The school bell rang, letting every student know that classes were now over. Madoka started to pick up her things, making sure that the books' corners didn't fold as she put them in her schoolbag. The pinkette got up from her seat and turned around, her eyes landing on Homura who was still on her seat, waiting for Madoka. How the girl had gone from instantly disappearing from class to waiting for her… Madoka couldn't hold back a silly happy smile as she marched towards Homura.

Her march was cut short though, as a particular bluenette placed herself in front of the pinkette to catch her attention; A bit of a serious look was on the bluenette's face.

"Say Madoka…" Sayaka scratched the back of her head "Can we talk, for like… a second?"

"Sure?" Madoka tilted her head, one of her brows raised in confusion at the girl's sudden seriousness "What is it?"

"Well… you see, Kyouko told me that… you know…" Sayaka stopped talking for a second, looking behind her to see where the girl in question was.

The girl in question had approached Homura, and by Homura's looks whatever she was talking about was just filler conversation to make her not approach Madoka and Sayaka. It looked like Sayaka had asked the redhead for help, or at the very least, Kyouko knew what Sayaka was going to ask. And seeing that Kyouko had made sure to make Homura stay away… Madoka started to think she knew what the question was going to be.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want" Sayaka continued talking "But, Kyouko told me you… well, that you like someone"

Madoka didn't answer, instead her gaze suddenly moved back to Homura at the mention of "someone you like"; her cheeks getting a bit red at the realization of what she had done.

"And I've been trying to guess who it is, but I've just been wrecking my brains with this stuff" Sayaka let out a nervous chuckle as she let the words out "So, you know… who is the lucky person?"

"Well…" Madoka stopped looking at Homura, now fixing her eyes on Sayaka.

People were still leaving the classroom, and now Madoka felt very much observed. She wasn't sure if it was real or not, but she could feel a few eyes looking at her; a few ears paying close attention to her next words. Whoever had heard Sayaka speak, and even more in the unusually embarrassed manner she had spoken in, would probably be hearing out of plain curiosity. It wasn't like Madoka didn't want to tell Sayaka, the girl had been getting along with Homura quite well lately, but if someone else heard and ended up telling Homura…

"Why don't we speak about this another day!" said Madoka, even she could hear her own nervousness. Her eyes moved towards Homura once more, who was dismissing Kyouko and had started to walk towards them "I will tell you, but right now is…"

"Right! Right. Of course." Sayaka said as she showed a forced smile, the girl scratching her head as she spoke again "I can wait, no problem. Just curious about who had taken my best friend heart like that hahahaha…"

With that said Homura finally reached them, Kyouko now walking behind her with a disappointed expression on her face. The sound of the steps right behind her made Sayaka turn around, meeting eyes with Homura for a second before the raven haired girl turned towards Madoka.

"We are going to be late for the club, Madoka" said Homura. "I don't want them to think ill of you for being late"

"Ah, right" Madoka replied as she repositioned her schoolbag to the other shoulder before turning to Sayaka once more "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Y-yeah, right" Sayaka said, a big forced grin on her face "See you tomorrow, Madoka, Akemi-san"

Madoka tried to throw a warm and reassuring smile to the worried bluenette, but sadly the girl didn't react to it. And with that Homura and Madoka started to walk towards the gardening club. Madoka though, couldn't really focus on where they were going, her mind going back to Sayaka's reaction.

Madoka knew that Sayaka used to get overly worried about her all the time, and suddenly learning that her best friend was apparently in love with someone probably threw her off, even more with the experiences the bluenette had had with love in the past. Still, as much as she had been getting better along with Homura, Madoka still had her doubts about how Sayaka would react if she learnt that it was Homura the one Madoka had fallen in love with.

Sayaka probably wouldn't like it. In fact, she probably would try to convince Madoka that she didn't like Homura. The girl had finally calmed down about Madoka trying to befriend Homura, but if Madoka suddenly told her that she loved Homura… Sayaka would really feel like Homura was trying to take Madoka away, wouldn't she? Sayaka had said that she was scared of Homura being her substitute, of Madoka running away with Homura; and Madoka loving Homura was kind of a confirmation of her fears. Actually, hadn't Madoka been spending way more time with Homura lately? And less and less time with Sayaka… She will have to compensate her, maybe they can go somewhere this week. But she also promised to go to Mami's house this week. And, of course, if she can get more alone time with Homura that would be nice. And just because test season is over it doesn't mean she can stop studying…

Madoka let out a sigh, catching Homura's attention.

"Is something wrong, Madoka?" said Homura, who Madoka had now noticed was walking closer than she usually did. Not like she was going to complain of course.

"No, nothing important" Madoka said as she shook her head side to side. "Just a bit tired I guess"

Homura's expression didn't change, but Madoka felt the girl twitch thanks to how close they were walking together.

"May I ask why?" Homura said, she had now averted her eyes from Madoka and was looking straight ahead. Whatever Madoka had said it clearly made her feel anxious, she never looked at Madoka whenever she was anxious.

"Just thinking about how busy I am" Madoka said, knowing that not giving a proper answer would make the girl more tense. "Really, you don't have to worry about it, Homura-chan"


Madoka stopped in front of the clubroom door. A small led screen with the name 'Gardening Club' written on it showed what the room was being used for. Madoka moved her hand towards the door, turning the handle with care as she opened the door. The smell of different flowers instantly flowing out of the room.

"Good afternoon" exclaimed Madoka as she walked into the room, holding the door for Homura afterwards.

"Hello" were the only words that Homura said, she had only gotten into the club for Madoka; she really was hoping that there was no need for her to speak to the others and could just tend to the plants together with Madoka.

A guy, which by the uniform he was wearing seemed to be a third year, turned around in his chair; moving his attention from the bonsai he had been tending to the newcomers.

"It's nice to have you back, Kaname-san" he said as he waved to them with a gardening scissor. "And you must be Akemi-san, thank you for joining this club"

"Don't think he is happy to get a new member" said another third year, a girl that had been organizing some of the seed packages they had lying around "He is just happy about the increase in budget we are getting thanks to you; same happened when Kaname-san joined"

"Kaname-san ended up being a great helper" he said, now looking at the other third year "Do you know anything about plants, Akemi-san?"

"Not much" admitted Homura, she had heard Madoka talk about them before; but never really tried herself anything more that simple manual help to move plants around, or water some of them.

"Well, don't worry" said the bonsai guy "We will help you with whatever you have problems with"

"Why don't you teach her how we do things, Kaname-san? You know her, right?" asked the other girl as she got off the stool she had been using to reach the uppermost part of the shelves.

Madoka walked towards a corkboard that hung from one of the walls. She looked at the different paper notes that were in the to-do part of the board and took a few of them before she turned back to Homura. A warm smile on her face.

"We can take care of the plants outside, Homura-chan" Madoka held a few of the notes in her hands "Other than moving them around though"

"Moving them?" asked Homura.

"Yeah" interrupted bonsai guy once again "Strong winds this week, can't leave the smaller pots near edges or they will fall and break"

"And the not so small ones too" sighed Madoka "We have some tomatoes, but they are not strong enough to survive the wind and the pots get quite heavy with all the soil they have"

"All because the dumb president wanted more soil than needed for them" complained the other girl.

"Trust me! It will make the tomatoes tastier, you cannot skimp on good soil" he refuted, pressing his finger against the table as if trying to make a point.

"And break our backs in the process" said the other girl, not even looking at the guy, before she moved her gaze to Madoka and Homura "Call me if you need help moving them, don't want either of you getting hurt"

"Thank you, Ayumi-san" said Madoka before going to pick up the storage room keys. "Do we have the morning's shifts planned already?"

"Not yet" said the club president "I'll get with it in a few minutes"

"In that case…" Madoka nervously shifted in her place before speaking the next words "Homura and I come together to school, so I was thinking of putting them far away between each other? So we don't do two days one after the other"

"Sure, don't mind" he made a small pause "there still is a day in rotation, so get ready to have weeks where you come early three days"

Madoka let out a small chuckle "I've been getting up a bit earlier anyways"

And with that Madoka started to walk outside of the clubroom. Homura followed closely behind her; a bit relieved that they wouldn't be doing things in the same room as the other two. The only thing she wanted right now was to spend more time with Madoka, and other people being around would mean she would have to split her attention. She could completely ignore them, of course, but if Madoka noticed she would end up being angry with her.

Not like Homura didn't like to see Madoka angry face of course. It really reminded her of the first loops, when she would get in some dangerous situation and Madoka would save her… before she had made the promise to not let her become a magical girl. After that though, the times that Madoka would get angry with Homura were less and less. Or they were times were Madoka wasn't angry because of Homura getting into trouble, or because of Homura not taking care of herself… no, those times in which Madoka was actually angry were the loops that Homura really wanted to forget. The loops that made Homura think there was no possible way of Madoka ever forgiving her. The loops that happened out of desperation.

"What do you think?" Madoka's voice brought Homura back to reality. "About the club president and Ayumi-san I mean"

Homura didn't say anything for a few seconds as she tried to come up with an answer, as well as trying to ground herself in the present.

"They seem energetic" Homura finally answered, Madoka seemed to be satisfied by the answer.

Madoka let out a short laugh "Yeah. As an advice, don't ask the president about bonsais unless you want a two hour lecture on how to take care of them"

"I will remember not to" said Homura, a smile appearing on her face as she heard Madoka's laugh.

Homura noticed that Madoka had moved a bit further away because of her laugh, and she quickly fixed it by getting closer to the girl once more. Only leaving a few centimeters between each other.

Madoka liked to speak about her friends. That was something that Homura had quickly come to learn the first time they met. So, in search of making the girl talk a bit more so she could hear her voice for longer, Homura decided to keep the conversation going.

"Is there a similar advice for Ayumi-san?" asked Homura, not really caring about the subject itself.

"Hum…" Madoka looked upwards as she tried to think of something, the cute expression the girl made whenever she tried to think of good things about others was one of the reminders of why she had been fighting in the past. Why she still was fighting. "Ayumi-san really likes to speak about tea plants. I think she knows everything about how to prepared the different leaves."

"Just like Tomoe-san then?" asked Homura.

"I think is less about the tea itself and more about the way the plants are prepared and which ones are the best" Madoka's thinking face turned into a bit of a questioning face "Does Mami-san like tea that much? She made some really good tea when I went to her house, but I don't remember her saying anything about it, mostly talked about baking"

Homura realized her mistake. Tomoe always had taken some time before she would start expressing how much she knew about tea, the girl was way more confident in her baking skills after all. And for what Homura had heard once during the first loops, Tomoe always thought that people preferred to speak about baking that tea making so she never started that conversation with new people. The problem was, this Tomoe was new to the group, they weren't having the almost daily tea parties. Not yet.

"It was just a hunch" Homura said, not being able to come up with a better lie in the spot. She was one to prepare for things, not to suddenly improvise after all. "She seems like the type to do so"

"I guess you are right" Madoka said, a smile now appearing on her face "A lot of the times she feels like she would take a teacup out of nowhere and start drinking"

"Yes, she really does"

They walked in silence for a few more seconds as they walked down the stairs. Madoka too focused on the steps and Homura too focused on making sure Madoka wasn't going to slip or miss a step.

"Say, Homura-chan" Madoka said as she reached the end of the stairs "Are you going to come to Mami's house next time?"

"I…" Homura tried to think, but Madoka spoke up again before she could come up with an answer.

"I don't want to force you to come!" she said, a light blush on her cheeks "But it would be nice if you did, not only for Mami-san but… I would be quite happy if you did"

Homura looked at the blushing pinkette. Her own cheeks starting to gain a tone of red as well. This wasn't fair, how could Homura say no after Madoka saying that with that embarrassed face? It was hard enough to think that if she didn't go, she would lose time together with her; but if Madoka was asking her for her to be there… How in the world could she refuse?

Homura looked away from the pinkette, trying to hide her own blush.

"I will go"

Even if Homura wasn't looking at her directly, she could see the girl's reflection on the glass windows of the hallway as the girl raised her head to look at Homura with a big smile on it.

"Really?" Madoka asked, trying to make sure she had heard correctly.

"…yes" said Homura, her voice too quiet to hear as more than a small squeak. The girl tried to recompose herself by letting out a forced cough. "Yes, I will."

Madoka increased her pace, orbiting around Homura to look at the girl in the face. With a relieved smile on her face, she locked eyes with Homura.

"Thank you, Homura-chan" Madoka let out a slightly embarrassed laugh "I feel like I've been asking a lot from you lately"

She had, in fact, being doing so. The girl clearly had been the one to take the initiative. Always asking Homura to go with her somewhere, being the one that had approached her in the first place, and even asking Homura to accompany her in the mornings. Had it been someone else, Homura would have gotten tired of the constant requests… but with Madoka being the one that was asking, there was simply no way for Homura to refuse the requests. Not because she felt forced to do so, but because she herself had not been brave enough to approach the girl in the first place. And, had Madoka not gotten close to her in the first time, Homura was sure that there would have been a day where she would have left the world to become a concept. Sadly for her, or good for her depending on how one saw things, the pinkette had insisted in approaching Homura; making it impossible for the love struck Homura to leave the only person she cared for behind.

"It's okay" said Homura, the two now walking outside the school building and going towards where the plants were. "I don't mind it"

"You are too kind, Homura-chan" said Madoka, the girl had now gotten a bit ahead from Homura and was walking backwards to directly face Homura. "You can say no, you know? I won't feel bad about it"

Homura didn't answer for a few seconds, instead her mind completely focused in making sure Madoka wouldn't trip as she walked backwards.

"No, I really don't mind… I-" Homura caught her own words, she could feel her own cheeks turning red as she spoke "I love spending time with you"

Madoka's eyes widened at the girl's words, her own face imitating Homura's red cheeks. The embarrassment being strong enough to make the girl turn around just to hide her own blush. They walked in awkward silence for a minute or two before reaching the outdoors garden, Homura still trying to put away her own blush couldn't find the will to face Madoka as they opened the storage room to get all the tools out.

Once they were outside with the tools in hand, it was Madoka the one to break the awkward silence.

"W-we should move the pots first"

Madoka walked towards the tomatoes, Homura didn't know much about gardening but even then, she could see that those pots were about three times as big as they should be. Homura went to the other side of the pot, and between the two (though Homura made sure to make most of the work) they moved them into a little alcove that would protect them from the strong winds. They kept on moving the other three tomato plants that were planted before taking all the smaller pots that mainly were flowers or new plants too young for a bigger pot.

Afterwards started the rest of the work, in which Homura mainly started to water the plants as Madoka explained from time to time how to properly trim the tomato plants. Slowly, the awkward mood that had been placed between the two changed into a productive atmosphere as the two girls focused in the tasks at hand.


People walked around them, everyone being too busy to even pay attention to the two girls. The sounds of the train station signaling what was one of the most crowded times to be in station. An experience that could make anyone that wasn't used to a busy city feel all their senses in overdrive. An experience though, that was making Kyouko simply yawn as she shifter her weight from one foot to the other.

"When did he say he was coming?" asked Kyouko, thinking about how her shift was going to start in less than an hour.

"He should be here in a few minutes" answered Sayaka, the girl trying to look over the crowd in search of her father. "Sorry for making you help us by the way"

Kyouko took out a box of pocky, offering one to Sayaka before picking one for herself.

"Nah, don't worry" replied Kyouko, instantly devouring the first pocky before putting a new one in her mouth "I don't see you hauling all his luggage home without dying in the process"

"It won't be that bad" Sayaka let out a chuckle.

"Do I have to remind you that last time he came with three full sized cases?" asked Kyouko as she raised one of her brows.

Sayaka stopped looking over the crowd to face Kyouko, a reconsidering expression on her face.

"Yeah, one of them was full of souvenirs though" Sayaka put on a smug grin "souvenirs that you ate in a day"

"Ey, bring me all that good ass mochi and I'm not going to hold back" Kyouko shrugged, a smug grin of her own as Sayaka friendlily elbowed her.

A few minutes passed as they kept waiting, the crowd not thinning at any point. Kyouko finished her box of pocky, and realizing she didn't have any more snacks on hand (somethings she would fix before finishing her shift at the convenience store), she tried to start conversation once more.

"How did it go with Madoka by the way?"

Sayaka let out a long sigh, clearly signaling defeat before she even spoke. "Told me she would tell me another day, that that wasn't the best time"

"You did ask her in the middle of the classroom" Kyouko replied "Could have waited to be alone with her, y'know?"

"Well yeah" said Sayaka, turning her head towards Kyouko to face her "But that's almost impossible lately!"

"Why's that?"

"She is always glued to Akemi! I can't find a single moment where I can just snatch her away for even a few seconds"

Gee, I wonder why.

"I'm sure that if you said you wanted to speak alone with Madoka she would go away, it's not that hard" said Kyouko as she let out a tired sigh at the display of denseness that the bluenette was doing.

"Madoka would probably say no out of embarrassment from Akemi just being there" Sayaka sighed. "Probably think that Akemi would question her later or something"

Or maybe because she likes Akemi? Please just put one and one together

"It would be worth a try though" Kyouko shrugged, holding back her thoughts from spilling out "better than asking her in the middle of class full of students that want to hear the latest gossip"

"Yeah, yeah" Sayaka said "I get, I'm dumb for asking her there. Didn't think of a better way, sorry"

No, you are dumb for not noticing who the fuck she likes… you dumb lovely dense bluenette.

"We are getting together for Mami's right? Doubt Akemi will come, that's your opportunity"

Sayaka waved towards the crowd, finally seeing her father who was carrying not three, but four cases.

"Yeah, you are right" she turned towards Kyouko "Akemi doesn't feel like she wants to get close to Tomoe-senpai's at all"

"Yeah…" Kyouko said, getting ready to move two of the cases all they way back to the house "Well, at least as long as Madoka doesn't tell her that she would be happy if she came that is"


"See you tomorrow" said Madoka as she closed the clubroom behind her, the only other person that was left in the room was the club president.

Homura looked at the girl. They had been so focused on doing the tasks in the outdoor garden that time had gone by so fast that, even if just for a moment, Homura had thought she had subconsciously fast forwarded time herself.

But no, she had simply spent time with Madoka as they took care of the plants. At first focusing on Madoka more than the tasks themselves, but slowly Madoka's sense of duty about the garden had influenced Homura; who started to pay more attention at what she was doing.

"Let's go Homura-chan" said Madoka, a proud smile on her face from all the work they had been able to do.

With that, Homura started to follow Madoka side by side. The memory of her admitting that she 'loved' spending time with Madoka still fresh, made her a bit more conscious about being so close to the girl; nonetheless, she didn't move away from her. The fear of Madoka disappearing was way stronger than whatever kind of embarrassment she was capable of feeling.

It didn't take long for them to reach the outside of the school gates. Both of them now facing each other at the same spot where they usually parted ways after class. The sun was probably going to set in an hour or two, so this was clearly a goodbye.

"Thank you for today, Homura-chan" said Madoka, a bit of a nervous smile on her face. "I'm glad that you joined the club"

"I also had fun" admitted Homura, after what she had said there was no point in hiding how much she enjoyed her company.

"Well…" Madoka shifted around nervously, moving her weight from one foot to the other as the girl hesitated to take steps either backwards to start going to her house, or forwards towards Homura. "See you tomorrow, Homura-chan"

Homura looked at Madoka, the girl smiling brightly at her. A sharp pain appearing in her chest as she started to realize this was going to be it for today. After she said goodbye here she wasn't going to see Madoka until more than twelve hours later. Maybe not much for someone else, but it felt like an eternity of possible things going wrong for Homura.

She didn't want to say the words. But realizing that Madoka was waiting for a farewell she forced herself, her voice getting stuck in the first letters.

"S-see you tomorrow, Madoka" Homura finally said, the words hurting like knifes as they came out.

Madoka simply smiled at Homura once more before turning around. Homura stood still, watching the girl slowly walk away. Her already small figure becoming smaller as the distance between the two increased at the same time as did Homura's pain.

Homura moved her hand into her schoolbag. Searching inside it until she touched a small box in which the ribbons Madoka had gifted her a few days ago were inside of. The touch didn't feel calming as she wanted though, instead only making her chest ache increase as memories of her doing the same when Madoka had disappeared from the earth came flooding back.

Before Homura could realize it, she had started walking towards Madoka. And just a few steps behind Madoka, behind her whole world, she opened her mouth as to speak words that she hoped would let them be together even if for just a few more seconds.

"Madoka!" she exclaimed, surprising even herself with her unusually loud voice "Please wait"

"Homura-chan?" Madoka asked, a concerned expression on her face "Is something wrong?"

"It's just…"

Homura couldn't find the words to say. Or rather, she couldn't choose what to say. 'Please don't go yet'? 'Stay with me some more time, please'?... 'I can't deal with not being with you, please let stay together longer'? Or should she just simply spill everything right now? Hope that Madoka would understand how she felt, hope that she would be okay with staying with her even if she knew what she had done.

In the end, the words simply couldn't come out. Fighting between lying or simply telling the girl the truth, both of them wouldn't change things in the end would they? It didn't matter whether Madoka was going to disappear in seconds, hours, days, weeks, or months. Whatever Homura was to say now, it would only be stalling for time.

"Homura-chan?" Madoka started to walk towards her, getting dangerously close to the girl just to check that she was okay "Are you feeling okay?"

"Madoka…" Homura said, a feeling of uselessness starting to raise. A feeling all too familiar.

"it's okay, you can tell me anything" Madoka said, clearly noticing that the girl was struggling to speak. She had always been like this, always able to read Homura like an open book.

"Madoka… can we…"

"Yes, Homura-chan?" asked Madoka, a reassuring tone in her voice; Homura saw the girl raise her hand to touch Homura, but she hesitated in the last moment and ended up simply squatting a bit to look at Homura's eyes.

"…can we go to somewhere together?" Homura made a small pause, raising her head to meet Madoka's "…now"

Madoka seemed a bit confused at first, but she quickly tried to keep Homura talking to try and properly understand what was going on.

"I just want to spend more time with you… please" Homura said, her voice now felt like her usual old weak self.

Madoka hesitated for a second, trying to process what Homura had said, before she spoke up; a calming smile on her face.

"Of course" she took a step back now that Homura seemed to be calming down, though the gesture did make Homura flinch forwards too scared that the girl would disappear. "Where do you want to go?"

Homura stopped to think for a second, there were a lot of places she would like to go to with Madoka. Places that were precious to her, places they had shared memories of. But sadly, many of them could make her memories come back. Only one other place that made Homura feel calm remained, one which she would often go to after the loops ended. One in which she could simply relax as she tried to get away from everything.

"There is a small café I know" Homura said "it's a nice place…"

"Let's go there then" immediately replied Madoka, clearly too concerned about the sudden show of emotions Homura had done.

And with that they started to walk towards the café. Even if it would be just one more hour, Homura had been able to get more time with her. And even if this would end up with Homura becoming even more depending on Madoka, she didn't care. She was simply too scared, too scared of closing her eyes and seeing Madoka disappear again.


Current date: Monday 19th of May.

A/N: I'm so fucking sorry about how late this chapter is. I wasn't able to get the chair from my friend (a real offer came up, and I'm not about to make my friend lose money) so I've been using a shitty wooden chair from a dining table that has destroyed my back. Add in this chapter giving me a lot of trouble to write (And I'm not even happy about it to be honest) and I just couldn't find the strength to write.

I promise, I'll compensate you all for the shit job I've done this week. I'm really sorry. I can't even be happy about reaching 100k words, not with this week being how it's been.