I

"How long are you going to be gone this time?" Madoka asked as Homura clicked the cuffs over her wrist. They were special handcuffs which had soft fuzzy cushioning on the inside, which felt much better against her wrists compared to normal metal ones. Madoka never ventured to ask Homura where she had gotten them from, and honestly did not want to know the answer. Homura had two sets of them though, one with less than half a foot of chain between the cuffs which she used on Madoka's hands. On the other pair the chain was a bit longer and would be used for her feet.

"I'm sorry, I am not sure," Homura said as she walked down to the foot of the bed. She put her hands around Madoka's ankles and pulled her down until her arms were stretched above her head and her feet were as close to the lower bed frame as possible. "I need to collect a GriefSeed today, and since this timeline is so much different than in past lives I can not say for sure how long it will take me to find a witch."

"D-do you really have to do my feet too?" Madoka asked as Homura clicked one of the cuffs around her ankle. "It's not like I can go anywhere."

"Sorry, but while I'm out I'll feel more comfortable knowing that you are secure."

"But-"

"With just the handcuffs you can reach the floor with your feet. I don't know if anyone is in the room below us, but enough banging could easily cause someone to come up here. Other than that, I imagine it would be possible for you to break the bed frame if you had your legs in use for leverage."

Madoka's voice lowered to a pout, "I… Haven't tried anything for a week though."

"Five days," Homura corrected her. This was now the eighth day with Madoka as her captive. Her last escape attempt was when she tried to slip out after taking a bath, while Homura was cooking. After that, Homura had installed a latch with a combination lock over the front door. As long as she was careful to not let Madoka figure out the code somehow it would be impossible for her to get past it and try sneaking out.

"This does not need to happen very often," Homura assured her. "I don't need to go on a witch hunt every day, and I plan to move you out of the city by the twenty seventh, so that means only four more weeks. So, it will not be too many more times that you need to be tied up like this for extended periods of time." Homura locked the other end of the cuffs around Madoka's other ankle then walked back to the head of the bed.

"Still…" Madoka complained in a low voice.

Madoka's gag was ready for her on the nightstand. Homura decided to just stay with the method of using a washcloth and tape.

In the store from which she stole the fuzzy cuffs, she saw something else she could use for the purpose of gagging her captive, but ended up deciding against it. It was impossible to do this in a way which would be completely dignified for Madoka, but using a simple washcloth was still much better than that other option.

Next to the rag there was an MP3 player with earbuds which she also picked up for Madoka on her last outing. She had asked Madoka to make a list of artists she would like to have added to it, and then used a computer at the local library to add them. She actually would have known what songs Madoka wanted without having to ask her, but figured having her make that list would give Madoka a little project to keep her mind busy.

"Are you ready for this?" Homura asked, as she held up the washcloth.

"Um… Y-you're going to deliver the letter I wrote, right? I left it on the kitchen counter."

"Of course," Homura said, with a smile.

"Okay… I'm ready." Madoka opened her mouth as the cloth came closer, but then ended up tilting her head away and avoiding it at the last second.

"What's the matter?" Homura asked patiently, letting her hand lower away.

"Um… r-remember when you said you would let me call home?"

"Yes." This was not the first time Madoka had brought that up, and Homura supposed she should make good on the promise. It would probably be good for Madoka too, but there were also some dangers involved which made Homura a bit reluctant.

Madoka's fists tightened anxiously. "Can… can you let me do that soon? Please?" There was a nervous look in her eyes. She must be afraid that it would never actually happen.

Homura smiled and brought her hand up to the top of Madoka's head to stroke her hair. "Okay then, how about tomorrow?"

Madoka's lips instantly turned to a smile, and the anxious look on her face melted away.

Homura lowered her hand as she thought over how to arrange such a call. "Well actually, would you be alright with just speaking to your mother this time? I… can not let you call your actual house, because there are too many ways in which a call could be traced. Therefore, I think the best method would be to ask your mother to wait at a payphone, and I could obtain a disposable cell phone to make the call with." Madoka took a moment to contemplate the scenario. After a silence Homura asked, "Would that be acceptable?"

"Well… I would like to speak with my father and Tatsuya too… but if this is the best you can do it's fine." She paused, then added, "But, you do need to find a way to let me speak to the rest of my family as well!... Eventually, at least."

"Okay, I will come up with something." Homura raised the washcloth so Madoka could see it, "Are you okay now?"

Madoka nodded her head, and then opened her mouth as Homura brought the cloth up to her lips.

Homura carefully started stuffing it in, favoring putting it towards Madoka's left cheek until it was halfway in, and then stuffing the other end of the cloth into the right. Madoka's cheeks became puffed out a little with her lips puckered against a bit of the cloth which Homura used two fingers to push in the rest of the way.

"Okay?" Homura asked, "It's not hurting your jaw or anything is it?" Madoka shook her head. "Alright, I'm putting the tape on now then."

Madoka allowed Homura to pick her head up as she began wrapping the tape around. This has happened to her every time Homura needed to make a trip out of the hotel room. Normally she would only leave to get food and other provisions, and therefore not be gone for too long. This time, Homura needed to hunt a witch and could end up being gone for quite a while.

Madoka was scared to be left alone like this for so long, but there was no helping it. This is what Homura decided was necessary to do to her, and as long as she was stuck with her she knew she had no choice but to put up with it. For now, at least.

After making a few passes around Madoka's head with the tape, Homura set Madoka's head back against the pillow and started straightening her hair out. She then ran her finger over the tape along Madoka's lips and cheeks to smooth it out. Madoka just let her eyes sink to the side while all of this was done.

Homura reached for the MP3 player and started scrolling through the songs. "You want this, right?" Madoka, lacking any other form of communication, just nodded her head in response. Homura selected one of Madoka's favorite songs, and paused it at the beginning. She then brought the MP3 player over to a bar on the bed frame and started wrapping the cord around to tie it there, near Madoka's hand. "Here, this way you can control it, and it won't fall out of your reach if you drop it." Homura put the device into Madoka's hand then carefully placed the earbuds in her ears for her.

She took a moment to watch her captive's face, smiling at her affectionately. Lately Madoka seemed much less distressed about this situation than she had been before. Homura used to have a lot of trouble just leaving her like this, and even now she felt bad about it, but it was at least bearable to do now. When compared with the constant hopelessness of all the failed timelines she'd suffered, knowing she had Madoka like this actually made her feel good in a strange way.

Without thinking about it, her thumb ran along Madoka's cheek. Madoka seemed to not mind things like this as much anymore either, though it may have embarrassed her a little as she softly struggled against her chains. Homura would have liked to give her a kiss, but knew that would be going too far.

"I'm leaving now, okay Madoka?"

Madoka nodded her head, and a small sound made it past her gag. Homura gave her head one last pat before turning away and walking for the door.

By the time Homura was only half way across the room, Madoka once again felt that sinking feeling in her chest. It was a terrible feeling of loneliness, and the moment her mind acknowledged that she could be spending hours like this, and that there was nothing she could do to stop it, the feeling grew more intense.

She struggled against the chains. It was dark in here, the blinds were drawn over the window. Being alone in the dark would be even worse, but she really just did not want Homura to leave at all. She yelled into her gag to try grabbing Homura's attention.

Homura looked back at her with concern in her eyes. Don't leave me alone, Madoka thought, wishing she could actually say it. Her hands and feet struggled. Please just stay!

Homura smiled, "Don't worry, it will be longer than normal but it won't be too long. I promise you."

No! Don't smile! Don't say that! Madoka looked around. It was dark. She pointed a finger at the window as best she could and nodded her head over to it. She spoke into her gag as she did so, only making muffling sounds which were indecipherable as actual speech.

Homura looked over to the window, then back at her. "Do you want the blinds open?" Madoka nodded, and did feel some relief as Homura walked back into the room. The light helped, it made her surroundings feel less dreary, but the relief was short lived. When Homura started walking back to the door she could already feel the sinking in her chest again. Once Homura left, Madoka would be completely helpless, and perhaps that was a big part of what scared her.

Please, Madoka thought, though she knew it was pointless and knew that Homura actually did have to leave. Homura stopped in the doorway once again and looked at her. Madoka could only imagine the look on her own face. She felt like a puppy crying about being left in a kennel, and she pitied herself for stooping so low, but she couldn't help it.

Homura started walking back towards her.

What's she doing?

Her hands and feet struggled against their chains, not sure what to expect. She hoped Homura had changed her mind and would free her. If Homura just undid the cuffs and changed her mind about leaving, Madoka would be so happy and she would be really nice to Homura for the rest of the day! She just so badly did not want to be left here like this.

Then, without a word Homura leaned over her, and planted a kiss right on her cheek. Madoka's eyes widened in surprise and she gasped. It took a moment to register it, but then she started yelling at Homura through the gag. She had given Homura the okay to pat her head, and touch her in small ways. She never gave her permission to do that though!

"Sorry," Homura said, "I hope you don't mind, but I did not want you to be afraid. You are safe. I know the situation is scary and however it may seem, being right here is the safest place in the world for you right now. I will never let anything bad happen to you. I want you to understand that."

Madoka complained into the gag. Struggling against the chains was useless and her face became hot with the frustration of not being able to properly express herself. At least she thought that's why her face was hot, but if it was not then what Homura did next certainly made that the case.

"I have to go now," Homura said in her toneless way, and she reached for the MP3 player in Madoka's hand and pressed the play button. Madoka's hearing was suddenly overtaken by the sound of one of her favorite pop songs, and Homura got up and started walking away.

OH! She better not! Madoka thought. She was yelling into the gag, though she could not hear herself thanks to the music. She better not just leave like that! Then when Homura closed the bedroom door Madoka was shocked that she had actually left like that. She pulled at her chains, grunting in frustration, with the music just becoming more annoying for her than anything, but nothing she did made any difference and only served to frustrate her more.

She let out a last frustrated grunt before kicking her heels against the soft bed and letting her body go limp.

As soon as Homura got back, she was really going to let her have it! How dare she treat her like this? Madoka didn't think things through enough to note that though she felt angry and frustrated, that terrible sinking feeling in her chest had vanished completely.

II

Kyoko burst into laughter, clutching her stomach and kicking her bare feet as she leaned back into the couch.

A new contestant on the game show she was watching gave himself a brief and rather enthused introduction in front of the camera before rushing headlong into an obstacle course. The announcers commented that hopefully he would fair better than the last contestant, who had been making decent progress until a spring loaded boxing glove unexpectedly came out of the wall, hitting him hard and knocking him into the lake below.

Kyoko reached over, grabbed a handful of chips and stuffed them into her mouth. "What losers," she said to herself, spitting out a few crumbs as she spoke. "I bet I could clear that thing in my first try no problem! Not that I would want to do something so stupid anyway."

She watched for a while longer, laughing whenever she watched a contestant get ambushed by an unexpected obstacle, or fail to make a jump and plunge into the icy water below. When the show was over and the credits began to roll Kyoko reached forward to snag up the remote and turned it off.

She stood up and entwined her fingers above her head as she leaned her body left and right, stretching out the muscles in her back and arms. She then took a moment to look around the apartment she had been squatting in.

There were some pictures on the counter tops which Kyoko had folded down, as she did not want to have to look at the face of a dead guy all day. She also avoided going into the back room of the apartment. Things had been cleaned up, but she guessed there is only so much one could do to clean up a room which had been totally spattered in blood. There was a rather large dark red stain on the wooden floor back there which she guessed could never be totally removed, and it was all a rather disturbing sight. So, she left that door closed - out of sight and out of mind.

She walked over to the kitchen, passing by her green hoodie which was draped over a chair, then went to the fridge and opened it. She stood there, staring inside and scratching her bare belly, trying to decide on what she wanted to eat.

When she first moved in there were some rotten onions and a head of lettuce among other various things, but the fridge had mostly been empty. It now contained a decent stock, as she had made a trip to a grocery store and stole some provisions for the week. That round of grocery shopping had gone by without a hitch; much better than the last attempt when she was stopped at the door by the manager.

She pulled out a carton of eggs, along with cheese, butter, green peppers and onions, then brought them over to the stove. She then doubled back to her duffle bag on the counter and retrieved a small frying pan which she had stolen a while ago. She turned on a radio which had been sitting on the kitchen counter ever since she moved in, then went back to the stove to start cooking breakfast.

She listened to the news for a while, there was a story of a mass suicide downtown which caught her attention, but other than that there was not much else that was useful to her. The weather report was worth listening to, but then when the topic shifted over to politics and current events she mentally tuned it out as she continued cooking.

When she was all done she sat at the counter with her freshly made omelette, retrieved a fork from the apartment cabinet, and started eating.

She decided to go check out the location of that mass suicide today, and see if a witch was involved. It's not that she was in need of a GriefSeed, her SoulGem was in perfect condition and she had three more GriefSeeds stashed away in her duffle bag already. Still, this was all a part of her plan. Take as many as she could for herself, and leave the rest of the Magical Girls starving. Once they were weak, she would eventually work on taking them all out one by one and claiming this territory for herself.

Homura was still the part she hadn't come to a decision on yet. She supposed as long as Homura stayed out of her way, she could likewise stay out of hers. Mitakihara certainly was big enough for two Magical Girls, but if Homura did turn out to start causing issues for her she could work on a plan for making herself the only Magical Girl in the city. Homura was powerful though, and unlike Mami she was ruthless, so Kyoko could not make any mistakes regarding that one.

She finished her breakfast, then started cleaning up. Wherever she stayed, whether it was a hotel room or an abandoned or empty house, she made a point of trying to leave it the way she found it. There wasn't much point, sure, and she usually was not one for pointless tasks, but for some reason leaving a mess behind just bothered her. She may be homeless, but that did not mean she had to be a slob too! She guessed it was a matter of pride, or maybe it was just out of habit. The house she grew up in was always clean… or, at least it always was before things had started going bad… before her father had started drinking.

She quickly shook that thought away and got back to thinking over her plans for the day.

She retrieved a small map of the city she snagged from a gas station a few days ago, unfolded it, and brought it to the coffee table in front of the TV. She had a few key locations checked off and circled, such as the location of the other girls' homes. She already found out where both of the two rookies lived, and had a bigger circle around the general area she suspected Homura to be residing. Then she had a few notes of places she suspected witches to be, or where she had already defeated a witch, as well as other key locations like Mitakihara Middle School and the hospital where both of the two rookies seemed to go quite often.

Her eyes traced along the streets until finding the area of the mass suicide and made a note. It was a little bit outside of her target zone, but it may still be worth going there. She had been focusing the areas closest to where the other Magical Girls were, in order to starve them out. However, if Mami heard of the suicides on the news as well then there is no doubt she would go looking for the witch which could have potentially been involved. Kyoko could easily go handle it before school let out and-

She heard a noise and her head shot up. She glanced over to the door at the front of the apartment, heard voices, and then the scraping of metal as a key was inserted. "Damn it!" she cursed to herself and quickly got up. She folded the map, stepped into her shoes without even putting any socks on, then gathered her frying pan and quickly returned it to the dufflebag along with her map.

By the time she was pulling her hoodie over her black tank-top the door opened. A man and a woman stood in the doorway, clearly surprised to see her there fumbling with the zipper of her hoodie.

Shit, what now?

She ignored the people's surprised expression and looked to a window on the other side of the apartment, snatched up the duffle bag, and ran towards it.

"Hey!" the man yelled at her, "What are you doing here?"

Her hands jiggled the lock of the window, but it would not budge. She glanced around like a caged animal for another escape route, wondering if she would have to just barrel through the two of them and make her escape out the front door.

Then the woman spoke, "Hey wait, are you alright? You don't need to be afraid." She stepped forward and held an open palm out to Kyoko.

Afraid? Who the hell's afraid? Kyoko looked back to them with a harsh expression, but was not quite able to hold it when she saw the compassionate looks from the two of them.

They were pitying her right now. She hated that.

Taking a better look at the two of them, she realized something. They were seen in several of the pictures she had folded down throughout the apartment.

Their son had owned this apartment, and it was their son who had left that nasty dark red stain in the back room which Kyoko avoided going into. Kyoko currently had a GriefSeed stuffed in her duffle bag which came from just a few streets over. She suspected the condition of the backroom was more the fault of that witch than these peoples' sons.

Kyoko then took note of how they were dressed. Black clothes; they had just attended a funeral.

Damn it… she thought, guiltily.

Kyoko bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I promise I didn't steal anything. I just needed a place to stay." With that, she quickly walked for the front door. They stepped to the side to let her pass, glancing at each other with those concerned expressions and quickly whispered a few words to each other.

Once Kyoko was out in the sunlight she heard, "Wait!" from the woman again. "You don't have to leave like that. Do you need anything? We could help you."

Idiot, Kyoko thought, it's not like trying to help out some random stranger is going to change what happened to your son. Just drop it. She didn't say that though, instead she said, "I left some food in the refrigerator. Please make sure it does not go to waste."

Before they could say another word to her she vaulted over the balcony of the apartment complex. She heard a scream from above as she descended and transformed into her Magical Girl attire. They may have seen the flash of light, but by the time they would have made it to the railing to see if she was alright she was already ducking onto the balcony of a lower floor and effectively disappearing from their sight.

III

Homura took a trip downtown so that she could deliver Madoka's letter first. She wanted to make sure she got it to them before they would have checked the mail. She had also written a brief message herself, which would instruct Junko on what payphone to wait for Madoka's call the following day. She was reluctant to allow such contact, worried Madoka might give something away. Madoka had been behaving much better lately, though, and Homura supposed some kind of reward for her good behavior would encourage her to continue on in that way.

She felt bad that she had been a little mean to Madoka before leaving today, but she didn't do it for the sake of meanness, and she thought Madoka would see that. Even if she was a little angry at first.

At the top of Madoka's home street Homura looked around for a place to discreetly change into her Magical Girl costume. The best she could find was a place on the sidewalk between a car and a rather large bush. Before ducking down she took one last look around, checking the windows of houses and other cars, and figured no one was watching. As soon as she finished transforming, she spun the gears on her shield and stopped time.

As she walked down the street she noted the group of grade schoolers playing basketball who were often out here. She also took note of a car with tinted windows in plain sight of Madoka's house which had the driver sitting low and smoking a cigarette. Something about it struck her as odd, so she went up to the window. The man inside was wearing sunglasses, there were lots of discarded containers for food on the floor of the passenger side, and in the back seat Homura took note of a lunch box and a few bottles of water. If that was not enough, she took note of a small black device at the top of his windshield, pointing at Madoka's house. It was a camera.

He would have been inconspicuous if she did not have the ability to walk up to the window like this without him seeing her, but since she could she quite easily identified him as a private detective. He was staking out the mailbox, waiting for Madoka's kidnapper to deliver another letter. Today was that day, but unfortunately for his reputation as a detective he was going to miss it. The camera would not catch anything either, which would be mysterious for them, but she supposed there was no harm in it.

Homura walked over to the mailbox, opened it to find the mail had already been delivered, which is just what she wanted, and she put the two notes for the Kaname family right on top. One had been written by Madoka to assure her family that she was okay and still not being hurt, and to say how much she missed them and hoped they were dealing with this well.

The other note was written by Homura, though she used her left hand to write it rather than her dominant right hand. Just in case some clever detective decided to compare that note with the handwriting of the other girl who had gone missing from the middle school. It was unlikely, but Homura had learned that there was no such thing as being too careful.

With that done she walked down the street to look for a place to transform back. She still needed to buy a disposable cell phone to make the call with, then she would go find a witch and collect its GriefSeed.

IV

"Mami-Sensei! Sayaka-Chan!" Nagisa shouted as she ran towards the two of them, waving her hand in the air. It seemed she had been waiting outside of the middle school for them to be let off for the day.

Sayaka lifted her school bag to hang it over her shoulder and smiled as Nagisa approached. Nagisa still threw the weird girl name at her every once in a while, but lately it seemed she was much more likely to be addressed as Sayaka-Chan.

"Ah, hello Nagisa," Mami said as the younger girl caught up to them. "I did not expect to see you out here."

"Yeah, I wasn't going to be able to meet up at the normal place, so figured I should try to catch the two of you here. It was on my way anyway." She was still wearing her elementary school uniform, which was in the typical sailor fashion with darker colors than Mitakihara Middle School and had a much longer skirt. Her thumbs curled under the straps of her backpack over her chest.

"You heading to the hospital?" Sayaka asked.

Nagisa enthusiastically nodded. "Yup!"

"How is your mother doing?" Mami asked.

"Really good! She said we are going to get to go home in just a couple of days… um…" Nagisa's eyes fell to the ground as she thought it over. "Well, I am really happy but it will make it harder for the three of us to meet up and go on hunts."

Her aunt's apartment where she currently lived was right across the street from Mami. It was so close that they could communicate through telepathy while in their rooms, which made negotiating their outings quite easy.

Mami had to admit she was going to miss having Nagisa so close. After being alone in her apartment for so long, then suddenly having such a special relationship with Nagisa felt like a wish come true. Sometimes after coming home from a hunt they would each lay in their beds and telepathically chat with each other as they each tried dozing off to sleep. Nagisa usually did most of the talking. Once she got going she could be a real chatterbox and never seemed to run out of things to say.

In the mornings it was much the same. They would wake up and say good morning telepathically, and sometimes one would wake the other if they were oversleeping. Then there would be more chatting as they went about their morning routines, until they met up outside to walk to school together. The elementary school was on the way to the middle school, so Mami would say goodbye to her at the gate before finishing the walk to her own school. In the past, she had always gone about her mornings completely alone, and in silence. She had forgotten what it was like having someone to say good morning to, and once Nagisa moved back to her mother's house she really was going to miss her.

"Don't worry," Mami said with a cheery smile, despite some of the sadness she felt. "We will just have to find other ways, and we will be sure to come visit you a lot either way."

"Yup," Sayaka said with a wink, "Plus I have got to check your place out sometime, so you better invite us!"

Nagisa gave them each an enthusiastic nod. "Yup! Can't wait! I will get Mama to bake a cheesecake with me too, then we can have a party when you come over!"

"That sounds like fun," said Mami with a laugh.

"Anyway, are you two sure you will be okay going on a hunt without me today?" Nagisa asked.

"Yeah we should be fine," Sayaka said, grinning and showing a fist. "I feel like I'm really starting to get the hang of all of this!"

"Yes, you are both doing very well for how inexperienced you are," Mami agreed. "But Sayaka, are you sure you really have time for it today?"

"Huh? Of course I do."

"I was just thinking, after healing that boy you have not seen him very often, have you?"

"No, that's not true… well…" Sayaka thought back, "Hmm… I suppose it's true my visits have lessened but that is just because I have this responsibility as a Magical Girl now. More than that…" Her expression became very serious all of a sudden. "Homura is still out there somewhere, and Madoka is still in trouble. I thought we would have that settled by now, but I need to do everything I can to save her. Saving Madoka is one of the main reasons I became a Magical Girl."

Nagisa frowned, taking in the mood and letting her normally cheery side melt away a bit. She had not met this Homura Akemi herself yet, but had heard all about her and what she did to Sayaka's friend Madoka. Sayaka told her a lot about Madoka too, and she sounded like she was really nice and would be a lot of fun to make friends with. Nagisa hoped that they really would find Homura soon and make her give Sayaka's friend back.

"Still, don't you think you should go see him?" Mami continued, "There is no guarantee we will run into Homura today, and even if I do run into her while I am alone I promise I will detain her without hesitation this time. So you really don't need to push-"

Sayaka clicked her teeth rather aggressively and turned her head, "What the hell Mami? I said it's fine!"

Nagisa's hand came up to her mouth and she retreated back a step, she had never heard Sayaka snap like that before and it startled her. Mami just held a concerned look in her eyes and spoke very calmly. "Sorry, I just did not want your friendship with Kyousuke to suffer because you felt obligated to come with me. If I overstepped, then I do apologize."

Sayaka's harsh expression quickly turned into one of guilt, then she turned back to Mami with an apologetic smile. "No… um…" She bowed her head. "I'm sorry for snapping at you like that, you certainly didn't do anything to deserve it. I just…"

"You are worried about Madoka, I understand." Mami gave her a reassuring smile. "I am sorry things are not going better, my estimate of how long it would take to find Homura may have been too optimistic, but I promise you we will find her and we will get Madoka back. I'm just worried..."

Sayaka thought things over, clearly still troubled by the danger her friend was in. She supposed Kyousuke did deserve some of her time as well, even with how important the witch hunting and trying to find Madoka was. "I guess you are right," she chuckled, "I'm sure he is disappointed I hadn't come to listen to him play his violin more. I bet he hasn't put that thing down once since getting healed."

"He sure hasn't," Nagisa said with a laugh, glad the mood came back around. "Every time I'm there anyway, all I can hear is his lame music!"

"Sure you are alright running it solo today, Mami?" Sayaka asked.

"Absolutely. This is why we have a team, so we can pick up the slack for each other when our lives need to take precedence over our jobs as Magical Girls."

"Heh, well I think you are the one who picks up most of the slack," said Sayaka.

"I am more experienced. Yet you two are improving so quickly, it is quite impressive."

"Thanks," Sayaka said with a smile, "Well, guess we should get going then. Be safe on the hunt!"

"Of course, see you both later."

"Bye Mami-Sensei! We can talk tonight!" said Nagisa as she and Sayaka started walking away together.

Mami smiled, once again thinking how happy she was to have found such good friends… although, she did feel bad about being deceitful with them just now...

Mami walked along the city streets until finding a place out of sight where she could change into her costume. She then used her ribbons to bring herself up onto the rooftops and started running for a certain area of the city she had heard about on the news. She wanted to do something today, and she knew it would be better if Sayaka was not around while she handled it. She just hoped she could predict her old rambunctious Kohai's actions as well as she thought she could.

She went to the building where the mass suicide took place, then checked her SoulGem for negative pulses of magic. It was faint, the witch had moved on, but it was still not too far. She started running along the rooftops again, using her ribbons to swing over the gaps, occasionally conferring with her SoulGem to make sure she was going the right way.

Finally, she found it. She stood at the ledge of one building, and watched the windows of one on the opposite side of the street from her. There was no mistaking it; the portal to the labyrinth was somewhere inside. She was not as interested in that though, and when she looked to the streets below she was impressed by just how good her timing turned out to be.

She saw a crop of red hair casually strolling around on the sidewalk outside, suspiciously glancing around and peeking into windows. Mami quickly ducked down so she would not be seen too easily, and watched as Kyoko approached the front door of the abandoned building.

"Just as I thought," Mami whispered to herself, "You are not quite as clever as you seem to think you are, Sakura-san. Or maybe you forgot who taught you in the first place."


-Atomyst

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