Today is the day. Or, one of them, anyways. For once, Homura had made sure to actually get some sleep so that she could look her best. Well, relatively speaking. Even put on a little bit of makeup to hide those bags under her eyes. It didn't help that much. Because even if things go bad, she at least wants to look good; and she fully expects the worst. A long shower, magically removing every inch of hair from her body aside from the head, a little bit of perfume, freshly clipped and polished nails, and the rest. She skips the lipstick. It all looks very nice, and makes the clara dolls playfully jealous.

But regardless of how much she sparkles, she just ends up wondering what the point of all of it even is, in the end. Is this all just manipulative? Is she hoping that a little bit of vanity will help her odds? How selfish. How...

Devilish.

She grins at herself, gussies up her uniform, and gets "into character" before leaving in an overly dramatic manner.

She had thought up at least a thousand ways to let out her feelings at this point. None of them were even remotely appropriate for this point in time. Too early, not the right context, sound like complete insanity, etc. So she comes to a predicament where she can't really be totally honest, but just give a lot of vague platitudes. Or, she calls them platitudes, not that anyone could tell if they are or not. She ends up just thinking about what Madoka is most likely to ask. Why does she like her? She can't just list every little thing that could possibly describe her and give a 50-page backstory like an overzealous newcomer to the game master of a longform D&D campaign. Something simple will do. Try not to go overboard and come off as creepy. When did she start liking her? Well, she can't exactly tell how much time has passed since the first time they met, but it doesn't even really matter. "Since I first saw you?" Well, it's true enough. Kind of cheesy, though.

This is difficult. The sheer amount of possible questions is too overwhelming to even imagine. How the hell did Madoka endure the whole omniscience thing? Only more proof that this was the right decision. But what is she supposed to do about this? Just let the answers come naturally?

Emotions are hard. Perhaps now more than ever, actually having to confront a portion of them. Was this approach even the right choice? Should she do it all over again and take things slower, this time? Not at all? Just disappear? Be more prominent? Again, all of the possibilities are as difficult to register as the possible iterations in each timeline way back when. But now... Now she's just too tired to go through something like that again. No, no more trying again. It's over. That was the whole point of this, anything else would just be a mockery of everything they had sacrificed together.

She had left when the sun was still rising. She arrives at the same time that the doors are first unlocked, before anybody else. A little after. Nobody is around, aside from a few teachers having their morning coffee and preparing for homeroom. More would come soon. She slowly dances up the steps and into the entrance, goes straight for Madoka's shoe locker and slips in the letter she had written for that day. Nothing fancy. But special. So special. A few words. A request, and nothing more; unsigned. But she knows who it is already. No doubt she would be anticipating this.

She strides through the halls, each step as if she's about to trip and fall over, but never so. And then comes upon the locked door to the classroom. As usual, she just magically unlocks it and saunters on over to her seat...

Waiting.

This time, instead of walking to school alone like she has the past few days, Madoka happily skips along with her friends, now so sure of herself after Kyouko's handiwork that she can't help but put her excitement on full display.

Somehow, the world just seems a bit more colorful. Even though the cherry blossoms bloomed weeks ago, it's as if they might as well still be here along the stone path to school. It's rather scenic already, with the river and all, but it's even better when April comes around. Like a world from some ancient legend, or maybe an anime. Almost cinematic. They really did hire the right person to design this place, whoever it was. She starts to wonder how it'll feel to be walking this path to school — not away from it — with Homura, someday soon. And when next year rolls around, about that time the trees start to bloom...

"Hey, y'alright?" Sayaka nudges her shoulder, derailing her train of thought and killing 40 passengers. It feels eerily familiar, somehow.

Madoka jolts up, looks left, catches the sight of her sideboob, stares a bit too long, and then looks up and asks, "Yeah? Oh, I'm okay. Just thinking about something."

"About what?"

"Uh..." Madoka trails off intentionally, trying to think of a way to lie without lying. It's extraordinarily hard, especially for her. Is that sort of thing even possible?

Luckily, she doesn't have to think about it for long before Kyouko swoops in to save the day (also intentionally), "Oi, Sayaka! I thought you were gonna share this with me!" She sticks out a box of pocky.

"Ah!" Sayaka gasps, then quickly tells Madoka "Be back in a minute." She runs off to join her eventually-to-be girlfriend. Alas, she doesn't realize that Kyouko is going to keep her until they get to school, leaving Madoka to peacefully walk just behind the others and fantasize about all sorts of things.

Of course, when they DO get there, she gets immediately ganged up on everyone wondering what today's letter is.

"Meet me on the rooftop after school ends. Come alone."

Hitomi is the first to gasp in astonishment, "Madoka is getting confessed to!? Only a month after transferring in!? Are..." She backs up, then suddenly starts running down the hall, dramatically swinging from side to side and knocking someone over in the process while yelling, "ARE YOU MORE CHARMING THAN MEEEE!?"

At this point, nobody is even vaguely surprised by this. Even Kyosuke just sighs and walks after her at a moderate pace. The others just stare in mild amusement and then go back to what they were doing.

Sayaka is the next to speak, "So...you really think it's her, huh?"

Madoka nods, "I think so."

"So what do you think she wants?"

"I..." Madoka almost tells her, but holds back. "...I don't know. Guess I'll find out."

"Wow..." she says, then falls silent for a moment. "...You know, this reminds of those cheesy old romance manga confessions where—"

Kyouko interrupts her line of thought yet again, "Oi, Sayaka! You comin' with me or not?" She's about to leave for class.

Sayaka shoots back, "Eh!? Come on, this is really important! We're finally gonna figure out the culprit! Don't you want to see it go down?"

Kyouko groans. Guesses she'll have to do this the blunt way. She prefers sharp and/or pointy, but this will have to do. She re-approaches the two and tells Sayaka, "Hey, this is just between them. Whatever it is, she'll tell us if we should know. So come on, let's go."

Sayaka looks back with an expression of hesitant defeat, then at Kyouko again. She sighs, "Alright. Yeah, I know. Geez, what's with you and that soft spot?"

The two start to walk off together, arguing mildly and teasing each other with swats and bumps, and eventually trying to headlock each other while giggling like madwomen. This leaving Madoka alone to read and re-read the letter several times with the biggest, dumbest smile on her face.

"Oh my god." she thinks to herself "It's happening. It's really happening. Today! Today! I wish I used that special perfume..." She continues to go on and on about all of her wild fantasies and expectations for what's about to happen, much in the same way Homura had tried to do before her. Though, more on the side of "What do I do?" rather than "How do I answer?". Not many questions running through that head, just mind-numbing fluff and ideas for future dates stretching far beyond the limits of reality to coincide with her imagination. It gets to the point where she literally can't focus in class and just spends the entire time staring at Homura in anticipation. Lunch, similarly, just has her absentmindedly ignoring the others and daydreaming while swinging her legs back and forth like a excited little kid. They honestly start to worry about her.

And after a long, far too long day of waiting, school finally ends. She sits and waits in class, watching as Homura casually walks out and clearly heads towards the stairwell. Her friends also stay behind as the room starts to empty out.

"Well, it's time." Sayaka says as she waves off to the other students. "Want us to stay?"

Madoka shakes her head, "No, I can handle this. Besides, she said to come alone, right? I'll tell you what happens later."

Kyouko butts in towards Sayaka to agree, "Hey. Don't worry about it, this can't go anything but well. Besides that, don't we have something to do?"

"Eh?"

Kyouko looks genuinely offended, "The arcade, you idiot! You said we'd try out that new cabinet they got!"

"Oh, right." she replies as if it's no big deal.

Kyouko rolls her eyes, "Come on, let's go! We're gonna get there by the time they close, at this rate!" She tugs on Sayaka's sleeve and starts trying to drag her along.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Sayaka whines and follows behind her.

Hitomi, being the last to leave behind them, wishes her good luck before following them. And finally, Madoka is the last person in the class to finally leave, aside from the teacher.

...And there she is. Madoka peers through the glass of the door between her and the rooftop to spy Homura, standing at and holding onto the fence, staring out at the city's skyline. Wind blowing in her hair. Positively sparkling in the sunlight. Her heart skips a beat just looking at her. Maybe it's the situation. Maybe she's just way gayer than she first thought.

Either way, she opens the door. Slowly. And just lets it close, to make her presence apparent. Homura doesn't react. She carefully walks towards her and stops a few meters away, clutching her hands at her chest, smiling fondly, eyes half-closed. The wind dies down, as if to let them speak without raising their voices.

And she does so, practically on queue, taking her hands off of the fence and turning to look right at Madoka without the apathetic and stern look she usually has. This time, it's soft and genuinely sensitive. "Madoka..." she nearly whispers.

Just from hearing her name, she smiles.

Homura takes a few steps forward and tries to speak, "I..." But despite how much she practiced for this, the words don't come. Especially not with the look she's being given. "You..." she tries again, but also falls flat.

"Just say it." her inner voice tells her. "Just say it already! It's not that hard!" it chides.

She takes a deep breath, exhales slowly, eyes narrowing as if she's in pain, starting to blush so badly that she can feel the heat at her cheeks. "I... I'm the one who was sending you those."

Madoka wants to reply. Say, "I know." or maybe giggle a little. Her smile starts to widen uncontrollably, but she manages to hold back and just let her speak.

"And..." she tries her best to continue "...I like you a lot." she forces out, trying to make it sound less intense than it actually is.

Madoka sighs, still smiling, and takes another couple of steps forward.

"I just..." Homura starts to choke on her own words. She can barely even speak.

Madoka continues onward until she's standing right in front of her, looking right into her eyes. And in the midst of the ensuing silence, she says, "It's okay. If you can't say it, then..." and she starts to close the remaining distance between them.

Homura's heart nearly stops when Madoka gently clasps their hands together and presses herself against her. At first gently, and then a bit more forcefully, until their foreheads meet and she closes her eyes.

Poor Homura, barely being able to string a coherent sentence together right now, starts to hyperventilate at the mere thought of what's happening. She can feel her. Her heart, both of theirs, now racing in tandem, their faces burning. She whispers, as if she has to ask permission, "Madoka... C-can...?"

Wordlessly, Madoka squeezes her hands tightly in affirmation. Homura closes her eyes as well, and they slowly come closer. A million things are going through their heads, one of the biggest for Madoka being that Homura's entire being smells like a field of flowers. Homura's biggest being much the same, but more strawberries than flowers. It must be that damn shampoo, the little seductress.

And yet, as close as they get, their lips never quite meet. Each time they might, one pulls away at the last moment from sheer anxiety. To diffuse some tension, they rub their cheeks together. Homura was crying. Just a little; Madoka can feel the faint wetness on her own cheek. Then they try again, coming a little closer, but then stopping and giggling awkwardly, trying and failing to hold back their stupidly wide grins. And again, repeating the process until Madoka finally asks, "...Too early?"

Homura's smile fades ever so slightly just long enough to be noticeable, but she pushes on, "No, just..."

"Is it your first time, too?"

That question just about pierces her. No. The answer is no. But all the other times she had her "first" kiss, including the real first, was always with the same person. It might as well be.

"Yeah..." she answers after a moment of hesitation.

And they try again. Madoka keeps her eyes gently shut and waits. Homura first purses her lips, then becomes self-conscious of how stupid that probably looks. Instead, she just barely opens them, takes another deep breath to swallow her fears with, and...

Finally, it happens. Their lips meet, pressing against each other as gently as two marshmallows rubbing together. But more wet. Less dry. Madoka thought she was ready, but the sheer rush of adrenaline that courses through her body and sends shivers up her spine are so powerful that she loses her poise and gasps. They both squeeze each others' hands and start to shudder, blushing madly and now unable to properly contain the height of their shared enthusiasm.

For Madoka, it's more of an uncontrollable desire and elation. For Homura, it's more like relief and the purest, most unbridled, burning love she can imagine. At first, their kiss was just the kind a shy couple would share. A little smooch on the lips. But soon enough, she releases her grip on Madoka's hand and instead wraps them around her waist while pushing in and enveloping herself fully in the sensation of their total affection. Surely, Madoka wasn't expecting full tongue on her first time, but it isn't like she didn't want it.

Quite the opposite. If her mouth weren't full of Homura, she'd be nearly dislocating her jaw trying to smile. Instead, she's nearly dislocating her jaw trying to wrestle her tongue. She wants to pull back to breathe, but also just doesn't want it to end. She quickly learns how to breathe through her nose as it goes on and on, for almost a full minute.

"It tastes like candy." they both simultaneously and repeatedly tell themselves. Whether that's just a hallucination born from the sheer amount of love, or actual reality, they will never know.

But what Homura DOES know is that even after the several times she managed to do this back then, this time was different. This was more..."real", so to speak. More difficult. More special than it ever had been. Out of all her first times, she could easily call this one the "best".

She isn't going away this time. It's not temporary this time. She starts to feel herself cracking again. Soon enough, she gets her fill of the moment, and they part lips to breathe. A trail follows and quickly falls. And they open their eyes, and stare at each other. And Homura starts to quiver. And her eyes grow wet. She's smiling in a way that Madoka's never quite seen before, but going back and forth between unfathomable happiness and some deep sorrow that she doesn't recognize.

And then Homura breaks.

Grasping onto and embracing Madoka as tightly as she can without hurting her, she gasps and tries to pull her in even more, burying her face into Madoka's shoulder and just violently sobbing, almost losing the strength to even continue standing.

Madoka expected her to be emotional, but she didn't expect this. Maybe she'd cry happy tears a bit, maybe she'd finally be totally open about how she feels. But she never imagined that Homura would just start wailing incoherently. And slowly, she begins to realize this is nothing like how either of them idealized this meeting going.

But alas, it doesn't matter anymore. Madoka returns the embrace with her own, holding Homura up until she can't anymore, and they both collapse onto the ground with each other in hand.

Finally, through the choking and tears, Homura manages to speak, "Madoka, I... I love you! I love you so much! More than anything else in the world! I can't... I can't even tell you how much, because there aren't any words to describe it! I know this is going to sound weird and crazy; I know we've only known each other for a month. To you, I must just be a crush. Maybe you'll get bored of me one day; I don't know. But to me, you're so much more than that. More than a friend, or a best friend, or even a girlfriend or lover. For me, everything else could disappear, but as long as I have you, I wouldn't care at all! I know... I know I'm probably just talking to myself. I know you probably don't get what I'm saying. I don't deserve what you've given me, and I don't know why you care so much, but I know that..." she starts to shake more, and almost can't speak "...I know that if I can just stay like this for a little bit longer, I'll never need to ask you for anything else. So please... Stay. Let me..." she starts trail off as the sobbing comes again. "I can't...!" she holds on tighter.

At first, it's jarring. But then something odd happens. From somewhere deep within her, Madoka feels a deep-seated power awaken from within her and send a surge of...something through her mind. She isn't sure what it is, or how it came to be. But as her eyes erupt for just a slight moment with every glistening star in the universe, she doesn't just feel but understands. She isn't sure where it came from or why. But it doesn't really matter how or why. Just that it is.

As her voice clears up again, Homura asks, "...I sound crazy, don't I? It's weird. I'm sorry. I'm awful. It's okay if you don't want to do this anymore. I shouldn't—"

"No." Madoka says. Homura freezes completely. That voice isn't the voice she's used to by now. She looks up, and back into Madoka's eyes. She's smiling fondly. Not overjoyed, but contently. And though that golden color is gone, her eyes still sparkle with the remnants of that brief moment.

"It's okay." Madoka assures her, gently caressing her cheek and holding her like a mother would. "I understand. You don't need to say anything else. I love you too." A second passes as she gazes upon Homura's face. The makeup she so carefully put on is ruined. Mascara and eyeliner smeared and running, everything else smudged and disjointed. And yet, Madoka adds with a small chuckle, "I thought you were beautiful before. But...now you're gorgeous."

She is utterly immaculate. The only thing Homura can feel at that moment is a profound sense of contentness from basking in the radiance of those few words. She doesn't know why, nor does she have the strength to care anymore. Here she lies, completely disarmed and unable to anything but mutter "I love you." over and over.

And they stay like that for a long while, only noticing how long it's been when the sky begins to redden. By then, Homura has mostly recovered from the emotional breakdown and decides to try standing on her own. Though, they're both still holding each other.

"Feel better?" Madoka asks, giving her the biggest bedroom eyes.

"Yeah." Homura says, looking a bit away out of embarrassment. This certainly isn't how she imagined this going, but she can't take it back now.

"Need me to walk you home?"

"No, I'll be fine." Homura instinctively replies.

Madoka looks upset for a moment, but then smiles again and rewords it, "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Homura gives her a puzzled look for a moment, but then returns the smile, "That's my line. But..." she blushes "...yeah. If you want."

Madoka giggles, "Okay, okay. I'll let you escort me. How's that?"

Homura nods, and the two start to head out of the school whose doors are about to be locked. As they head down the quiet, barren roads of the afternoon when everyone is home except for those overtimers, they get to small-talking and leaning all over each other.

"Homura..." Madoka asks "...can you come over tomorrow? I want to introduce you."

"Don't they already know me?" Homura chuckles.

Madoka does as well, "Introduce you as my girlfriend. I mean, mom probably already knows, but dad..."

Homura sighs calmly, "Alright. Say, isn't tomorrow the boys' festival?"

"Yeah. Dad started decorating for it this morning."

"Interesting time to come out, like that."

Madoka giggles again, "Yeah... So, what about the others?"

Homura thinks for a moment, "Kyouko already knows, so that just leaves Sayaka, Hitomi, and the guy. But I don't think it's any of their business."

"Maybe..." Madoka wonders "...I'm a bit scared to tell them."

Homura glances at her.

"...Well, I just don't know how they're going to react. I don't think Sayaka would be too mean about it, but I don't know how Hitomi would react."

"Well I guess they'll just have to find out on their own, won't they?"

"I guess." Madoka relents. A silence ensues, but Homura comes in an plants a quick kiss on her cheek to break it. Madoka blushes and laughs.

"Don't worry about it. If they find out, I'll make sure they don't bother you about it. Nobody will." Homura reassures her.

"Thanks." Madoka says. After a moment, she grabs onto Homura's arm and tells her, a bit quietly, "You know, I thought you were a bit scary at first, but now I realize that you really are one of the kindest people I've ever met. So...I guess what I'm saying is that I'll do the same. If anyone ever calls you weird or something like that, I...won't let them hear the end of it!" She pumps her free arm confidently, which makes Homura giggle.

"I guess we're both a little strange, aren't we?" she comments. They both laugh at that.

"I guess so."

"You know..." Homura looks down, but not sadly "...you said I was kind. But that's one of the reasons I love you so much. I can't think of anyone more perfect and good than you."

Madoka laughs again, this time out of embarrassment and so hard that she snorts just like Kyouko usually does. No doubt that's where she picked it up. "Oh, come on!" she says "You're just as good as me."

For the first time, Homura actually agrees with a smile instead of arguing, "Well, if you say so. But I love you the most."

"No, I love you the most!" Madoka pokes her cheek teasingly.

"No..." Homura refutes, poking her back.

This goes on and on until they get to Madoka's house. Junko's car is pulled up, so everyone is clearly home. Dinner is probably ready. But they just sort of linger at the driveway, not wanting to part ways just yet but coming to an impasse.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Madoka starts.

"Yeah. Tomorrow." Homura agrees. They're standing an arm's length apart, still holding hands.

"Uh..." Madoka stands still, not knowing what to do.

"Mm..." Homura hums, looking away.

Madoka has to be the one to make the move. She moves back in and hugs her, "Goodnight, Homura."

"Goodnight." Homura replies, about to return the hug but being met with a kiss as well. Her heart skips a beat, and they both linger there to relish in the warmth. Soon enough, it has to end, and so they part once more. Homura hesitantly backs up and starts heading home while Madoka coily waves at her with a big, dumb grin which she expects to be replaced with a frown.

But it never comes.