humans and turn into witches to get a grief seed from them.
"Sick," Homura said to herself. "Everything about this girl is sick." She turned to the last entry in the notebook.
I met a third magical girl today. I recognized her immediately from the ring on her finger. She was a pretty girl with raven hair and haunting eyes.
I hate pretty girls.
While we were talking, that horrible girl with the red hair and the hyena laugh showed up, along with her friend. She made fun of me again. I wanted to hurt her, but Kyubey was there too, and he warned me that attacking her would unite the other three magical girls against me, and so I just left. I shouldn't have listened to him. What does he know?
I can't leave this city until I've done what I came to do.
Later, I met a boy, a handsome older boy with glasses. I went walking with him, held his hand, and kissed him. He held me like I was his girlfriend. Old Anzu never got to do anything like that. When I informed him that I was a magical girl, he said I was too old to play pretend and laughed at me. He didn't believe me when I told him I wasn't lying.
I had to prove to him that he was wrong. He won't laugh anymore.
Kyubey visited me. We talked about those other magical girls. Kyubey said they'll likely come after me. Let them. I can fight them. He said they already don't trust each other and that I could drive a wedge further between them if I wanted to.
Schemes like that are boring.
I told Kyubey I was going to fight that red-haired girl. He said the dark-haired girl is more of a threat and that she might team up with the other two at any time. I told him I didn't care about her. Kyubey said I was too impulsive. He said if I went after the dark-haired girl, he'd tell me about the red-haired girl. I want to get back at her for laughing at me.
Fine. I will hunt them both if that's the way it has to be.
I am a wolf among sheep. But the other wolves are watching me now. And they're laughing. I need to gouge out their eyes, tear out their fangs, and declaw them. Then everything will be fine. Afterward, I'll destroy this powerful witch myself.
A magical girl without her weapon is a dead one.
A magical girl without her weapon is a dead one.
A magical girl without her weapon is a dead one.
"Mindless dribble," Homura muttered, closing the notebook. "Almost painful to read." But it had been enlightening, and some things made a little more sense now.
Anzu wasn't just dangerous to other magical girls – she was a threat to civilians as well. And civilians were in even more danger from her. Aside from being weaker and slower, few would suspect a teenage girl of being a cold-blooded murderer until it was too late. Anzu hadn't been caught so far, but if she were, it would be ugly. The police wouldn't be able to do anything about her. She'd just kill them or fight until her magic ran out, turn into a witch, and kill them anyway.
In the end, only another magical girl could end this threat. And with the other magical girls in Mitakihara too weak or otherwise occupied, it fell to Homura to do so. Anzu had murdered too many people already, and someone needed to stop her.
"A magical girl serial killer, that's a new one," Homura mused as she put the notebook and Anzu's disgusting trophies back into the backpack and locked the clasp. "And top it off, Kyubey's manipulating her. That thing does its best to manipulate all magical girls, though. And now Kyubey is trying to send her after me too. That thing is always plotting."
Kyubey. Homura pictured that wretched creature's smiling face and red eyes in her mind.
Did you know what kind of monster you were unleashing on the world when you made a contract with this girl? Would you have even cared if you did?
No, of course not. And now a vicious fiend stalked Mitakihara, one that had too much power and was driven by psychotic urges.
Homura had seen a lot of death and had dealt her share of it as well, but this was the first time she could recall feeling unclean, a gross feeling that all the baths in the world wouldn't fix and thinking about the things that Anzu did made her skin crawl even more. Her stomach clenched, and there was a slight ringing in her ears. She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably, trying to make the feeling go away, but it lingered.
She unfroze time and leaned back against the far wall of the hotel room. She'd wait patiently until the hotel door opened. When it did, she'd gas Anzu, snatch her soul gem, and smash it to pieces. If she was already in her magical girl form, then fine. Homura would still gas her, but then pull out her assault rifle and riddle her enough bullets to hit wherever her soul gem was on her body. Her illusions wouldn't be affected by the gas, but they would force her out of hiding. If worse came to worse, Homura could use the nerve gas, but that was a last resort. She didn't want to draw too much attention or harm innocent bystanders. And the more she had to do, the greater the risk. And using guns in the hotel was bad enough as it was.
As she waited, her mind wandered. She thought of Madoka, who was Anzu's opposite in every conceivable manner. She wished she could see Madoka right now. She thought back to her and Madoka standing by the inverted fountain, embracing, kissing. A pleasant, warm feeling swelled up in her, but it didn't entirely overwrite the revulsion of what she had found about Anzu Anzai. She concentrated even more. No, it was no good. Her own memories were no replacement for actually seeing Madoka, actually being with her and feeling Madoka's hands touch hers.
The light in the room shifted as the sun moved, but Anzu didn't show.
Finally, Homura decided this was useless. She wasn't sure how much time had passed – maybe a few hours or so – but it was clear that Anzu wasn't going to show up anytime soon. She was out hunting witches or perhaps still recovering from the damage Homura had inflicted on her the previous night. Maybe Kyubey had tattled on Homura after all, and Anzu was hiding somewhere else, anticipating Homura coming after her. Of course, after what she had pulled in the warehouse, she'd have been a fool not to expect Homura to come after her.
I'll have to catch her next time. I need to make sure that Hitomi, Madoka, and Sayaka are safe. I've spent too much time here already.
The hunt hadn't been a total loss – Homura had found some things out about her enemy, after all. And her resolve had hardened. Anzu had to die, and Homura had to be the one to kill her.
Or did she? As Homura made her way down the hotel hallway, she wondered if maybe Kyubey's suggestion to enlist Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura's help with Anzu had been the best option after all. Mami Tomoe would be aghast at what Anzu had done. Kyouko Sakura's moral compass had probably been recalibrated if she was working with Mami, and she'd probably not be happy with it either.
They're dealing with something else, though. And Asato turned into a witch and freaked out Mami Tomoe. I can't risk that happening with Anzu as well, not if I'm going to bank on Mami Tomoe assisting with Walpurgisnacht.
She sighed. That was no good. It was all on her. She thought of what Hitomi said, about taking on too many burdens, but she couldn't help it. There was nobody else who could.
She exited the hotel and headed for the Mitakihara hospital once again.
The Mitakihara hospital again.
Homura sighed as she made her way down the upstairs hallway. If she had her way, she'd never return to this place. But some things simply couldn't be avoided. Nurses and doctors and other visitors brushed by her. The hospital seemed busier than usual.
Homura could hear Hitomi's voice from behind the door into Kyosuke Kamijo's room. She had her hand on the handle when a nurse passed by and noticed her.
"Oh, going to visit that boy?" the nurse asked. "I'm sure he'll be happy. First, he's recovered, and now a lot of pretty girls are visiting him." She chuckled. "He must be very popular with you all."
"Sure," Homura replied, not even bothering to address the rest of the nurse's words. At least that meant Sayaka and Madoka were still here and that nothing bad had happened.
Kyosuke's room was large, with shelves lining one wall and a large hospital bed next to a window on the far side across from the door. Hitomi sat in a chair next to Kyosuke's bed, while Madoka sat on another chair against the wall. Sayaka didn't sit but instead leaned against on the far walls. She nodded at Homura in greeting. Kyosuke sat up in his bed. He bore no bandages and showed no signs of the injuries he had suffered.
Hitomi had gotten her wish.
"Homura-chan!" Madoka cried happily, leaping up and latching on to Homura's arm again. "I missed you!" They had just seen each other that morning, but Madoka acted like it had been weeks.
"Hello," Homura said. What was she supposed to do in this situation? She gently patted Madoka's head. Madoka made a satisfied "Ehehe" sound and grinned at her. Apparently, that was the correct response.
"Ah, Homura," Hitomi said. "Welcome!" She turned to Kyosuke. "This is Homura Akemi, a friend of ours. She's a recent transfer to our class, so you'll see lots of her when you're back. Homura, this is Kyosuke Kamijo."
"Hello, Akemi-san," Kyosuke said with a small wave. "Welcome. Thanks for coming to visit me."
"Pleased to meet you," Homura said back with a bow even though she had met this boy before. Some small things about him changed over the various time loops, but no matter what, he was always injured and staying in the hospital. "Madoka told me about what happened to you. You're looking well."
"Yes, I was pretty badly hurt, but late yesterday, all the pain suddenly went away," Kyosuke said. "It's like a miracle."
I bet.
"I see," Homura said. "I'm glad to hear it, then."
Kyosuke turned his hand over. "I can use my hand normally, and I can even walk okay, though I'm trying to go slowly since I've spent so much time bedridden."
"Isn't that wonderful, Homura?" Hitomi asked, smiling. "He'll be able to return to his music as well."
"Indeed." She glanced over at Sayaka, leaning against the far wall and watching Hitomi and Kyosuke with a sullen frown.
I guess not everyone thinks so.
She wondered what had happened. She looked at Kyosuke, his calm demeanor, and short dark-ash hair. What was so remarkable about him that Hitomi and Sayaka were both so smitten? Was it that he was a musician? Homura simply didn't get it. Then again, many folks might not have thought Madoka was special when, to Homura, she was more special than anyone else in existence.
"Did you finish the errand you went to take care of?" Hitomi asked Homura.
"There were complications," she said, refusing to divulge any more in front of the other three people present. "I'll have to take care of it another time."
"Oh," Hitomi said, her eyebrows furrowing with worry.
"What were you off doing?" Madoka asked. "I asked Hitomi where you vanished to after lunch, and all she said was that we'd see you later." She rested her head on Homura's shoulder. "I missed you, Homura-chan."
"Just some personal business," Homura said. "Don't worry about it."
"But, I always worry about you!"
"You two seem very close," Kyosuke remarked.
"We're a couple!" Madoka said, beaming.
Homura, for once, was grateful for the subject change. "Yes, that's right."
If this is how things are going to be, I may as well roll with it. It makes Madoka happy, after all. See, Hitomi? I'm listening to your advice. Maybe you'll listen to mine.
"Spring is the season for such things," Hitomi said. She turned to Kyosuke and batted her eyes some. "Don't you think so?"
Kyosuke shrugged. "Sure, I guess."
Sayaka coughed loudly but said nothing. Homura peered at her, but her gaze remained locked on the boy in the hospital bed and the girl sitting next to him. She wore an uncomfortable expression, like someone experiencing severe indigestion.
Hitomi returned to chatting with Kyosuke. Homura, meanwhile, leaned toward Madoka and lowered her voice. "What's going on with Sayaka?"
"Uh, she and Hitomi had a small disagreement earlier," Madoka whispered back into Homura's ear. "And now they're kind of annoyed at each other."
Homura rubbed her temples, feeling another headache come on. She didn't need this.
"Don't worry, Homura-chan," Madoka said quietly. "We're all friends, and sometimes friends get on each other's nerves. It happens."
"What are you two whispering about?" Sayaka asked, finally speaking up.
"Ah, nothing!" Madoka exclaimed, detaching one hand from Homura and waving it in surrender.
Sayaka raised an eyebrow at Homura. "With you two, I'd normally guess it's something lovey-dovey, but if that were the case, Madoka's face would be red."
Homura looked back at Sayaka. What would Mami Tomoe do here? How would she keep the peace and make sure everyone remained friends?
"I thought that perhaps we shouldn't bother Kyosuke Kamijo too much," she said. "He undoubtedly needs rest if he's going to return to school soon." In the end, the easiest solution was to get everyone away from the primary source of trouble.
"Hopefully tomorrow or the day after," Kyosuke said. "They've run all the tests and found nothing else wrong. Honestly, the sooner I get out of here and back to a normal life, the better. I don't like spending time here." Homura could sympathize.
"All the more reason for us to give you some space," Homura said. She would put off the problem of this love triangle until the fateful day when Hitomi had declared she would confess her feelings.
After that, who knows what will happen? I'm sorry, Sayaka. This will hurt you, but you won't suffer nearly as much as you usually do in this situation.
Homura still felt like a horrible friend. Between that and her earlier disgust at discovering what kind of monster Anzu Anzai was, it had been a day for those sorts of negative feelings. In other timelines, she had seen Sayaka suffer, turn into a witch, and even perish at the hands of other magical girls – Mami Tomoe's, Kyouko Sakura's, and even Homura's – but she never quite get accustomed to it. She wasn't Anzu, after all.
"It's no trouble–" Kyosuke started, but Madoka cut him off.
"Homura-chan is right." Madoka looked from Sayaka to Hitomi. "We'll get to see Kyosuke at school. "We don't need to hover over him, and it's probably pretty noisy with all of us here anyway."
"Then maybe just a few of us should leave," Sayaka said, looking at the other three girls. "I still have a CD that Kyosuke and I were going to listen to."
"I don't have any lessons tonight," Hitomi said. "So, I'll remain as well." She turned to Homura. "That is unless we have some work to do?"
"What sort of work?" Kyosuke asked. "Homework?"
"Just some extracurricular activities Homura and I are involved in," Hitomi said.
"Not tonight," Homura said. Hitomi already had a grief seed from the previous night, and it would last her for a while, especially if she wasn't out fighting witches and taking on other magical girl activities. If worse came to worse, Homura could always provide her with another. She had plenty to share, after all. "Tomorrow."
Yes. Tomorrow a witch would appear that Homura could take Hitomi to fight for practice. That was another one whose appearance never varied across the timelines. If Hitomi was going to be of any help, she needed to practice fighting something, ideally not one of the other three magical girls in the city. There wasn't much time until Walpurgisnacht attacked, but maybe she could get enough experience to help.
"Very well, then Sayaka and I shall visit for a while longer," Hitomi said. Sayaka's lips turned into a thin line, but she said nothing.
"Let's head off, Homura-chan," Madoka said. "You and I can go on a date together."
Sayaka's sour expression finally broke, and she burst out laughing. Hitomi politely chuckled, and Kyosuke half-smiled.
Good. At least we're amusing. Thank you, Madoka, for easing the tension in the room, even if it comes with our embarrassment.
"There are some other things I'm going to need to take care of," Homura said. "But I'll walk you home." If Hitomi and Sayaka were going to remain here, so be it. Homura would have to trust that her junior magical girl would handle this situation sensibly and maturely. She and Sayaka were friends, after all. As for the other troubles, well, those would have to be dealt with the next day or the day after.
"I have to get my daily Homura-chan time in," Madoka said as they rode the elevator down. She still hadn't let go of Homura's arm. "It's like drinking water. You need your daily recommended amount."
"I see."
"Yep. This will recharge me."
Your metaphors are all over the place, Madoka. But they're cute and charming.
At the same time, Homura couldn't match Madoka's contentment at the two of them being together. Too many things weighed on her mind again. They walked in silence out of the hospital, Homura mostly staring at nothing and barely watching where she was going. She didn't need to, as Madoka was almost dragging her along. Her silence, however, didn't go unnoticed.
"What's wrong, Homura-chan?" Madoka asked. "You're very quiet."
"Nothing."
Madoka shook her head. "No, there's something. I can tell. We have a special connection, after all."
Homura looked at Madoka's gentle pink eyes. She had nobody to confide in. Maybe, just maybe, she could try confiding in Madoka a bit. "I'm just a little…worried, that's all."
"Worried?"
"Yes."
Madoka pulled her away from the main footpath that led back to the street to the bench that they had sat on the other day while they had waited for Sayaka and Hitomi, the same bench upon which Homura and Sayaka had their heart-to-heart conversation about Kyosuke's condition.
I'm sure seeing a lot of this bench in this timeline.
"Sit," Madoka ordered, pointing at the bench.
Homura shook her head. "No, you should head home, and I should–"
"Sit." The single word was firm. Homura decided to indulge her. It was rare for Madoka to be so curt.
Homura sat on the bench, and Madoka snuggled up to her.
"What's got you worried, Homura-chan?"
"Just things."
Madoka put her hand over Homura's. "What things?"
"I can't go into detail."
"Sure, you can. You can trust me, Homura-chan. You're special to me. Important. And I hate seeing you upset."
"I don't want you involved in it, though."
"Ah, I see." Madoka wrapped her arms gently around Homura. "It's those other magical girls again, isn't it? That older girl, her red-haired friend, and that green-haired girl too. They're still giving you trouble, aren't they?"
Finally giving in, Homura embraced Madoka back and rested her head against her shoulder. Her voice cracked a little when she spoke. "Yes."
"Poor Homura. There, there."
Madoka gently rocked her, like a mother would her child, stroking her hair all the while. For some reason, this felt even more intimate than when they had kissed. Maybe because they were so physically close, pressed together like that? Perhaps because Madoka was comforting her? Or maybe it was because Homura had decided to show a rare moment of weakness to Madoka, something she was sure she'd regret later.
It could have been any or all those reasons. But whatever it was, Homura didn't want that moment to end. Everything terrible she had felt that day – her unnerving findings about Anzu, her worries about Hitomi and Sayaka – seemed to melt away like snow under a sudden heatwave. Her heart grew lighter, a rare instance of calm in the tumultuous timelines she endured. The fog inside her head cleared, fog she hadn't even been aware of.
Madoka had earlier spoken of recharging. Her actions here, however, recharged Homura. She loved Madoka, true, but suddenly Homura wasn't sure if the word 'love' caught every nuance of her feelings.
"Thank you, Madoka."
"For what?"
"For this. For being you. For being here with me."
"Oh. Of course, Homura-chan. We can stay here as long as you like."
That wasn't realistic. If they stayed there as long as Homura wanted, they'd have never gotten up from that bench. Eventually, this would end. Homura would need to return to her work. She'd have to go and procure more weapons or try to hunt down Anzu again or seek out Mami Tomoe and Kyouko Sakura. All of those could wait, however, while Homura held on tightly to this one moment with Madoka. For a time, there was nothing else in the world except the two of them sitting on this bench outside the hospital.
I have to keep her safe. I have to save her, no matter what.
Author's Note: I'm sorry that this one took me a while. I've had a lot of real-life stuff come up, school and otherwise. Not to get into any great detail, but I got really sick. On the plus side, it wasn't COVID, but on the downside, it was strep throat (which I at first thought was COVID). Ugh. Hopefully, with all that behind me, I should be able to return to a reasonably regular schedule.
This was also a difficult chapter to write. Originally, there was going to be an in-between chapter from Anzu's perspective where a lot of what was revealed in this chapter showed up, but I felt like that would break up the Mami-Homura flow that I had going. And this gave me a chance to work in a bit more with Homura anyway.
I'll continue to keep working on the story, of course. I'm not going to simply leave it hanging. I think there are about eight more to go, split between Homura and Mami, in order to finish up what I've outlined.