Under normal circumstances, Madoka would be walking to school with her friends. Under normal circumstances, Homura would be literally the first person in class besides the teacher. But for some reason, their friends are finding themselves otherwise alone. Kyouko, Sayaka, and Hitomi are gathered around Sayaka's desk, where she notes it, "It's like, ten minutes before class starts; where are they?"

Kyouko shrugs, "Never seen Homura miss a day. Or even be late."

Hitomi, who has been standing quietly and in deep thought while the other two have been talking, finally speaks up, "Sayaka, Kyouko... I was thinking, what might you believe happened the other day with regards to Madoka?"

The other two look at each other for a minute. Sayaka starts to think, "She got confessed to, right? I wonder if something bad happened..."

"Nah." Kyouko dismissively throws her hand "No way. I can't imagine she'd turn down who confessed. She's too much of a softy, y'know?"

Sayaka shrugs, "I don't know, she turned down a couple of guys waaaaay back when."

Kyouko chuckles, "Yeah, I could see th—!"

SUDDENLY, the classroom door slams open! Everyone whips around to see what's going on, to be met by two clara dolls who have nearly broken the door down in an attempt to make an extravagant entrance. They present the open door, from which four more dolls come out and start throwing confetti everywhere while chanting in german, "Hier kommt die Göttin! Hier kommt die Göttin! Hier kommt die Göttin!"

Homura, looking very upset about the whole show of things, reluctantly follows them hand-in-hand with Madoka who is smiling but in an utterly perplexed way. Behind them are the rest of the dolls also throwing confetti and generally making a mess of things. Once the girls are through, the dolls circle around them one more time and finally run off through the hallways, skipping and twirling, probably off to light a trash can on fire or commit petty theft.

"Well now." Hitomi comments "That was...interesting."

"What the...?" Sayaka squints confusedly.

Kyouko explains, "Her cousins, apparently."

"Madoka's!?"

"Homura's."

"Oh, that explains it."

As Homura passes by on the way to her seat, she smacks Sayaka on the back of the head for that comment and greets everyone, "Good morning."

Sayaka decides to just not do anything. Instead, she turns her attention to Madoka who's on her other side and asks, "Hey, what's up?"

"Hm?" Madoka sits down and acts clueless.

"The other day, what happened? Was..." She looks around, gets up, and whispers into her ear, "Was it her?"

Madoka's eyes dart around nervously as she debates what to say. On one hand, Sayaka doesn't seem to have been too upset about the idea. On the other hand, she still hasn't really tested the water with anything besides just telling her that it was probably Homura writing the letters. She doesn't know much of anything yet, so she could really spin the story any way she wants to be as vague as necessary. Sure, they've been friends since forever, but she's seen plenty of friendships get ended over something like this. And then there's Kyouko, who seems to be in the know about a lot. Did she already talk? How much does she know exactly? Would she...?

By the time she's reached that thought, Sayaka has started poking her in the forehead, "Uhh...you there? Madoka?"

"Y-Yes!?" Madoka stammers, her voice cracking suspiciously.

Sayaka cocks her eyebrow, "Did you not get enough sleep or something?"

Madoka shakes her head, "No, no, I'm fine."

"Alright, so what happened the other day?"

Well, so much for evasion. "Well..." she thinks for a moment. She wanted to go about this delicately, but the more she thinks about it, the more it makes sense to just go all in and whatever happens, happens. What's the worst that could happen?

Actually, that might have jinxed it. But she swallows her self-inflicted omen and tells her, "...Yeah, it was her."

Sayaka looks down, just kind of staring into nothing for a moment while she absorbs that. "Huh..." she says. Around this time, Kyouko joins the two and asks what's up.

Hitomi does the same, "Hey! I want to know, too!"

Kyouko walks around Sayaka and pushes Hitomi away, "Nope. Not gonna happen. Sit down."

"What!?" Hitomi complains "But I'm her friend too! I need to know about this!"

Kyouko forces her back into her seat, "No way, lettuce-head. We know how much you gossip." Hitomi pouts, but stays put while Kyouko rejoins the other two, "So...what happened?"

Madoka clears her throat, revealing a huge, embarrassed grin while her face lights up, "Well...uh... I got my first..." her voice goes below a whisper and into what can only be described as an exhale, "...kiss."

"Eh?" Sayaka cups her ear and leans in a bit.

"K-Kiss..." Madoka repeats a little louder. "We kissed." She buries her hands in her lap and stiffens.

Sayaka looks almost offended. "K—!?" she nearly yells, then goes back down to a cautious whisper "Kissed!? Really!? Before ME!?"

Kyouko starts snickering, "Wow, okay. Good to know that, Sayaka!" she pats her on the back to little assuagement. That is, Sayaka swats her back.

"Yeah..." Madoka continues, getting redder and redder "She confessed, and I was already going to accept, and then I got my first...and second. And third...and fourth...and—"

"Okay, I get it." Sayaka stops her. "So...what, you're dating now?"

Madoka cheerfully replies, "Yep! I introduced her to mama and papa yesterday. But as my..." she hesitates "girlfriend, this time. Mom kind of already knew, but dad got caught off-guard. And then she came to my house this morning and wanted to walk to school together..."

"Oh, so that's why you two were so late."

"Yeah..."

Kyouko interjects, "C'mon, you'd've gotten here earlier if that's all. What else happened?" Madoka instantly averts her gaze, telling Kyouko all she needs to know, "Oh, alright. Yeah, I get it." she grins and finger-guns.

"Wow..." Sayaka contemplates "One month. You're here for one month and you've already done...this."

"This?"

"Gotten a partner, had your first actual kiss, got all of your old friends back...what next, someone tries to recruit you for an idol group? Actually, I take that back, don't want you in one of those relationships."

"Eh?" Madoka tilts her head.

Sayaka clears her throat, "Aaaaanyways!"

"No, what?" Madoka asks.

"You don't wanna know." Sayaka bluntly states. "Anyways...I'm kind of jealous. I was always just chasing after Kyousuke, so..." she trails off while everyone stares worriedly at her "...but, I can't believe it's with her. I just don't know what to think."

"...Don't tell anyone about all this, okay?" Madoka asks.

"Right." Sayaka agrees.

While Sayaka talks, Kyouko is staring a burning hole into the back of her head. Madoka notices, but can't really take the hint. Homura notices but doesn't say anything. Hitomi notices, but goddess knows what she's thinking. Actually, even she doesn't know. Neither do the clara dolls who are staring at everyone through the window and surprisingly not committing arson.

Speaking of Homura, she decides it's about time she interrupts the three by waltzing over and asking, "Are these two bothering you, Madoka?"

"Eh?" Madoka looks confused "No, no! We're just talking."

Homura hums and gently caresses her head, "That's good..." Madoka curls up timidly and tries to hide her embarrassment, but fails miserably. Homura then turns her attention to Kyouko, "You."

"Me?" Kyouko points at herself.

"Yes, you." she confirms, then gestures over to her little corner. Kyouko nods and follows Homura back to her desk.

Once there, Kyouko asks, "So how'd yesterday go?"

"Swimmingly." Homura briefly concludes. She gets right to the point, "You held up your end. I don't intend to be indebted to anybody, so what do you want me to do?"

Kyouko chuckles, "Damn, you're too formal about this. Well, everything's fine right now. Just go 'n' be all lovey dovey with yer girl. Try to normalize it. I wanna get Sayaka thinking about the idea of a relationship between girls so she doesn't freak when I ask her out. Not like I want ya to play cupid or anything. Just..."

"Psy-ops?" Homura finishes.

"What?"

"Okay."

Kyouko is left confused.

...And then they're completely silent. Awkwardly so. They just sort of stand around there for a bit, not sure what to say next. Homura because she's just terrible at social interactions and Kyouko because Homura is honestly a bit intimidating. But she eventually figures something out, "So...first kiss? How—?"

"Not talking about that."

Kyouko pauses, about to argue, but thinking better of it. Instead, she comes up with another question, "And...yesterday?"

"Fine."

Kyouko stares at her disappointedly, "You really don't want to talk, do you?"

"No."

"...Gonna join us for lunch?"

"Yes."

"And after school?"

"I have plans."

"Her too?"

"Y—" Homura stops short of answering, then looks away.

Kyouko smirks, "Got it." She gives a thumbs up, "Well, that's all. Seeya."

Kyouko runs right back to Madoka's desk to find that Sayaka has sat back down, "Yo, what happened?"

"Ah, Sayaka needed to think about things for a little while."

"I bet. She looked just completely floored."

Madoka chuckles, "Maybe not that much, but... I'm just glad she took it well."

"Psh." Kyouko scoffs "Like she wouldn't. She's not that petty." She then realizes that she just jinxed it. "I hope." she adds to unjinx it. "So you got plans?"

"Well, I was going to sleep over at Homura's place this weekend..." Madoka mentions.

Kyouko chuckles, "I meant today, but that's...good to know."

"Oh!" Madoka suddenly looks excited "Well, Homura told me on the way here that we should celebrate, so we were going to go out to an ice cream parlor. She said I could get aaaaanything I want!" She's positively jumping in her seat at the thought of what she's going to get, even drooling a little.

"Well now I'm jealous!" Kyouko throws her arms up and behind her head.

Madoka immediately droops down, still smiling, but more sheepishly, "Oh, sorry..."

Kyouko waves it off, "Nah, nah, it's fine. I can always get ice cream another day. Have fun with that, though..." she looks back at a clock "...Oh, better get back. Teach's comin'." Madoka waves awkwardly, Kyouko waves back.

Throughout the rest of the school day, Madoka and Homura are both stuck stealing distracted glances at one another while Sayaka is left staring at her desk contemplatively, as if she were just given a terrible ultimatum. Kyouko can't help but notice, as she too is busy stealing glances. Not that hers are returned. And not that she stays awake the whole day anyways.

It's much the same during lunch, with Hitomi and Kyouko being stuck between Sayaka who doesn't want to socialize and Madoka and Homura who are feeding each other as usual. Nobody can quite remember at this point when exactly that started, but if one thing is for certain, it's that they'll be doing a lot more of it from now on.

Same with PE. Sayaka sits on the sidelines, Kyouko and Hitomi try to make small talk but fail miserably because they have little in common besides being friends with Sayaka, and Madoka is stuck ogling Homura as she continues to wipe everyone in the class out in every conceivable competition.

And then at the end of the day, even then, Sayaka is still playing the dumbstruck loner. The only people who leave together are Madoka and Homura, to whom Kyouko bids a specific farewell.

Then, Homura abruptly stops a minute or so into their walk. "Ah..." she sighs "Alone at last."

Madoka stops curiously, only for Homura to suddenly pivot around, pull her into a hug, and then gently kiss her forehead. Madoka hums, leaning into her and rubbing her cheek against Homura's shoulder.

Madoka says, "I like this."

Homura starts brushing her hair with one hand, "This?"

"I've been wanting you to be more loving for a long time... I wanted you to smile a lot. Whenever you did, it seemed like such a big thing. Now, you've been smiling a lot since the other day."

"It's only been a month." Homura reminds her.

"I know..." Madoka kisses her cheek "...I'm wondering if maybe it went a little too fast..."

Homura stiffens.

"...but as long as you're happy, I wouldn't have cared if you confessed to me the day I came here."

Homura relaxes, "I feel the same. All I want is a world where you can be happy. If being with me, like this, is what does that..." she takes Madoka's hand and squeezes tightly, looking her in the eyes "then I won't have any regrets."

Madoka's heart starts pounding, her entire body heating up enough to feel by touch as she whispers, "I love you..." and buries her face in Homura's chest.

Homura blushes and draws up a wide smile that she dares not let anyone else see. Besides Madoka. She gently pushes her a step back and caresses her cheek, staring her in the eyes silently for at least a full minute before remembering, "...Ah, we should probably get moving."

Madoka suddenly remembers where they were going, "Oh! Right! I uh..." her entire face turns red "...forgot."

Homura pats her on the back and hurries her along, so they walk hand-in-hand to a strange-looking ice cream parlor. Looks like some sort of stereotypically girlish castle, with weird lettering on the front that Madoka can't read a lick of. As they approach the glass double doors to the building, Usotsuki and Mie come forth from out of nowhere and hold the doors open as the couple pass.

On the inside, a sharply dressed butler-looking man waves at them and gestures to the right wall which is absolutely covered in every flavor and form of ice cream imaginable, and beside that every topping one could potentially think of. All in boxes with shovels like a candy store, rotating on cylinders.

"Help yourself." Homura tells her, casually nudging Madoka towards the enormous selection. For a moment, she can't even believe her eyes, but is quickly lost in browsing. Homura just sits back and watches contently.

Madoka goes straight for a bowl, surprisingly. Homura figured she'd go for a cone; something cute. Or maybe a little cup. No, she just goes for a bigass bowl, the type you put an ice cream sundae in. And then she proceeds to go back and forth between different flavors: Good old vanilla, plenty of strawberry, a little milk ice cream in dollops along the edge...lavender? Homura didn't even know that was a flavor, but apparently it is. Quite a lot of it, honestly. Then she adds cherry, and then chocolate...and then come the fruits: Strawberries, blueberries, and maraschino cherries just stuck in there. Then she goes and starts stabbing it in various locations with wafer sticks and tiny cookies. Thank god(dess) it hasn't melted in the time she took to assemble it, somehow.

Then she comes running back to Homura with the amalgamation, grinning like a little kid in a...well, I guess that is kind of what the situation is. Regardless, she's happy. Therefore, Homura is happy. They go and sit down at a little table clearly meant to be shared when Homura comments, "Can you eat all of that?"

"O-Of course!" Madoka looks mildly offended, but it's clearly just play.

Homura pokes her arm, "But you're so tiny!" Madoka pouts, so she adds, "And cute." The pout turns into bashful shuffling. Seeing that she hasn't started yet, Homura then leans over and takes her spoon, picking up some of the vanilla and holding it to Madoka's lips.

Madoka seems to forget about that teasing instantly as she leans forward and swallows the scoop whole. She goes from a tiny frown to a nice, big smile as she leans back into the chair and savors it. "Wow..." she says, astonished "how was that so good? I've never had ice cream like this before!"

Homura just grins at her and offers another spoonful, this time of chocolate. Madoka happily obliges. Again and again, she just can't seem to stop. Then, she suddenly takes the spoon and tells Homura, "Hey...how about you try some?"

Homura hesitates. It's supposed to be Madoka's, entirely. Not meant for her. But at the same time, she looks absolutely insistent on it. Well, if that's what Madoka wants...

Too late. Madoka already took it, got a large dollop of strawberry, and has it pressed up against Homura's lips. She chuckles and slowly takes it in. "Mm..." she tries to speak with her mouth still full. It's not like she didn't expect it to be good. She specifically made it to be, after all. But somehow, it's even better than she made it. "How curious." she thinks.

Madoka waits happily for her to respond.

"It's good." Homura finally says. Madoka giggles and wiggles around excitedly in her seat. She takes another of the strawberry, but this time adds one of the cherries on top and hovers that over, this time resting her head on her hand at the same time and staring longingly at her.

Homura doesn't notice it until she's already eaten the spoonful, but even then she has to think about why on earth Madoka would be staring at her like that. Did the eye bags finally clear up or something? Who knows?

Homura's utterly clueless expression kind of tips Madoka off, so she hints a bit more, "Strawberry."

"Right." Homura says. Silence ensues.

Madoka raises a brow at her, then takes a spoonful of the lavender ice cream and hands it to Homura, then opens her mouth. Homura obliges and glides it gently in, where Madoka swallows and clearly lets it just melt on her tongue, then exaggeratedly licks her lips.

Alas, Homura either didn't notice or doesn't know what to think. "Seriously?" Madoka thinks. She decides to drop another hint, "...It matches your eyes, you know."

"Ah?" Homura looks confused but acts otherwise. Poorly.

"The lavender ice cream. It's purple. Like your eyes." Madoka says as she eats another spoonful of it in the same way.

"Oh." Homura starts to blush faintly. Then she fumbles over her words a bit, "Yours, too."

Madoka giggles. Homura starts to internally freak out, "Wait, what!? 'Yours too'!? Her eyes are pink, not violet! Idiot! Did she notice?"

Of course she did, but she doesn't show it, so Homura doesn't assume so. Though, Madoka's getting a bit impatient at this point. "Homura, close your eyes for a second." she commands.

Homura smirks while complying, shaking her head and chuckling, "You're not going to play any pranks on me, are y—?" Suddenly, she's kissed on the lips. But not just a normal one. No, she then feels the cold smoothness of ice cream alongside it. She had taken a bite of it and then kissed her. The feeling is utterly overwhelming, with the velvety sensation of both the rapidly melting ice cream and her tongue doubling one another over and making an absolute mess. It would honestly be a bit gross if not for the fact that it's Madoka.

Homura swallows it all, though. Not that she has a choice. And when Madoka parts, Homura comments after a few stunned seconds, "...Wow. That was... Where did you learn that?"

Madoka starts to blush as she sits back down, "Uh...nowhere. I just thought about it suddenly, and..." she looks down as if she's ashamed and starts to mumble.

Meanwhile, Homura half-covers her face and smiles at her, "It's okay. If you want to do anything, just ask."

Madoka looks back up, grinning uncontrollably, "O-Okay. So..." She sheepishly grabs the cookie she stuck in the amalgamation and starts chewing on it.

Homura giggles, "You were so bold just now, what happened?" She rests her head on the table sideways and stares at her.

Madoka raises her shoulders and looks to the side, "I can't always do things like that..."

Homura smiles at her, humming. Suddenly she has a separate spoon in her hand which she dips into the dish and floats towards Madoka. "Cute."

Madoka bites down on it and quickly swallows, "Really?"

"You already know I think that." Homura claims, repeating the action.

Madoka takes in whatever she's given, "Already?"

"The letters I sent you. Remember?"

Madoka looks up for a second to remember each individual one, "Oh yeah... I still have all of them."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Are you...still going to make those?"

"Why do that when I can just tell you?"

"Ah..." Madoka pauses to swallow another one "That makes sense. But it was..." she looks away for a second "...it was cute, too."

Homura stops for a moment, as if she can't parse what Madoka just said. Her? Cute? Surely that's only something Madoka would think. Only her.

Madoka snaps her out of her brief daze, "Homura?"

"Ah, yes?"

"How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"The letters. Every day. You didn't miss a single one."

Homura chuckles, "I was very diligent."

Madoka hums, "...So, when did you start liking me that much?"

Without any hesitation, and without a single thought as to how creepy it might sound, she answers, "As soon as I saw you." in the softest, most gentle tone she can muster, effortlessly such that it must be natural.

Madoka can tell just from that much information that whatever that voice just was had some of her truest feelings coming forth and only just stopping short of the finish line, so to speak. She finds herself shuffling around in her seat and averting her gaze, her entire face turning pink for some reason. "You mean...love at first sight?" she asks with a wavering voice.

Homura sits back up in her seat, "Something like that."

"When..." Madoka starts to reminisce "When you hugged me in the hallway, was that...?"

Homura looks to the side, nodding to herself, "I was..." She pauses. What the hell was she doing? Well, besides suppressing Madoka's memories. What is a plausible lie? Or, it doesn't necessarily need to be a lie, but at least a half-truth. Something that's true but not necessarily dangerous to tell her. She ends up deciding that if she admits something embarrassing, it would sound more believable. After all, why would anyone tell something like that about themselves if it weren't true? Well, that they could plausibly imagine, anyways. Her final answer is, "I was just having a hard time holding myself back. It's been a long time since I felt that sort of way, and I was just a bit..." she gulps "...lonely, so..."

Madoka stares for a moment, "...You couldn't help it?"

"Yes." Homura looks away.

Madoka looks like she isn't going to believe it for a second. But then she just giggles and says, "Wow...so you were always like this? I was worried you were just being nice because you liked me, but you really are a good girl." Homura's heart skips a beat when she says that. "Everyone really has a bad impression of you, don't they?" Madoka finishes.

Homura gulps and looks back at her, "I guess. I don't really care. I just want you to be happy."

"And I want you to be." Madoka fires back. They both end up embarrassing each other and themselves with those comments, even though there's nobody else around besides that metaphorical cardboard cutout of a cashier.

By the time they're done doting over each other, Homura goes back to try and finish the dish of ice cream, only to find that it's all either eaten or melted aside from the toppings. "Whoops." she says.

Madoka smiles, "It's okay. You can have the rest."

"No, you." Homura pushes it over to her with both spoons.

Madoka raises an eyebrow, then pushes it back, "No, you."

"You're too kind. Come on, eat. You need to." Homura pushes it back.

"You need to more! You're way skinnier than me!" Madoka pushes it back.

"But this is too good for me, and besides, it was yours."

"But...!" Madoka is about to argue, but thinks better of it. She suddenly realizes that there's no talking her down from this, as usual. She just smiles and says, "You're so stubborn..." before sitting back down and finishing off all of the fruits and other toppings she covered the ice cream with. The entire time, Homura just stares at her happily. It wipes away all of her self-imposed guilt. By the time she's done, Homura's already gotten up and prepared to escort her out, so she stands and hugs her.

"Good?" Homura asks.

"Mm," Madoka hums "but what about—?"

"Don't worry." Homura insists. "Whatever it is, don't worry. Just leave it here, they'll take care of it."

Madoka looks back down at their table, then back up at her, still smiling, and nods. Homura rubs her head and slowly walks her out. They managed to spend so much time in there that it's somehow already late in the afternoon. Madoka looks around her as they step out of the building, admiring the orange-tinted sky, "Wow, it's already this late... How did that happen?"

Homura practically ignores the question, "Do you need to get home?"

Madoka looks down for a moment, "...Yeah. I think so."

"I'll walk you." Homura continues to pet her.

"Okay." Madoka says while nuzzling up to her.

They go on their way, passing by roads full of people making their way back home from work or heading to bars and such to socialize, both either staring ahead, up at the sky, or stealing glances at each other the whole time. Once they're away from the prying eyes of people giving them confused looks and more into the suburbs, Madoka suddenly stops.

She turns her head to the side at Homura, and she looks back at her. "Homura?" she asks.

"Yes?" Homura whispers.

Madoka's breathing becomes less steady as she reaches up and tilts her head back, grasping onto Homura's shoulders and parting her lips. Homura obliges, holding her by the back of the head and her waist, pulling her into another deep kiss. She giggles a little as it drags on, purely because of Madoka just not letting go for anything. Eventually, Homura has to push her away gently as she swallows and gasps, "Madoka...!"

Madoka does the same, but then immediately tries to do it again. Homura has to hold her back, "Madoka, wait..."

Madoka looks disappointed, "Eh? Homura?"

Homura chuckles, "Come on, I know it's fun, but you have to save it or it'll get boring. You wouldn't want to eat cake every day, right? You would get sick of it and not want to eat it again."

"But...!" Madoka tries to argue as she jumps up and down, trying to kiss her again.

Homura holds her by the shoulders and rubs them, "Madoka, stop. It's okay. We have tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, and all of the others for years to come. We have all of the time in the world, okay? You don't have to get it all out at once."

Madoka doesn't look convinced, "Don't... Don't you want to do it too?"

Homura sighs, "I do. There's nothing I want more right now than that. But I also want that sort of thing to stay special. So..." she starts to caress her cheek "...so very special. Okay?"

Madoka nods along, holding and rubbing her hand as they continue walking, now holding each other even more closely.

And finally, when Homura gets her back home, she stops at the front gate and tells her, "Now you can do it."

Madoka leaps onto the opportunity and nearly knocks her over with the force of her hug and sequential kiss.

She holds it for at least the next half minute before letting go, lead to Homura commenting, "Ah, it's...addicting, isn't it?" while laughing.

"Yeah." Madoka agrees, looking directly into her eyes with an unbearable longing. "Do you wanna come in? We can lie in bed together."

Homura hesitantly declines, "No, no. Let's save that for this weekend."

Madoka looks down, "Oh..." But then back up as soon as Homura's about to console her, "Well, I guess it just means we're looking forward to more, right? I can't wait."

Homura nods, but doesn't say anything.

"Well...see you tomorrow, Homura." Madoka lets go and gives her a small wave.

Homura does the same, "See you."

They sort of linger. Madoka eventually adds, "I love you."

Homura pets her head again, "You too."

"..."

"..."

Suddenly, they hear a car horn honking at them, followed by a voice which is clearly Junko's calling out, "Hey lovebirds, you're in the driveway!"

They both turn red as strawberries and quickly run out of the way. Junko drives on in while looking out at them and giving a wink, causing Madoka to bury her face in Homura's chest. Homura giggles and hugs her tightly, "Madoka, you better go. I bet dinner's going to be ready soon."

"Yeah. Make sure you eat well too, okay?" Madoka makes her promise. Homura nods even though she has no intent on following through, otherwise. Finally, they manage to part ways without one of them running right back.