CHAPTER 11: Beautiful Dreamer

"Hello, Nagisa!" One of the nurses recognized her sitting in the lobby chair. "Who's your friend?"

Nagisa lightly elbowed Sayaka, who had dozed off in her seat. "Er, Sorry. Sayak-. Saya Otonashi."

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

Sayaka shook her head and yawned. "Naw, I'm her cousin. Just visiting." She affectionately noogied the top of Nagisa's head.

"I see." The nurse turned her attention to the papers she was carrying. "Well, Nagisa… It seems your Mom's doing a lot better today, but none of the Doctors don't seem to have any clue why. So she's going to be put through a lot of tests for the rest of the day, so unfortunately she won't be having any time for visitors."

"That's okay." Nagisa took Sayaka's hand. "I don't mind." The Nurse promptly walked away.

"What time is it right now?" Sayaka tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"Twelve." Nagisa pointed toward the wall clock.

"Time we do another patrol."

"Again?" Nagisa whined. They had been scouring the building every hour for any sign of the witch that Sayaka was expecting, staying together to ensure that Kyubey would not attempt any more dirty psychological tricks.

"We'll try outside the building this time." Out there was, after all, where the witch had appeared the last time. "Go around the whole block and back."

"Okay." Nagisa fidgeted. "Can we use Nagisa's this time?" Nagisa twirled the ring on her finger.

"Sure, go ahead." They snuck behind a potted plant as Nagisa's Soul Gem manifested.

"How am I supposed to do it?" Nagisa watched the grey light of her gem shimmer and shine.

"You walk around and you…" Sayaka paused as they headed out a side exit. "Keep your eye on it. That's basically it I guess."

"How do I know when it's found something?" Nagisa's head tilted up as she spoke.

"You…" Sayaka itched her cheek. "Just know." She eyed the ring on her own hand. "It like, sends this icky feeling deep down in your gut. Not icky like you're sick, but more like you're having your per-" Sayaka stopped herself.

"My what?"

"Nevermind." She put her am on Nagisa's back. "You suddenly feel very very tense in your belly."

"Oh." Nagisa nodded. "Why's that?"

"Not sure." They turned a corner. "Might be something Kyubey could explain." Or Miss Jones, Sayaka thought to herself.

"Wonder why he's called 'Kyubey'?" Nagisa wondered.

"I don't know." Sayaka shrugged. "I guess I never asked."

"It sounds like it's short for something." They arrived at the bicycle parking lot. "Oh! Nagisa knows this place!" Nagisa hustled over to a secluded picnic table underneath a tall tree. "Can we stop here?"

"We've only started looking, though." Sayaka's head shifted over to a certain spot on the wall. They'd come close to the exact spot where Sayaka had spotted the Mami-killing witch's Grief Seed.

"So hungry." Nagisa climbed on top of the table. Sayaka's stomach instinctively growled at the mention of food. She had been ignoring her own growing hunger until this moment. "Can we eat something first?"

"I suppose." Sayaka relented and sat down at the table. She unzipped the duffel bag and took the sandwiches out. Nagisa had already eaten one sandwich, and the cheese off the other, as well as the nachos.

"Got these." Nagisa still possessed the desert bars Sayaka asked her to fetch hours ago. "They're raspberry. It didn't have chocolate."

"That's fine, thanks." Sayaka took one of the bars from Nagisa's hand. "You can have the other one."

"I like to eat in this spot a lot." Nagisa looked up at a bird feeding its young in the tree above. "The animal came to me right here the first time I saw him."

"That so?" Sayaka bit into her sandwich, her eyes searching around for any sign of Kyubey nearby. "How long ago?"

"Let's see…" Nagisa started counting on her fingers. She clearly didn't really know how much time had passed since her first encounter.

"So you didn't make a contract right away, did you?" Sayaka said. Nagisa shook her head with a small jerk to one side. "And you probably didn't even realize you could've fixed your Mom." She jerked again. "Knowing Kyubey, he wouldn't suggest it."

"I-" Nagisa stopped eating for a moment. "I knew I could fix her." She took a big, hard bite of her sandwich. "I was going to do that. But then I decided I wouldn't do that."

"Really?" Sayaka tilted her head. "Why not?"

"Because I knew that would make me a bad girl." Nagisa set her sandwich down. "I knew I'd be doing it so she'd be grateful for it." She stared guiltily at the ground.

"Gee, that actually sounds…" Sayaka hesitated. "Familiar. But you still let me try my magic on her?" Sayaka glanced down at the duffel bag, then took a bigger bite of her sandwich.

"Because you looked like you really wanted to." Nagisa took the last bite of her sandwich. "But I…" She paused. "I didn't really think you'd be able to do it."

"Don't feel bad. That makes two of us." Sayaka rested her chin on her hand.

"So she's all better now?" Nagisa unwrapped the desert bar.

"Right as rain. Fit as a fiddle." She bit and spoke with her mouth full. "For reals."

"Wow!" Nagisa's eyes widened. "You're amazing!"

"I'm nothing special." Sayaka sighed. "Just doing the best I can with what I got."

"Do you need help?"

"Help?"

"Doing what you can and stuff." Nagisa chomped on the raspberry bar.

"Are you asking to stay with me?"

"I don't have anywhere else to go." Nagisa's sleeves were rolled back by the table corner as she pleaded.

"But what about your-" Sayaka paused and glared at the marks along Nagisa's arm.

"I wanna be free!" Nagisa cried. "Nagisa won't be any trouble at all! Promise!"

"But I don't-" Sayaka stammered. "I don't have any way to take care of you! I don't have a place or a home of my own. Or even a life of my own. I'm… "

"Freeeeee!" Nagisa eagerly smiled and shoved the rest of her bar in her mouth.

"I-" Sayaka thought to herself for a moment. "Suppose that is true. Hmm." She stood up, took Nagisa's hand and pulled her to her feet. "Break's over. We got a patrol to finish." She briefly checked the wall for any sign of the expected Grief Seed. Still none. "I don't know. I'll think about it more. For now, let's keep doing what we can with all we got."

"Ahhhh! Miss Kaname!" Miss Jones greeted. "You're right on time!"

"I'm happy to be here." Madoka courteously bowed. Miss Jones noticed Kyubey following her into the room.

"That's okay." She pretended she saw nothing. "You don't have to lie. I'm sure I've disrupted some sort of big, afternoon date at the mall or something." Miss Jones very nearly missed stepping on Kyubey's tail.

"It's not a problem!" Madoka insisted. "I told the person I had plans with what you wanted. They understood." She smiled. "I'm so glad to be meeting you, I mean it." She took her seat in the front, middle chair of the classroom. "What do you need my help with?" Kyubey chose to sit in front of the desk beneath her.

"Hmm. Let's see." Miss Jones gathered a stack of papers. "First, I'm going to need your assistance with these." She laid them in front of Madoka on the desk, nearly booting Kyubey.

"Last week's homework?" Madoka asked.

"I've fallen a little behind in grading everyone's assignments." Miss Jones handed Madoka a red pen. "You know, the usual reasons. Had other matters to oversee. New people to meet. Still settling into this gig." She slapped the answer sheet on the desk, her feet narrowly avoiding Kyubey's tail a second time.

"This one's mine." Madoka separated her sheet from the stack. "I don't think I should be the one who grades my paper." She stood up and handed it over. "It's fine that you wanted to join me here, Kyubey, but um, maybe it would be safer if you sat in back." She telepathically messaged him.

"How honest of you. Well, if that's what makes you comfortable." Miss Jones took her sheet back. "So, tell me a little more about yourself, then. When's your birthday?"

"Perhaps you are correct." Kyubey slowly trotted to an observational position further back.

"October third." Madoka started checking and comparing the papers.

"That's the month with that holiday where the kids all get to go play dress-up, right?" Miss Jones sat and started to sort through some of her other paperwork. "Do you like to do that?"

"Not really. I only liked getting the candy." Madoka giggled. "When we were younger, I always used to let Sayaka pick out our costumes." Madoka circled and corrected some wrong answers. "I think she secretly wants to be a cosplayer someday."

"So what is your favorite holiday, then?"

"I really like New Year's." Madoka moved on to the next student's paper. "It's fun! It's a day where you feel like you can start your whole life brand new."

"I can already tell you're the optimistic type." Miss Jones stapled some papers together.

"What about your classes? Do you like my class? Do you enjoy learning English?"

"Oh." Madoka stopped correcting for a second, looked up and blushed. "It's not my favorite subject. Or one of my best. But I do like learning the language." She scratched her cheek. "I'm sorry. I'm really really trying my best."

"So what subject is your favorite?"

"Art." Madoka said timidly. "I mean, I really really like to sketch and draw things." She started correcting the next paper. "But I don't like the idea of someone telling me if what I drew is good enough or not."

"That I understand completely." Miss Jones opened her laptop. "Tch. Critics. Never dug the notion of applying stiff 'objective' standards to purely subjective fields. Art. Food. Music. Would you happen to play any instruments?"

"Uhhmmm." Madoka paused. "We all had to learn to play the recorder in Elementary School." She circled and corrected a few more wrong answers. "I kept mine, and sometimes I'll play it whenever I'm feeling stressed or when I need to think something over." She wrote the paper's grade at the top and moved on to the next one. "I'm not that good at playing it, though. Honestly."

"I had an old friend who used to do exactly that sort of thing, too." Miss Jones typed away on her laptop. "Y'know… It's funny. I often used to wonder whether or not I was the one who inspired that friend to take an interest in music. At the risk of making myself out to be a bit of an egotist, but you see, I was a pretty avid music lover back in my most formative years."

"Now that you mention it." Madoka mused. "I think I kept it because I used to see the look in Sayaka's eyes whenever she and I were watching Kyosuke Kamijo play his violin. You see, he's a really really good violin player and we would go watch him practice when we were little. I think... I just wanted her to look at me the way she would look at him." Her face blushed a deep red. "A girl being jealous of a boy. It sounds weird. Don't tell her that." She circled and corrected a number of incorrect answers.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe." Miss Jones connected a cable from her laptop to a printer nearby, and printed copies started rolling out. "I had an oddball crush on my very first friend, too."

"Are you two still friends?"

"Hm?"

"With your old friend?" Madoka clarified. "Are you and them still friends?"

"Are we?" Miss Jones heavily sighed, leaned back and her chair and stared wistfully toward the ceiling. "I hate to admit this, but we've lost touch. My friend was always a bit of a whimsical type. Loved to go everywhere and do everything under the stars. I tried, but I just could never quite keep up. Still, I'd like to believe they stop and think about me every now and then. Might be a delusion, but it's a reassuring one."

"S- Sorry." Madoka "I don't mean to pry." She glanced at Miss Jones quickly before circling and correcting more answers. "But I've been thinking a lot lately and I'm wondering if I'm still going to be friends with Sayaka in the future. If we can still be friends when we get older." Kyubey's ears twitched in the back.

"Oh?" Miss Jones leaned forward "Why? Have you had a reason to worry?"

"Well…" Madoka put the pen to her mouth. "Last week we got into a mess at the mall. A waitress from one of the restaurants insisted that she didn't pay for some food she had. But she was never even there! I offered to stay and vouch for her, but Sayaka sent me away." Madoka circled a few more answers. "She was trying to protect me from getting in trouble with her. She does that an awful lot."

"Mhmm." Miss Jones got up. "Hope they let her off easy."

"And she and I always walked to school together with our friend Hitomi. But for the last few days I've had to walk to school without her. Or Hitomi either."

"That's not necessarily because of you. She might be the one who's got issues."

"I understand that." Madoka circled some other answers. "And I've wanted to ask her about it. She knows that she can talk to me about anything. But when lunch comes- uh, we have our lunches together too. I've waited and waited for her in the spot where we always eat together, but she hasn't been coming up to talk. I don't know where else she'd go eat. Or who else she'd be talking to." Kyubey got up and walked a little closer to Madoka.

"Definitely sounds like the issue is hers." Miss Jones also walked closer.

"I'd talk to our friend Hitomi about it." Madoka scribbled a final grade at the top of the paper. "But I feel like they might be trying to ignore each other. That something happened between them." The paper she was grading was Sayaka's. The grade was a failing one. "And I don't want to take sides. I feel like she'd get mad at me, even if took her side." She moved on to the next paper.

"You really think she'd be mad at you if you involved yourself?" Miss Jones craned her head.

"Normally, I don't think she would be that mad." Madoka circled some wrong answers on the next paper. "But lately, I haven't been so sure." She corrected some more answers. "I don't know what's going on in her head."

"Really?" Miss Jones Jones pressed. "Why not?"

"You're going to think it's silly. Or that I'm weird."

"I promise I won't." Miss Jones smiled.

"It's a little embarrassing." Madoka corrected another answer, then put her pen down.

"I swear by my old friend's name… You can tell me."

"I told Sayaka a couple times." Madoka blushed and hesitated. "She thought I was silly."

"No judgements here." Miss Jones clasped her hands, bowed and zipped her lips. "Your secret's safe with me."

"I…" Madoka took a deep breath. "I keep having these really really bad dreams about her." Kyubey's ears perked behind them.

"Oh?" Miss Jones's eyes widened. "What sort of bad dreams are you experiencing?"

"I can't remember that much of them." Madoka concerningly stared down at the papers in front of her. "Last week, I remember having this dream where Sayaka looked extremely mad at me. Like, mad in a sort of way that resented my whole existence." She closed her eyes. "I remember another one where I was holding her in my arms… Like she was dead or something." She took a deep breath. "Then there was this other one where it felt like the whole world around us was ending… Where she was reaching out to me, but I had this feeling like I wasn't going to see her ever again."

"Those do sound pretty distressing." Miss Jones nodded sympathetically.

"I thought it couldn't get scarier than that. But then I had another one last night." Madoka choked, cleared her throat and tried to continue. "I…" She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I dreamed that she'd become a scary monster."

"Monster?"

"I… Think. I remember seeing this big, ugly metal monster, and I called out Sayaka's name like I knew it was her." Madoka shook her head mournfully. "But whatever I did, everything I tried, it wasn't working at all. I couldn't reach her. Because she wasn't the person I knew anymore. Then she exploded, and..." She bit her lip and looked up at Miss Jones. "Then I woke up crying. I couldn't even sleep after that."

"Hmm. Anger. Destruction. Transformation. Death. Sounds like you're afraid of not being there for her. Or maybe of losing her. Or of bad things happening if you two ever parted." Miss Jones handed Madoka a tissue. "Conventional psychology, if I were such an adherent, would suggest that you're having a classic case of separation anxiety."

"Separation anxiety?" Madoka leaned over her desk.

"It would fit your situation. You two are growing up and getting older. Your goals in life are changing. You're worried you're going to change. And that she's going to change too. That in the future, you're both going to change so much that it drives you apart. So much that you no longer even know each other. And that's making your subconscious mind believe that it's the same thing as losing her."

"I don't know if I could stand that." Madoka hunched back down in her seat. Kyubey traipsed into the corner of her sight.

"But that's only one possible explanation." Miss Jones shuffled over to a file cabinet in the back of the room, almost kicking Kyubey twice as she went by.

"What else could it be?" Madoka sluggishly circled and corrected more answers.

"If you want my personal, absolutely certifiable opinion…" Miss Jones sat in her chair and rolled it over to Madoka's desk, narrowly rolling past Kyubey's tail. She waved Madoka in over her desk like she was revealing a secret. Madoka leaned her ear closer. "It's another world," She whispered.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Madoka tilted her head.

"You're seeing into a whole other world!" Miss Jones excitedly kicked her legs out. "Of many other worlds! Of the lives so similar, yet very distinct from your own." Miss Jones's eyes widened as she whispered. "You see, while we sleep, our consciousness has the ability to tune in on the lives of our other selves, and we can experience the infinite paths which we may travel." She rolled away, rolling straight onto one of the prying Kyubey's ear appendages. "Well, that's my personally held belief, anyway."

"But why would I see a bunch of world's where Sayaka's in trouble?" Madoka lightly giggled, trying her best not to sound dismissive or skeptical.

"Maybe your other selves are trying to tell you something. Something important." Miss Jones smiled. "Be wise to listen."

"What should I be listening for?" Madoka momentarily glanced at Kyubey to see if he'd been grievously harmed. He wasn't, he chose to retreat back to the safety of the bookshelf.

"That's the real question." Miss Jones got out of her seat. "Have you finished with those corrections?"

"Almost done." Madoka picked up two sheets and held them up. "Miss Jones?"

"Yes?"

"The answers on these two girls' assignments." Madoka got out of her seat and walked over to her. "I don't want to be a tattletale or anything, but their answers are nearly identical." She double checked her corrections as she moved closer. "They both got a lot of the same things wrong."

"That so? Whose assignments?" Miss Jones leaned closer and closer to Madoka so that she could whisper who they were straight into her ear.

"Saya Otonashi's." Madoka hesitated momentarily as she presented the paper of the other one. "And Sayaka's."

"Mere coincidence." Miss Jones studied their answers.

"I guess." Madoka squinted at the sheets. "But their handwriting is similar, too. Almost the same. It's weird."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that? For now you should give your friend the benefit of the doubt."

Miss Jones glanced up to the clock on the wall. "Our time together is almost up for today." She handed Madoka a set of worksheets. "Do me a wonderful favor, and go down to the office and make three dozen copies of those for me. Then you'll be free to go."

"Okay." Madoka took the sheets and headed for the exit.

"Did it help you?" Miss Jones asked as she was at the door. "Talking about those things with me?"

"A little bit." Madoka peeked over her shoulder.

"Good. Don't ever be afraid to ask questions. Even if the question seems silly." Miss Jones smiled, then added, "Even if they're questions you aren't sure you want to know the answer to. For that is Decision Making One-oh-one."

"I'll remember that." Madoka waved.

"Your friend should still be in softball practice. If you hurry you can still meet her there when she's done." Miss Jones proposed. "And talk."

"Oh, yeah. Thanks." Madoka left the room. Kyubey closely followed. Miss Jones watched them go down the hallway.

"Like a predator shadowing its prey." She knuckled her hand against the frame. "It'll be your undoing little Bunnycat. That, I promise."

"Hey, Sayaka!" Sayaka heard someone call her name. "Sayaka! Over here!" It was coming from the bushes. "Ya' see me?" A familiar redhead popped out from behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Sayaka snuck over and knelt beside her.

"Came to see ya' real quick. How come ya' ain't out there playin' ball?"

"I'm not cleared to play until I get a doctor's note that clears me to play." Sayaka scratched her butt. "Stupid stupid rule! Told them I was fine. I really wanted to hit something hard today too!"

"Ugh. Stuck watchin'." Kyoko sympathized. "How boring!" Kyoko waved her even closer. "See this?" Kyoko stuck out her Soul Gem.

"What's it doing?" Sayaka watched its red light flicker and flutter.

"It caught wind of a witch while I was chillin' at yer place." Kyoko tapped at it. "I always try to keep it out whenever I'm restin' up. Like I'm keepin' one eye open all the time."

"So where is it?"

"Dunno. I tracked it all the way here." Kyoko stuck her head out a little further. "Sucker moves around real fast, though." She looked at Sayaka. "Ya' haven't seen anything crazy around here? Like anything like ya' saw the other day?"

Sayaka shook her head. "No. Just been benchwarmin'."

"Sure." Kyoko backed out of the bushes and brushed herself off. "Ya' wanna come with?"

"Now?" Sayaka looked back at the girls on the field.

"You promised." Kyoko grinned. "It's not like you're actually doin' anything better right now." Her sneaky grin intensified, a snaggletooth sticking out from her smile.

"It's going to hurt someone if we don't find it soon, right?" Sayaka swallowed.

"Prolly."

"Just wait here. I'll tell the coach I've got an emergency. Then I gotta change."

"Is this going to take very long?" The two girls were weaving through the streets beyond the school building and towards the downtown apartment complexes. Sayaka had taken off her softball uniform and stuffed it inside her bag.

"Dunno." Kyoko studied her Soul Gem closely. "It'll take as long as it takes."

"Colder than I thought out here." Sayaka was only wearing a light t-shirt underneath her jersey. She rubbed her bare arms trying to warm herself up.

"Here." Kyoko effortlessly slipped off her green sweatshirt and tossed it over her head to her.

"Aren't you cold now?" Sayaka asked.

"I've been colder." She stuck a Pocky stick in her mouth.

"Why's it smell like raspberry bubblegum?" Sayaka sniffed it as she slid it on.

"I washed it. Like ya' said."

"How?"

"In the bath."

"With what?" Then it dawned on her. "You used my shampoo to wash your clothes?"

"Not a lot." Kyoko kept her eyes on the Gem. "Besides, you didn't have that much left."

"That's not the point! You-"

"Shhhhh!" Kyoko lightly pushed her back. "It's close! Reeeeally feelin' it now." The two girls turned down an alleyway. "Definitely the kinda place they like to hang. Stand back!"

A childlike giggling echoed against the walls around them. Kyoko's Gem flashed and bathed her entire body in a brilliant red light. Instantaneously her clothes changed from her tank-top and short-cut shorts, to her dark red magical girl dress. She effortlessly spun her spar around her body and sprang forth into her attack position.

"That is cool." Sayaka enviously muttered.

The alleyway around them started to morph, a bright, day-glo flash erupted. The two girls were surrounded by a childish collage of stars, shapes, colors and animal figures.

"Tch! False alarm!" Kyoko loosened her stance. "Just a lame ass familiar. No wonder I had a hard time trackin' it down."

"So? What's the difference?" Sayaka watched it zip by in a crudely-drawn airplane over their heads.

"Won't get nuthin' for killin' it." Kyoko picked her nose and sniffed. "It'd be like killing a chicken before it laid an egg." She turned to leave it be.

"But it still might hurt someone." Sayaka moved in front of Kyoko's path.

Kyoko arched her brow and peered over Sayaka's shoulder. "That building we passed a few minutes ago. That one with all the little rugrats running 'round back. Was that a preschool?"

"A daycare, I think."

Kyoko tugged her collar. "Tell ya' what… Jus' this once I'll make an exception." She took Sayaka's bat out of her bag, and changed it into a sword. "We'll tackle this one together. You take point, I'll show ya' some basic moves." She handed the weapon to Sayaka.

"Alright." Sayaka kept an eye on the creature giggling and darting around. "Thanks."

"Ya' see how it moves 'round 'n' 'round like it doesn't even care that we're here?" Sayaka nodded. "That means it's dumb. Real dumb." Kyoko continued. "Most all familiars are like that. Don't waste time playing tag or chasin' it around. Let it come at ya'."

"What if it doesn't?"

Kyoko took a pair of trash can lid off and banged them together like they were a pair of cymbals. "Get its attention." She tossed it like a frisbee at the creature. "See? Like a fish that sees bait! Can't help itself! Now I'll box it in, you make the killin' blow!" Sayaka tensed as the creature turned around. Kyoko clapped her hands and a series of lattice barriers led it their way. "I'm going to put the last barrier right in front of you. Stab it once it bashes into it."

"Got it." Sayaka confidently smiled.

The small creature in its airplane charged at them, giggling and screaming. Sayaka positioned herself to strike.

"Ready! N-" Kyoko's barriers all abruptly collapsed at once, amid a deafening sound of gunfire and a wave of intense explosions.

"Oh? What's this?" A voice sounded from above. "I thought you were no longer in the business of killing familiars. A blonde magical girl draped in brilliant yellow and brown jumped down to the ground, as the panicked familiar scurried away. "It's been a long time, Kyoko."

"Awwwwwwww shit! I shoulda known you'd be pussyfooting somewhere around here!"

"She's not here?" Madoka surveyed the ballfield. "Where could she have gone?"

"She said she had a sudden emergency." Miss Yamazaki lightly patted her shoulder. Madoka took out her phone and called Sayaka. No answer. She tried a second time. Sent to voicemail.

"Could she have gone home?"

"I don't know. She would have told me if something was wrong." She tried calling one last time. No luck.

"For one it's worth, I saw her take off that way." An upperclassmen player pointed in a direction. "She live out that way?"

"No." Madoka was really concerned now. She only had one lead. Her options were either to follow it, or try waiting her out at her home.

"Thank you so much!" Madoka took off in that direction. Kyubey was watching from the sideline. He followed her along from a watchful distance.

"Looks like our simultaneous attacks cancelled one another out." Mami Tomoe imperiously smiled with her eyes closed. "Oopsie. We scared it away. Sorry."

"Wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come parading through everything like ya' own the place!" Sayaka shouted. Kyoko half-heartedly suppressed a chuckle, impressed by Sayaka's boldness. "Geez! What's wrong with you?"

"Oh? I apologize again, my focus was solely on dealing with that familiar. I had no intention of getting in the way of your…" Mami inspected Sayaka's appearance. "Training session? That is definitely unlike you, Kyoko. Taking on a trainee."

"I learned it by watchin' you." Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"Who's she?"

"Oh? I guess I haven't properly introduced myself." Mami curtseyed. "I'm Mami Tomoe! Magical girl of Mitakihara City. How nice to meet you."

"Mami Tomoe?" Sayaka turned to Kyoko. "That's 'Ol' Mami'?" Her eyes widened.

Mami's smile disappeared. "Thrilled to hear you still think so highly of me."

"Yeah, whaddaya want?" Kyoko huffed and took out a Pocky.

"I'd love to know what you're doing back in Mitakihara." Mami folded her arms. "Didn't you say you were taking over Kazamino City?"

"Life got quiet over there." Kyoko grumbled. "'Sides, it's not like this town belongs to you!"

"So I've noticed." Mami pulled her gloves up. "First I get challenged by two mysterious Magical Girls, then I get a visit from you. Would you happen to know anything about them?"

"Wouldn't know nuthin' 'bout 'em." Kyoko said dismissively, chewing her Pocky stick.

"How exactly do you guys know one other?" Sayaka interjected.

"Used to work together a bit. While ago." Kyoko severed her Pocky with a chomp. "Didn't pan out." Kyoko momentarily glanced down at the dissolving candy in a puddle then shoved another in her mouth.

"That's what all our time together meant to you?" Mami clutched her chest. "An offhand remark?"

"What? Ya' still bitter I split? What the hell ya' wanna hear? A big 'ol 'Thank You'?" Kyoko impatiently gnawed on her Pocky. "An apology? Graaaaand praise? A medal? Some food?" She flippantly shook her box of Pocky at Mami. "Keh. Want one?"

"She's going to let you down, you know." Mami warned Sayaka, still caught between them. "She'll just take what she needs from and leave you all alone." She held out her hand. "You'd be much better served by learning from someone with a better attitude whose philosophy is not so strictly transactional."

"As opposed to what?" Kyoko stepped in front before Sayaka could reply. "Being misled into thinking this job's all about saving lives and makin' a shitty world slightly less shitty? Screw off! Save the Miss high-and-mighty shit for some other fresh-faced rube!" Kyoko replanted herself between Mami and Sayaka. "Don't go ruinin' her life just 'cause yer desperate for a lil' lap dog!" A lattice barrier appeared between Kyoko and Sayaka.

"Do you need any help finding anything, young lady?" The tea store employee asked Homura.

"No, thank you. I'm just browsing." Homura replied. She took a tea box off the shelf. "Darjeeling tea." She whispered the name and read its ingredients.

Mami Tomoe would typically make daily visits after school to this specialty tea store. Rather than outright tailing her, Homura calculated that it would be safer to shadow Mami by preemptively appearing at the places she was the most likely to be, avoiding suspicion and passing off any encounter with her as a mere coincidence. It was still going to arouse Mami's suspicion, but she was unlikely to be confrontational about it in such a public setting.

"Peppermint tea." She grabbed at another box and read it. There was however, another reason for Homura's visit to this particular store: She'd remembered that she used to quite enjoy having tea with Mami Tomoe. More and more lost memories from her life were returning now, after her psychic exchange with Miss Jones. She was remembering more and more of the forgotten little things, like that time she took care of a sick Kyoko, or that time she brought flowers to the grave of Mami's parents, and that time she helped Sayaka search for a rare CD for Kyosuke Kamijo, the little things that reminded her that she once had a life beyond just Madoka Kaname and her mission.

"Chamomile tea." She had been trying to recall which particular tea it was that she used to like sipping the most. She remembered enjoying it so much that she would point it out to Mami whenever she went shopping. But there were so many different kinds, too many choices, her memory unable to be more specific. "Hibiscus tea." She read. Furthermore, she wondered, would it taste the same way to her now as it did when she was less experienced?

"Excuse me." She waved the employee back. "Actually, I am searching for a particular kind of tea. I don't remember what it was called, but I know it had a reddish-bro-" Homura suddenly felt very uneasy, as if an earthquake were shaking inside her very being. "I'm sorry. I'll have to come back another day." It was a feeling she knew all too well. It happened whenever she sensed a surge of powerful magic, typically from the emergence of a new witch.

Was this the scheduled appearance of the sweets witch? It was due to appear around this tie. Did Sayaka fail to properly dispatch it? Homura stepped behind a parked car and transmuted her Soul Gem into its egg form.

No, she paused. It wasn't coming from the direction of the hospital. It was coming from the other side of town. And there was something else amiss, too. A Witch hatchling would give off a single, powerful burst of energy as it emerged, then the detectable energy would level off as its new form settled into existence. Whatever this phenomenon was, its energy appeared to be fluctuating, drawing its power in fits and spurts. It felt as if the energy wasn't from a witch, but rather something more familiar. And that worried her. Homura secluded herself and changed into her magical girl form, and took off in its direction.

"Nagisa felt something!" Nagisa exclaimed. "Look! Look at it! Look at it!" She pointed as her Soul Gem shimmered in the afternoon sunlight.

"So did I." Sayaka took her own Soul Gem out. For her, the feeling wasn't so exciting, or so new for that matter. "Is it a witch or…" She didn't have a whole lot of experience yet in the field tracking magical entities, but even so she could tell there was something amiss about this outburst of energy.

"Where is it?" Nagisa dashed over and looked out a nearby window. "Where is it?"

"Not close." Sayaka looked up and down the building alongside her. They were at least two dozen floors up. "That's for sure."

Sayaka pulled out her phone. She promised herself she wasn't going to call Homura today, but this seemed to be a situation where Homura was better suited to know something about.

"Where? Where? Where?" Nagisa stretched her hand holding her Soul Gem out the window.

"Don't drop that!" Sayaka snatched her hand back. "You'll regret it if you do."

"Why?" Nagisa stepped back.

"Just trust me on this." Sayaka put her ear to the phone.

"Yes, I'm aware of the magic you're sensing. Stay where you are. I'm closer to it." Homura tersely instructed.

"Fine. Good luck."

"Have you dealt with that witch?" Homura asked quickly.

"No. It's been a total no-show." Sayaka replied. "I did happen to find something else, though." She watched Nagisa playing around with her fluttering Soul Gem.

"What?"

"Tell you about it later. Meet you back in the TARDIS. Please don't try anything reckless."

"Never do."

"Tiro volley!" A wave of gunfire blasted into the brickwork.

"Oh, my gawwwwwd, yer still callin' yer attacks?" Kyoko dashed from side to side.

"Only when I'm confident in victory." Mami condescendingly smiled. "Regale!" A smattering of ribbons arose from the bullet holes.

Sayaka lowered her weapon, which had morphed back into a mere bat, turned tail, ran and hid inside a dumpster. Whatever their quarrel was, she had no intention of getting caught in the crossfire.

"You ain't stronger than me!" Kyoko effortlessly sliced through Mami's attempt to restrain her. "Get over yerself!"

"I guess we're both going to learn the truth today." Mami fired a wave of rounds into the area around her.

"Tch! Dumb waste of magic!" Kyoko hopped between the walls. "Too soft! Treat me more seriously than that!"

Sayaka peeked through the lid at the chaos. Kyoko was jumping everywhere around, trying to be as hard a target to hit as possible. Mami, on the other hand, was simply standing her ground, arms still sternly folded, seemingly daring Kyoko to charge directly at her.

A volley of larger gunfire exploded behind Mami, covering her Kyoko in a cloud of smoke.

"Again with the smokescreen trick?" Kyoko twirled her spear furiously. "Don'cha got anythin' new?" Kyoko planted her weapon and vaulted high above the cloud, retracted her spear in a flash, pushed off a fire escape, then lunged directly at Mami's position.

"Yaaaaaaarggggghhhh!" Kyoko screamed as she her blade extended. "I warned ya' last time!" She sliced clean into Mami's neck, severing her head completely. "I wouldn't hesitate to take your head next time." Kyoko enraged voice choked up as she whispered.

Then Kyoko heard the unexpected sound of a gunshot going off behind her. "So you did." She heard Mami's voice affirm. Her right leg unexpectedly collapsed into a pool of its own blood, followed immediately by the rest of her body. "But I did learn a new trick."

"What… The… Hell ?" She turned her head to see the Mami's headless body dissolve into a mishmash of ribbons and flowers. Another gunshot glazed her in the wrist, removing her weapon from her grip.

"What was it you said?" Mami's real form emerged from the smokescreen, marching toward her wounded foe with a deadly inevitability. "You learned it by watching me? As have I."

Kyoko panickedly attempted to conjure another spear, but a third shot from a small gun in Mami's grazed her cheek. "A body double made from ribbons." Mami kicked the withering remains of her ribbon clone aside. "I got the idea from your old illusion magic." Mami raised a twin gun at her defeated foe. "It takes a lot of effort to pull off, but it serves as quite the trump card."

"Shiiiiiiiiiit!" Kyoko gasped.

"Crap!" Sayaka exclaimed inside the dumpster. "She's really gonna kill her!" She looked down at the bat she was clutching in her hand. She knew there was one thing she could do, but she only had seconds left to act. Sayaka cautiously opened the lid. Mami was standing three, maybe four meters away, if she charged fast enough, she hoped, she might be able to get one lucky blow on her body, then pick up Kyoko and head for the hills.

She leaped out of the dumpster, landed on her feet and charged.

"Don't think for a second that I've forgotten about you." Mami gestured behind her back. "Regale!"

"You idiot! Get outta here!" Kyoko warned.

Sayaka's left arm and right leg were instantly accosted by Mami's Ribbons.

With her still-mobile right arm she desperately chucked her bat at Mami's head. "No-"

"You leave her al-"

"Crap!" Homura exclaimed as she instantaneously appeared between the combatants. "Damn! This is not good!" She had frozen time, but too late to stop the worst of the melee. "This is not good at all!"

From her evaluation of the situation, it appeared that Kyoko and Sayaka, the still-human version of her native to this timeline that is, were somehow in league with each other and trying to challenge Mami, and had just been roundly trounced. Why Kyoko had arrived in the city early or how she could have joined forces with Sayaka in this situation were irrelevant, the only question Homura considered was, exactly how she was going to keep this fight from spiraling further out of control.

Homura grabbed the bat that Sayaka had thrown and altered its trajectory so that it would hit Mami squarely in her face. That momentary injury, she figured, should buy the other two enough time to regroup and escape. If necessary, Homura figured she herself would see them to safety.

She took out her knife, and cut into the ribbons that were binding Sayaka's arm and leg. Fortunately for Homura, these ribbons had no magical protection over them, Mami probably presumed such a safeguard wouldn't be unnecessary against a mere human. She slashed at the last of the ribbons, just as the last of the sands in the hourglass in her buckler were sliding down. She took her position behind the dumpster and watched as time resumed.

"-Ooooneeee!"

"-Oooooo!"

"Auuuggghhh!" The bat hit Mami's face and she fell back against the wall.

Sayaka lunged into Kyoko's arms, somehow freed from Mami's grasp.

"C'mon!" They both jolted up, Sayaka swinging Kyoko's arm around her neck."We've gotta get outta here!" Kyoko erected a set of lattice barriers behind them as they fled.

"We're not finished yet!" Mami angrily declared, pressing her sleeve against her bloodied nose.

"Let them go!" Homura's voice telepathically rang in Mami's mind. Homura stepped into sight as the two defeated girls turned the corner and fled. "Or your next opponent will be me!" Homura pulled out her handgun.

"I suppose you're on their side?" Mami spat out the blood in her throat as she spoke.

"I'm on whatever side thinks rationally, and doesn't pick needless fights." Homura confidently tossed her hair.

"Didn't I warn you that next time I wouldn't be holding back?"

"I guess I'm not a very good listener. Still-" Homura opened her eyes and stared into Mami's. "I suppose it's better that I bear the brunt of your wrath, as opposed to that human girl. And here I thought we magical girls were supposed to be protecting them?"

"How dare y-"

"H- Homura? M- Mami…?" A voice familiar to them both spoke from the opposite end of the alleyway.

"Madoka!" Mami and Homura exclaimed simultaneously.

"That appeared to be quite the magical skirmish." Kyubey revealed himself seconds behind her. "I apologize for my belated arrival."

"W- What happened?" Madoka surveyed the damaged walls and brickwork. "We- Were you guys fighting?"

"No." Homura tossed her hair and collected herself. "Mami Tomoe started a fight with two other girls."

"That's not true! I didn't start the-"

"It doesn't matter who started the fight. You've demonstrated your superiority and scared them away. Let them be, lest you do something you'll wind up regretting."

"Mami!" Madoka passed right by Homura and ran towards her new friend, taking a handkerchief from her pocket and pressing it against Mami's nose.

"Thank you." Mami changed out of her magical form.

"The life of a magical girl is far more perilous than you are being allowed to see. This is the reality." Homura changed out of hers, turned her back and began walking away. "It is not a world in which you should want to have any part in."

"Shiiiiiit. I really underestimated herrrrrr." Kyoko's words were slurring as they'd stop to rest in the bushes several blocks away from the fight.

"I don't see her. I don't think she's coming after us." Sayaka ducked back into the bush.

"She was tooootally ready to kill meeee. Didn't figure she had it in herrrrrr."

"I gotta get you to the hospital."

"No! No hospitals!" Kyoko groaned. She instead pointed in the opposite direction, towards the woodlands on the outskirts of town. "That wayyyy! I need a Grief Seeeeed!"

"You're kidding!" Sayaka tried to pick her up and carry her in the hospital's direction, only to be blocked by one of Kyoko's barriers. "Don't be stupid! You're bleeding really really bad!"

"Church… The edge of town… Grief Seeeeed." Kyoko was not going to stay conscious much longer. "Pleaaaaaase!"

"Why? Why won't you go to the hospital?" Sayaka picked her up and headed for the railway bridge and towards the woodlands.

"Too many… Ask too many questions. I'll become a freak show."

"What? Why would you think that?"

"Be- ... Because I'm dead."

"What?"

Kyoko promptly passed out.

"Kyoko!"

"What the heck? This doesn't make sense!" Sayaka and Nagisa were back in the bicycle lot as the sun was setting behind the city building tops in the distance. "Why wasn't it around today?" She frustratedly smacked the wall where the absent Grief Seed should have appeared .

"What was it?" Nagisa studied the wall. "What was supposed to be here today?"

"There was supposed to be a big nasty witch here this afternoon and I don't get why it never showed up." Sayaka took a deep, relaxed breath. "I guess it can't be helped." They walked over to the picnic table they dined at earlier and sat down.

"I've never been here so late." Nagisa watched the colors of the dusk darken the city around them. "I usually go home now."

"Sorry I wasted your time this afternoon." Sayaka apologized.

Nagisa shook her head. "No there's no reason to be. Nagisa very much liked being with you today, very very much." An evening lamppost switched on nearby. "So can she stay with you then?" She kept referring to herself interchangeably between the first and third person. Maybe she thought Sayaka would find that endearing?

"I- I can't say no." Sayaka took her bait. "Heh." Indeed, upon seeing Nagisa's wide, hopeful eyes Sayaka couldn't even try to reject. "Need as many friends as I can get nowadays."

"You want some?" Nagisa took her secret pack of string cheese from her pocket.

"Sure." Sayaka took a portion. "C'mon. Let's go."

"Where?"

"To the one place we'll be totally safe from Kyubey's scary eyes."

"After you told me you couldn't join me this afternoon," Mami explained. "I decided to go hunting early and meet you back here at my apartment." Mami pressed a pack of ice against her face. "That's when I encountered another magical girl," She paused. "And her cohort."

"What happened?"

"Her cohort threw a bat at me. I should've restrained the arm with the bat." She tilted her head forward. "It might've broken my nose. Guess I learned a little lesson."

"Who hit you? Who were they?" Madoka helped her get up her apartment stairs.

"I don't know who the one with the bat was." Mami reached for her apartment keys. "She's somewhere around my height. Shorter hair." She dropped them on the stairway. Madoka swiftly picked them up for her. "Kind of boyish-look to her. Though she did have a hair clip on this side," She pointed to her left temple. Madoka dropped the keys.

"Uh, what about the other girl?"

"I know exactly who that was. She's a magical girl named 'Kyoko Sakura'. Redheaded. Long-haired. Very powerful. Moves quickly. Very ruthless attacker." Mami continued up to the top step. "She's dangerous. If you see her on the street, you stay out of her way." Madoka picked Mami's keys back up and rushed to Mami's side.

"I tried to warn that girl what Kyoko's like, but it seems Kyoko's got her wrapped around her finger." Madoka opened the door while Mami flipped on the light.

"But how do you know Kyoko?"

"She used to be…" Mami felt around for her chair and sat down. "She was once my student. For a while at least, I thought I had found a partner." She opened up a book of photographs. "But events in her life suddenly took a turn for the worst. It changed her whole outlook on life. Became convinced that magical girls were wasting their energy trying to save everyone. That our powers were gifts meant to be used for ourselves. I tried to help her, but I think my approach only ended up reinforcing her worldview."

Mami pointed to a photo of herself and Kyoko in a photobooth. "Last I heard, she was patrolling the neighboring Kazamino City, viciously scaring away any poor girl who wandered close to her territory. But she's back in town, for whatever reason."

Madoka checked the time on her phone. "I- I have to get back home soon. Are you going to be alright alone?"

"I should be okay. Most of the bleeding's stopped now." She leaned back in her chair. "Plus, I've got Kyubey here to keep me company."

"Okay."

Mami reached for the phone. "Do you need a ride home? I have the money to call a cab for you."

"No, that's okay." Madoka headed for the door. "Actually I-" She hesitated. "I was looking for someone else when I found you back there. I'm still looking for them."

"Oh?" Mami tried to smile. "I hope you find them. See you soon."

"See you."

"And thank you. For everything. I hope you've just seen me at my lowest."

Madoka simply bowed and left.

Madoka really did not want to be back in this alleyway. But she had a hunch. A terrible hunch she desperately hoped was wrong.

She shined the light of her phone underneath the dumpster. There lied the bat that hit Mami's face. What else did those assailants drop when they fled? She looked inside the dumpster. There was a school bag in between the trash bags. Madoka used the handle of the bat to fish it out between the trash bags.

She zipped the bag open. She was horrified. There it was, that softball jersey, all the proof Madoka dreaded finding. The proof that Kyoko Sakura's partner in crime was none other than her own best friend, the name on the jersey's back that read 'Miki'.