Madoka Kaname awoke to the sound of her alarm clock. "Weird dream." she mumbled before getting up. By the time she made it downstairs, all she could remember about her nightmare was that that one girl she'd met yesterday, Homura Akemi, was in it. Homura had been staring at Madoka with a creepy, demonic grin on her face, saying something like "I'll never let you go again, Madoka!". Madoka pushed it out of her mind as she looked out the glass door. "Good morning, Dad!"

"Morning, Madoka!" Madoka's father, Tomohisa, shouted back. He'd been planting tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables in the garden of their new house. Hopefully they'd have a sizable harvest in the coming weeks. "Is your mother up yet?"

"I guess not. I'll go wake her." With that, Madoka went back upstairs and burst into her parents' bedroom. She found her baby brother Tatsuya pounding on her mother Junko's head to no avail. Madoka took a more drastic approach, flinging the curtains open and ripping the blanket off the bed. Junko screamed and wriggled around a bit before dragging herself out of bed.

"I still haven't adjusted to this time zone." Junko grumbled as she did her makeup, standing at the sink right next to her daughter. "So, how was your first day at school?"

As Madoka brushed her teeth, she carefully considered her answer. That strange encounter she had with that Homura girl still unnerved her a little, and that nightmare she had last night certainly didn't help. Madoka decided not to worry her mother about it just yet. "It was great!" Madoka replied after spitting out her toothpaste. "Turns out I'm in the same class as Sayaka and Hitomi."

"I'm glad for you." Junko smiled at Madoka. "It's always nice to see some familiar faces after a long time away."

"I can't believe we're still friends after all this time." Madoka sighed. "I thought they'd forget all about me."

"Come on, why would they forget about you?"

"Well, there's nothing really special about-"

Junko raised her hand, cutting Madoka off. "Oh, no! We're not getting into that crap this early in the morning!" Junko shook her head. "You're a wonderful person, Madoka. Quit selling yourself short like that."

"Oh, you're just saying that because you're my mom."

"Well, yeah, but still…"

Madoka giggled, then pulled out the red ribbons Homura gave her. She thought for a moment whether to wear them or not. Sure, they were pretty, but considering who they came from…

"Are those the ribbons you wore home yesterday?" Junko derailed Madoka's train of thought. "I've been meaning to ask where you got those."

"Oh, um… I bought them on my way home from school." Madoka lied, grimacing internally. She rarely ever lied to her parents, and it never felt good when she did. "I saw them in a store window and I just couldn't resist."

"Well, you've got good taste in hair ornaments." Junko helped Madoka tie the ribbons into her hair. "Now let's go get some breakfast." With that, the two of them headed to the kitchen and sat down at the table, where Tomohisa was struggling to get Tatsuya to eat his peas. Realizing she was running late, Madoka wolfed down most of her breakfast, said goodbye to her family, then ran out the door with a piece of toast in her mouth.

Madoka ran down the walkway to Mitakihara Middle School to meet her friends Sayaka Miki and Hitomi Shizuki, as well as a red-haired girl gnawing on some beef jerky. "Glad to have you back, Madoka!" Sayaka shouted as she ran up and bear-hugged Madoka.

"We missed you so much." Hitomi added.

"I missed you guys, too." Madoka returned Sayaka's embrace, then wiggled out of it and turned to the other girl to introduce herself. Just before she could, Madoka got a strange feeling that the two of them had met before. Sure, they were in the same class yesterday, but it felt like they'd met somewhere else long before that. Just as the other girl started to tilt her head in confusion, Madoka shook it off. "Sorry, I kinda spaced out there. Anyway, it's nice to meet you. I'm Madoka Kaname."

"Right, we never got to talk yesterday, did we? Name's Kyoko Sakura. I'm Sayaka's friend." Kyoko and Madoka bowed to each other.

"You forgot to mention couch-dweller." Sayaka added coyly.

"Yeah, well, your couch sucks." Kyoko shot back. "I keep waking up with this nasty crick." She added, rubbing the side of her neck.

"Well, maybe if you didn't eat so much, we could afford better furniture."

"What kinda sense does that make?!"

Hitomi shook her head. "It's like this every morning." she mumbled to Madoka before clearing her throat and pointing to the school clock, getting Sayaka and Kyoko to stop bickering. The four girls started walking to school as Hitomi continued. "So, Madoka, if you're free this Saturday, we were planning on throwing a little welcome-back party for you at my house."

"Really?!" Madoka smiled from ear to ear. "Thank you so much! I'll definitely be there!"

"So far it's just the four of us." Sayaka added. "Not sure if that qualifies as a party, but it should be fun."

"Yeah, about that…" Kyoko said through a mouthful of beef jerky, then swallowed. "Mind if I bring a couple friends?"

"Who would that be?" Hitomi asked.

"Oh, just Mami and Homura."

Madoka suddenly felt uneasy, but Sayaka voiced her objections first. "What?! Mami I'm okay with, but why Homura? She gives me the creeps."

Kyoko rolled her eyes. "Seriously? I really don't understand your beef with her." Kyoko turned to Madoka, noticing the strange look on the pink-haired girl's face. "Something wrong?"

"Well, it's just… She said some really strange stuff to me yesterday. She asked me some weird questions about the laws of the universe or something, and said that she and I might become enemies one day." Madoka pointed to her pigtails. "Then she gave me these ribbons and said she'd wish for a world where I could be happy."

"Did she really do that?!" Hitomi asked.

"See, what'd I tell you?" Sayaka said. "She's a total nutcase. Better steer clear of her, Madoka."

Suddenly, Kyoko burst out laughing, and the others turned to look at her. "Is that what Homura said to you?"

"Well, yeah…" Madoka muttered.

Kyoko took another bite of jerky. "Don't worry, she just does stuff like that to mess with transfer students. When I transferred in, she suspected me of being a witch, and said she'd have to hunt me down if I started cursing people. Then she gave me an apple and called it a peace offering. I guess it's just her way of saying 'Welcome to Mitakihara Middle School.'."

Hitomi and Sayaka both raised an eyebrow at Kyoko. "You never mentioned that to either of us." Hitomi said.

"Probably because it wasn't a big deal." Kyoko took another bite, then turned to Madoka. "Look, Homura's kinda weird, but completely harmless. She's really not so bad once you get to know her."

"Well, if you say so…" Madoka said. "I guess I'm okay with her coming."

Sayaka hung her head and sighed. "Classic Madoka, too nice for your own good. Y'know, that's gonna come back to bite you someday."

"At least we know some things never change." Hitomi added.

"Speaking of biting, do you guys want some?" Kyoko held out her near-empty bag of beef jerky. Madoka, Sayaka and Hitomi all declined. "Oh well, more for me." she said before scarfing down the rest of it. With that, the four girls arrived at the school entrance and went inside, barely making it to class on time.

Homura sat at her desk in the back of the classroom, brooding and staring at Madoka. It had been roughly a full 24 hours since Madoka's appearance in this rewritten universe, and aside from a brief scare during break yesterday, all seemed to be going well. Madoka didn't seem to remember her former godhood at all, much less all the pain and suffering it must have caused her.

After all that Madoka had sacrificed for the magical girls of the world, she deserved a happy, peaceful life like this one. No one did more than her. And if Homura had to sacrifice her soul and exist as a demon in order to give Madoka that idyllic life, it was a price she was more than willing to pay. Now the only problem was sustaining this ideal world. Homura suspected that it wouldn't last forever, but she'd give it her all to keep it up as long as possible.

Before Homura knew it, Ms. Saotome had sent the class on break. Homura observed Madoka, Sayaka and Hitomi going over to Kyosuke Kamijou's desk, presumably to invite him to Madoka's welcome-home party. Kyoko, however, walked up to Homura with a bag of potato chips in hand.

"So, I managed to smooth things over with Madoka for you. I told her that creepy stuff you said was just a joke. Looks like she bought it." Kyoko said as she took a seat on Homura's desk. "I even got you an invite to that party of theirs."

"Your intervention wasn't necessary." Homura replied.

"Like hell it wasn't." Kyoko opened the bag of chips. "I'm no social butterfly, but even I know that's not how you make a good first impression. You'll have to take a different approach if you want to get on Madoka's good side."

"I wasn't planning on getting close to her in the first place." Homura turned her head away from Kyoko. "It's better if I keep my distance, anyway."

Kyoko shook her head. "Nice try, Homura. You can't fool me like that." Kyoko took a potato chip and ate it. "I know exactly how you feel about her."

Homura fiddled with the jewel hanging from her earring. "Hmph, as if you could possibly understand my feelings for her, Kyoko Sakura."

"Yeah, yeah. Enough with the emo crap." Kyoko ate another chip. "Look, just go to the damn party. If anything goes wrong, Mami and I will be there to help."

Before Homura could respond, Madoka approached her desk, flanked by Sayaka and Hitomi. Sayaka scowled at Homura while Hitomi hung her head in disappointment.

"Let me guess, Violin Boy couldn't make it?" Kyoko asked.

"He has a name, you know!" Hitomi snapped. "But yeah, Kyosuke said he had to practice for his next recital."

"As usual." Kyoko scoffed. "I really don't get what you see in that guy."

Hitomi ignored Kyoko and turned to Homura. "So, um, Miss Akemi-"

"Please, just call me Homura."

"Oh, okay. Anyway, Homura, we were going to have a party for Madoka this Saturday, and-"

"She already told me." Homura interjected, jerking her head towards Kyoko. She glanced at Madoka for a moment, considering whether to go or not. Before too long, she decided. "I'll be there."

"Great!" Kyoko said as she finished off her chips. "We'll see you there."

"But remember, Homura…" Sayaka interjected, stepping between Madoka and Homura. "I've got my eye on you. You do anything to mess with Madoka again, and you'll regret it!"

"Sayaka…" Madoka mumbled.

After that, break was over and their class resumed. Homura wasn't entirely sure how to feel about this new development. Though if nothing else, it would at least allow her to watch over Madoka without arousing too much suspicion. She'd already been getting enough of that from Sayaka Miki, not that Sayaka was much of a threat without her powers or memories. Still, any outward aggression between them would distress Madoka. Homura would have to tread lightly around Madoka's friends.

"See you tomorrow!" Madoka said to Sayaka and Hitomi as she left for home. As Madoka walked down the walkway, she noticed Homura walking alone in front of her. Perhaps this was a good chance to talk to her one-on-one and see if Sayaka's suspicions were warranted or if Kyoko was right about Homura's harmlessness. "Hey, Homura!" Madoka called out, waving to Homura.

"Oh, it's you." Homura replied after turning to face Madoka. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to talk." Madoka ran up to Homura's side.

"Are you sure Sayaka Miki would be okay with it?" Homura asked. "Actually, I'm surprised she's not here to 'protect' you from me."

"Well, she's got kendo practice right now, and I figure what she doesn't know won't hurt her." Madoka replied, smiling coyly. "Don't worry too much about her. I think it's just force of habit."

"What do you mean by that?"

"When we were kids, she'd always protect me from bullies and pranksters." Madoka smiled. "I was lucky to be best friends with the toughest girl in school. But I have to admit she's pretty stubborn and hot-headed, and she does tend to jump to conclusions. You might've just rubbed her the wrong way with that prank of yours."

"I suppose I can't fault her for protecting you." Homura replied. "And I can see why she and Kyoko Sakura get along so well."

"Yeah, if you call that 'getting along'." Madoka snickered. "Anyway, you got me pretty good with that stuff you said yesterday. For a while I really thought you were a crazy stalker or something."

"Did you? Then it appears I was successful." Homura pointed to Madoka's hair. "You can keep those ribbons, by the way. Consider them a welcome-back present."

"Thanks, Homura." Madoka touched one of the ribbons. "They're really pretty. Much better than those yellow ones, anyway."

"Agreed. I always liked red better than yellow myself."

"Hey, there's a place I wanted to check out before I go home." Madoka said. "If you're not busy, wanna come with me?" Homura stood there looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Madoka wasn't sure what to make of it. She stepped back from Homura and turned away, slightly embarrassed. "Um, I understand if you can't, but-"

"No, no, I just didn't expect…" Homura fell silent for a brief moment. "Never mind. I'll go with you."

"Great!" With that, Madoka led Homura to the Mitakihara Shopping Center. Even after three years in another country, she still remembered the way there. Once the two girls arrived, Madoka made a beeline for the music store, Homura lagging behind. "It's just like I remember it." Madoka said as they entered. "Sayaka, Hitomi and I used to hang out here all the time. I wanted to bring them here today, but they're both busy."

"So I was your Plan B?" Homura asked flatly.

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that." Madoka's face went a little red. "I just… well…"

"It's fine, I understand." Homura cut Madoka off.

"Right." Madoka led Homura to the classical music section. "I remember Sayaka's friend Kyosuke sometimes came with us. He'd always drag us here and talk about all the classical composers and their music." Madoka picked up a CD of Antonio Vivaldi's music. "To be honest, most of it went completely over my head, and I kinda found it annoying. But I never said anything, mostly for Sayaka."

"That must've been difficult for you, neglecting your own feelings for someone else's sake." Homura looked over Madoka's shoulder at the CD. "By the way, Vivaldi was baroque, not classical."

"Case in point." Madoka put back the CD and started walking out of the store. "Sayaka really liked him. She never admitted it, but it was pretty obvious, even to me. I always hoped they'd get together, but I never imagined he'd end up dating Hitomi instead."

"Well, if life has taught me one lesson repeatedly, it's that things rarely turn out how you hope they will, if ever." Homura replied as she followed Madoka. "No matter how hard you try." she added softly.

"That's a pretty bleak way of looking at it." Madoka said. "I mean, yeah, things happen outside our control, but that doesn't mean we can't make the most of it."

Homura sighed. "If only I could have your optimism."

Madoka smiled. "It's just something my dad used to say."

Homura and Madoka continued walking around the mall. Every so often, Madoka would stop by one of the stores and tell Homura a story from the good old days. Homura told Madoka that she didn't come here very often, so she didn't have much to say. Consequently, their conversations were pretty one-sided. Madoka felt a bit awkward about it, but Homura didn't seem to mind.

Eventually, the two of them passed by a cheese shop. As they walked by, they heard a crash that sounded like a display stand being knocked over. Madoka ran in to check it out. She saw a blonde-haired girl wearing a Mitakihara Middle School uniform talking to a younger white-haired girl wearing a pink dress.

"Nagisa, that's two display stands in two days." the blonde-haired girl said as she bent down to pick up the cheese wedges that fell on the ground. "You need to be more careful."

"Sorry, Mami." Nagisa bent down and helped Mami clean up. "But look! They have Gruyère cheese! I've always wanted to try some." she added, picking up one of the wedges and showing it to Mami.

Upon seeing Mami and Nagisa, Madoka felt that same sense of déjà vu she'd felt when she met Kyoko this morning, and this time she knew she hadn't seen either of these two girls yesterday. Madoka had definitely met them before, but where? She started to remember something about her, Nagisa and Sayaka being part of something greater than themselves, watching over Mami, Homura, Kyoko and other girls all over the world as they fought…

Suddenly, Madoka felt Homura's hand on her shoulder. Then she snapped back to reality. "Are you okay, Madoka?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." Madoka rubbed her forehead. "I guess I just spaced out for a second. Sorry."

"It's fine." Homura said. "You're back now."

"Oh, Homura…" Mami said as she turned to face the black-haired girl. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Nor did I expect to be here, Mami Tomoe." Homura replied, then gestured toward Madoka. "She asked me to accompany her."

"Did she…?" Mami mumbled.

"Mami Tomoe?" Madoka asked. "Are you Kyoko Sakura's friend?"

"I am, yes." Mami replied. "You must be Madoka Kaname. It's a pleasure to meet you." Mami bowed to Madoka, then gestured to the white-haired girl beside her. "This is my neighbor, Nagisa Momoe."

"Pleased to meet you!" Nagisa also bowed to Madoka, and Madoka bowed back to both of them. Nagisa then turned back to Mami, holding out the wedge of Gruyère she'd picked up. "Can we get this, Mami?"

"It's a bit expensive, but maybe just this once." Mami took the cheese wedge from Nagisa and walked towards the cashier. "I suppose it's a special occasion."

"Special occasion?" Madoka asked, walking beside Mami.

"Kyoko told me about that welcome-back party you're having on Saturday." Mami replied. "I'd be delighted to go."

"Ooh, can I come too?!" Nagisa asked. "I love parties!"

"Of course you can." Madoka replied. "The more the merrier."

"Yay!" Nagisa shouted.

"You might want to think twice about that." Mami said after buying the cheese. "Nagisa's quite a handful. If something goes wrong, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Mami!" Nagisa scowled at her blonde-haired friend.

Mami chuckled. "I'm just kidding. We'd love to have you there. Right, Homura?"

Homura didn't reply. She merely stared at Mami for a moment before Madoka led the other three girls to a coffee shop in the mall. The four of them each ordered a drink before sitting down to continue their conversation.

"Madoka, I've been meaning to ask you…" Homura took a sip of her coffee. "How was your time in the U.S.?"

"Well…" Madoka began. "At first, it was kinda nice to see more of the world outside of Japan. New York City was interesting, provided you stayed off the streets after dark. I loved all the shops there, and the sites were pretty cool, like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building."

"I'm so jealous." Mami said. "I've always wanted to go to New York."

"Yeah, it's a great place to visit, but living there…" Madoka sighed. "To be honest, I felt like such a fish out of water. I missed Sayaka and Hitomi so much, I never really fit in at school or anywhere else, and I was never quite fluent in English. It always was my worst subject."

"I don't blame you. It's such a complicated language." Mami said. "I'm better with Italian."

"Really?" Madoka asked. "You speak Italian?"

"Un pò." Mami replied. "Me l'ha insegnato mia madre."

"Um, I'll take your word for it." Madoka drank some of her hot chocolate. "Anyway, I'm really happy to be back in Japan. I feel so much more at home here. I've already made some new friends, and my old ones still remember me." Madoka smiled. "I couldn't have asked for anything better."

"I'm glad you're happy, Madoka." Homura said quietly.

"Did you hear that, Mami?" Nagisa said. "Madoka's our friend!"

"Yes, I'm honored." Mami shifted her attention to Madoka. "But I'm a little surprised you consider Homura a friend after that stunt she pulled yesterday."

Homura glared at Mami, but Mami didn't respond.

"Well, Kyoko told me it was just a joke. It did have me going for a while, though." Madoka turned to Homura. "Actually, I kinda had a nightmare about you last night. You were saying something about never letting me go while you turned into a demon or something. It was really scary."

"Oh." Homura sighed. "I'm sorry, Madoka."

"A nightmare, huh?" Mami chimed in. "Must be something going around. I recently had a dream where I was on the verge of death, but I sold my soul to a talking ferret to keep myself alive."

Nagisa laughed. "A talking ferret?! Where'd you get that from?"

Mami simply shrugged. "No idea."

"I once had a dream where the city was nearly destroyed by a giant floating doll." Homura said. "But they're just dreams. Whimsical fantasies conjured up by our subconscious minds. It's nothing worth losing our heads over."

Mami's eye twitched involuntarily, then she finished off the rest of her tea. "I hate to cut this short, but we should get going." Mami and Nagisa stood up. "We'll see you at the party." Mami took Nagisa's hand and the two girls turned to leave.

"Hey, before you go…" Madoka began. She took a moment to find the right words. "Um, this might sound weird, but… Have we met before?"

Mami paused for a second, still facing away from Madoka. "I can't say we have."

"Me neither." Nagisa added.

"Oh, really?" Madoka said. "I could've sworn I recognized you from somewhere."

"Well, perhaps we've met in some other reality." Mami said. Then she turned to Madoka and smiled. "But it was nice to meet you in this one, Miss Kaname." With that, Mami and Nagisa took off.

Madoka stood up. "I'd better go, too. Mom and Dad might get worried if I stay out too late. Thanks for coming here with me, Homura."

"The pleasure was all mine." Homura replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, Madoka."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Madoka took off, waving goodbye to Homura. It seemed Kyoko's assessment was right. Homura was a bit strange, but she seemed like a good person nonetheless. More than that, despite them having only just met, Madoka felt a sort of bond with Homura, like they were connected by fate. Well, maybe not anything that deep, but there was definitely something about Homura that drew Madoka to her. Whatever the case, Madoka was looking forward to getting to know Homura better.

At long last, Saturday evening had come, and Homura arrived at the opulent Shizuki house. By the looks of the shoes in the foyer, she was the last to arrive. As she took her shoes off, Hitomi came to greet Homura. "Hello, Miss Ake-" Hitomi caught herself. "Sorry, Homura. Everyone's in the living room. Right this way." Hitomi led Homura inside.

"Yes, thank you." Homura replied. Throughout all the numerous time loops Homura had been through, this was actually the first time she'd been to Hitomi Shizuki's house. Which was fitting enough, since out of all of Madoka's friends, Hitomi was the only one who never got involved with magical girls or witches. Kyubey hadn't appeared to Hitomi in any timeline, much less offered her a contract. She never knew how fortunate she was to be completely oblivious to the existence of magic, and by extension, unharmed by its disastrous consequences. Homura allowed herself to smile, knowing that Madoka now lived in that same blissful ignorance.

"Glad you made it, Homura!" Madoka said as she waved to her black-haired friend. She, Sayaka, Kyoko, Mami and Nagisa were all sitting at the table eating cake and drinking tea. Homura took a seat next to Madoka while Hitomi sat down between Mami and Sayaka. Sayaka briefly glared at Homura from across the table, but Homura didn't respond.

"This is great tea, Miss Shizuki." Mami said after taking a sip. "I'm usually more of a chamomile person, but this peppermint is delicious."

"Thank you, Miss Tomoe." Hitomi replied. "I thought we could try something different than the usual green tea. To be honest, I'm a little sick of it after all those tea ceremony lessons."

"Must you two be so formal?" Sayaka said. "Pretty sure we're all on a first-name basis here."

"Rich kids, go figure." Kyoko added. Neither Mami nor Hitomi replied to them.

"Actually, I wouldn't have minded green tea." Madoka said. "You'd be surprised how hard it was to find good tea in the United States."

"Huh, I thought they'd be all about the stuff." Kyoko said. "Weren't they founded at the Boston Tea Party or something like that?"

An awkward silence fell over the room. Madoka was the first to reply. "Um, that event wasn't what you think it was."

"Oh, whatever. You guys can keep your tea. It all just tastes like hot leaf juice to me." Kyoko took a bite of cake, then pointed her fork at it. "This cake, though, this is the stuff that dreams are made of."

"I can imagine. That's your third slice." Mami said.

"Yeah, well, you know I don't like to waste food." Kyoko scarfed down another bite. "Besides, if Violin Boy can't be here, the least I could do for him is eat his share of the cake."

"How very noble of you." Hitomi rolled her eyes, then turned to Nagisa. "So, Miss Momoe, how do you like your cake?"

"I prefer cheesecake, but this is still pretty good." Nagisa replied. "Oh, and thanks for letting me come. For some reason, Mami thought I'd make a scene or something."

Mami sighed. "Well, it's kind of my job to worry about that stuff." Mami turned to the others. "She and her father live in the apartment building across the street from mine. He's usually working late, so he pays me to look after Nagisa for him. Actually, he's at his job right now, so I would've had to bring her either way."

"I wish he were home more often." Nagisa sighed. "But if he's always working, that means I get to spend more time with Mami! She's like the cool big sister I've never had."

Mami smiled. "Lucky me."

"I guess that makes two of us, Mami." Madoka said.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Madoka?" Sayaka asked.

"Oh, didn't I tell you guys? I have a little brother now."

"No way!" Sayaka exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

"Yeah, it really is." Madoka took out her phone and pulled up some pictures of her baby brother. Sayaka, Hitomi and Nagisa crowded around to take a look. "His name's Tatsuya. He was born a few months after we moved to New York."

"Aww, he's so cute!" Nagisa said.

"So what's it like being a big sister?" Hitomi asked.

"Well, I gotta admit he's a bit of a handful sometimes. And he's pretty messy, in every sense of the word." Madoka smiled. "But I love the little guy more than anything. When Mom and Dad brought him home from the hospital, that was the best day of my life. I could never go back to being an only child."

Just then, Kyoko winced. "Can we please talk about something else?" she said through gritted teeth, facing away from the others. Then the room fell silent.

"Oh, um…" Madoka mumbled, but then Sayaka spoke up.

"Hey, Madoka, why don't we tell them how we became friends with Hitomi?"

Hitomi's face went red. "Do you have to? It's so embarrassing."

"Well, if you'd rather tell the story…" Sayaka replied. "But if you don't, Madoka and I will."

"Oh, alright. I'll tell it." Hitomi moaned.

Hitomi's embarrassment seemed to snap Kyoko out of whatever funk she was in. "Ooh, this I've gotta hear."

Hitomi cleared her throat. "When we were in 2nd grade, I'd been watching some Chinese martial arts movies, and I guess they had an effect on me. I wanted to try fighting in real life. I knew Sayaka had a reputation for being the strongest girl in school, and that Madoka was her best friend."

"I like where this is going." Kyoko said.

"So, naturally, I put two and two together and started bullying Madoka until Sayaka came after me. Then we got into a fist fight right on the playground." Hitomi sighed. "As you can imagine, I lost and ended up with a black eye. Then the school called my parents about it and I got grounded for two weeks."

Kyoko, Sayaka and Nagisa started laughing, Kyoko by far the loudest. Even Mami snickered a little. Hitomi's face went even redder. "That's such a roundabout way to do it." Sayaka said. "If you wanted to fight me, all you had to do was ask."

"Hell, I'll go a few rounds with you right now if you want." Kyoko added.

"Um… No thanks." Hitomi mumbled. "Anyway, my mom forced me to apologize and explain myself to them the next day. And of course, they both laughed when I told them why I did it. Then after that, we just kinda started hanging out, and now here we are."

"Thanks, Hitomi. I love it when you tell that story." Sayaka said. "But you know, you didn't lose that badly. You actually hit pretty hard. Ever think about taking kung fu or taekwondo or something like that?"

"Well, I would if I could, but you know my parents." Hitomi said. "With them it's all piano lessons and tea ceremony practice. Plus I have my schoolwork to worry about."

"Gotta admit, I'm having a hard time picturing dainty, upper-class honor-student Hitomi as a martial artist." Kyoko said. "But then again, maybe Violin Boy wouldn't blow you off so much if he knew you could kick his ass."

Hitomi was about to object, but paused."Hmm. For once you might be onto something there, Kyoko."

"What do you mean 'for once'? Aren't I just bursting with great ideas?"

"You don't want to get me started on that." Mami said off-handedly.

"Mami, you traitor!" Kyoko shouted.

As the others continued their conversation, Homura stood up. "Where are you going?" Madoka asked.

"I just need to stretch my legs." Homura said, then walked over to the window. She looked outside, and off in the distance, she observed two wraiths kicking one of Kyubey's bodies around. The Incubators were suffering for their crimes against humanity, and none of the non-magical girls in this room, especially Madoka, could see or hear them or the wraiths. They were free to continue leading their normal lives, free from the misery and despair brought on by Kyubey's treachery.

A cathartic smile spread across Homura's lips. For the moment, everything was perfect.