The sound of students was louder than usual, the school cafeteria being filled with people which were either already eating or fighting in a war for the best items in the menu. A shout and a curse came from one of the ticket machines – apparently an item had run out, someone clearly wasn't happy about such news – but Homura didn't care enough to pay much attention to it. At least not until she looked over to where the sound had come from and saw an angry Kyouko stomping back to them with a food ticket crumbled in her hand; the girl muttering in annoyance under her breath. Sayaka followed shortly after getting her own ticket, the girl clearly trying to hold back laughter.

"We didn't even take that long to get here" Kyouko kept muttering as she aggressively sat in the free chair next to Homura. "It's always fucking sold out"

Sayaka sat next to Kyouko, the girl's laughter starting to break through her hold. "Should have run to come here"

Kyouko glared at the laughing Sayaka, though it only made the blue haired girl laugh louder. Madoka – who was sitting next to Homura – looked up from her phone right after texting Tomoe where they were, Sayaka's laughter making her look at an annoyed Kyouko.

"Ah… You couldn't get the curry udon again?" Innocently asked Madoka.

Kyouko's face contorted into an angry scowl for a second before she looked at Madoka, her expression softening a bit as she let out an annoyed sigh – the girl probably realizing that Madoka wasn't trying to annoy her, unlike Sayaka who was looking at the redhead with an impish half-grin.

"I don't even think that it exists" Sayaka said "I've only heard Kyouko talk about how good it is, but never seen it myself." Sayaka's eyes looked at Kyouko with an entertained gaze, the blue haired girl's voice overdramatizing a fake teasing sadness when she spoke "It feels more like if she had had a hallucination! Poor Kyouko! So much into her own world that she has to imagine a dish to be happy!"

Kyouko went to give the girl a 'playful' punch – Homura was pretty sure Kyouko wasn't really containing that much with the punch – but Sayaka had seen it coming, the girl cleverly jumped off her chair and dodged the attack.

"Oh no! Her own fake memory has made her go mad!" Sayaka skipped around the table until she hid behind Homura, trying to push the girl into their game "Protect me Akemi! Kyouko is hallucinating a fake dish!"

Homura was glad that Madoka's presence was so soothing just by being next to the girl; Sayaka's words had hit too close to home for comfort as memories of her time after Madoka's ascension came back. The fuzzy memory of another Sayaka having said similar things to Kyouko in whispers after Homura talked with her about Madoka.

The first month in that universe felt so different from the rest. Her own memories still had felt real during that time. Homura wasn't trying to get to see Madoka as quickly as possible those first months. She had felt like she still had an objective then.

Madoka placed Homura's lunch on top of the table, snapping her out of wherever she had gone in her mind. Right, there was no reason to worry about that anymore. Just memories from a world that had been more like hell than her own dimension for the girl.

Kyouko clicked her tongue at Sayaka hiding behind Homura, the girl grabbing her by the shoulders to shield herself. Sayaka started to shake Homura a bit, the girl was clearly using her as a meat shield an nothing more.

"Oh? I didn't know Akemi was such a great shield against you!" cheerfully announced Sayaka, her grip tightening around Homura's shoulder. "Are you scared she may hit you back? Do you fear the backlash that Akemi would hand out?" Sayaka puffed her chest in pride "Poor you! I don't have such fear, Akemi wouldn't do that to me! We are allies after all; right, Akemi?"

"Stop shaking me around" Homura ordered, her cold voice having an undertone of annoyance.

Sayaka gasped. She tightened her grip even harder on her shoulders and pressed herself against Homura with fake exaggerated sadness on her face; her voice coming out as if she was reading from a script for a theatre play "Don't say that Akemi! We've been through so much together while we tried to find who Madoka liked!" she kept shaking her "We are team! Madoka's guardian angels!"

Sayaka stopped shaking her for a second, freeing one of Homura's shoulders as she raised her hand to point towards Kyouko. "That's our enemy! She hid the secret from us like a vile villain!"

"I wasn't the one that should tell you that, dumbass" retorted Kyouko.

"See?!" Sayaka grabbed Homura's freed shoulder again "Such fool language! Only a villain would speak like that!"

"Kyouko did the right thing" Homura stated, trying to move out of Sayaka's grasp but realized that with how she was grabbing her there was no way she could without hurting her; she stopped trying.

"Im-Impossible!" Sayaka almost screamed before she hugged Homura, the sudden gesture catching her off guard and making her flinch "I was too late! The enemy has already messed with your memories!"

Sayaka didn't stop hugging her as she fake cried, Homura's brain short-circuited. The sudden show of… affection? From Sayaka was a first. She had only ever hugged Madoka, well, and Tomoe once, in the first timelines before the one where she had killed them all-

No, no need to remember that. Though it was better to remember a memory than to just have static in its place.

"Sayaka"

The blue haired girl stopped the fake crying, looking back towards Madoka with a curious look. Madoka, on the other hand, had a smile on her face, a smile Homura had only seen a few times. A smile that only appeared when Madoka was angry.

"Homura has to eat" she said, not really a lie but clearly not the girl's true motives "Please, stop hugging her like that"

Sayaka's eyes fixed on Madoka, her expression going from confused to surprised and back to confused again.

"Eh? Ah- sure" Sayaka let go of Homura. She looked at Madoka for a second before she hesitantly spoke again "Sorry?"

Madoka's smile turned into a bright one, though Homura could feel there was some kind of edge in her voice as she spoke again. "Oh no, don't worry, I know you meant well"

Madoka looked up to a screen on top of the cafeteria, the different order numbers being displayed on it. "Oh look, your food is about to come out" She turned back to the other two girls, an innocent smile on her face.

Sayaka looked even more confused – if that was even possible – before she turned around to face Kyouko. The redhead went from surprised to amused, a grin on her face as she got up from her chair and placed her arm around Sayaka's neck; guiding the girl towards the cafeteria pick up counter.

"Let's go Sayaka" Kyouko gave a side look at Madoka with a knowing smile. "Don't want my food to get cold"

"It's not even done yet-" Sayaka tried to resist being dragged to the counter, but Kyouko had grabbed her in an awkward position; the blue haired girl practically stumbling as they walked away.

Homura had been frowning in confusion as she watched the two girls walking away. Not really understanding what Kyouko's expression meant. Not that she wasn't grateful though, not since it had stopped all the shaking around. Really, the whole ordeal had been quite annoying to be a part of; seeing the other two fight all the time had always been tiring. But she had never expected that being a part of it would tire her this much, even if she had basically been a victim of Sayaka's antics.

The whole thing had left a warm feeling inside her though.

The sound of a chair scrapping next to her caught her attention. Homura turned around just in time to see Madoka pulling her chair closer to Homura's until they were as close as she could put them.

"Madoka?"

Madoka tugged Homura's right arm until she could lock it with her own. "What is it, Homura-chan?" Madoka said, her cheeks slightly blushing. Her lips formed into a pout.

"No- it's" Homura looked away from Madoka, memories of what had happened that morning in the infirmary coming back to flood her warming cheeks "I-isn't it going to be hard to eat like this?"

"I can manage" Madoka confidently said, a second later a seed of doubt planted inside of her "Unless you don't want to, o-of course".

There was no possible universe in which Homura wouldn't want to be like this with her. Had the question not come from Madoka herself she would even have felt insulted by it.

I would be like this all day if I could

"I don't mind" Homura said as she handily unpacked her lunch box with her free left hand, the shaken around lunch revealing itself. Homura felt Madoka move anxiously as she looked at the messed up lunch.

Homura took her chopsticks with her left hand and easily picked some of the lunch, carefully moving it towards her mouth before eating it.

Yep, it was delicious. And Homura didn't care if it was because it was good food or because Madoka had made it, it simply tasted like ambrosia for her; her sense of taste hadn't been this sharp in years.

"I thought you were right handed" commented Madoka as she took some of her own lunch as well. A blinding smile on her face "You use the chopsticks pretty well with your left hand!"

God she loved that smile.

"I'm ambidextrous" Homura lied as naturally as she breathed. She had only been right handed until just a moment ago, but she wasn't about to say she had used magic to alter reality just so she could eat while glued to her.

"Eh~" Madoka hummed while eating.

A few seconds of silence fell between the two as they enjoyed their lunches. Madoka shifted uncomfortably before she mustered the courage to speak.

"Do you like it?"

"It's the best thing I've eaten" Homura wasn't lying that time. It was the best thing she had eaten that she could remember didn't taste like ash or that it taste wasn't weirdly off. Most thing she had lately eaten had tasted… dim? Yeah, dim was a good word. This food though tasted just like she had expected.

"Uehihihi~" Madoka embarrassedly laughed, her blush becoming a bit deeper "You don't have to lie you know"

"I wouldn't lie about this to you" Homura quickly stated.

"It still got all… messed up" Madoka nervously chuckled, it wasn't like it had been in the infirmary though; it was more stating reality than self-deprecation – Homura knew the difference quite well. "I really would have liked for you to see it" She sighed.

Homura looked at her lunch thoughtfully, a million different thoughts running around her mind before she was able to grasp at the right words to say.

"Even then…" Homura didn't move her eyes from her lunch, left hand resting on the table as the chopsticks hovered over the food "I can still feel all the hard work you put it into it. Even if the decoration has moved around; I can still see the attention to detail in the different details of things: the carrot hearts are pretty well done, but I can see some roughness in some of the cuts, so you cut them by hand, right?"

"Y-yes"

"You could have used a heart shaped cutter; they would have worked with this thickness-"

"But then-!"

"But that isn't like you" Homura looked at Madoka with a happy smile, she felt Madoka's grip around her arm tightening up as she did "You wanted to make them special, you wanted to make them directly so you could put as much care into the first one as into the last one." Homura looked back at the lunch with a warm smile "And that's what makes this lunch feel so full of… love"

Homura looked back at Madoka, the girl's mouth slightly open in surprise.

"That's…" Madoka muttered before a smile appeared on her face once more "Thank you"

"Thank you for always making these lunches for me" Homura said with a small bow of her head.

"You don't have to be! I enjoy making them, and seeing you eat them…" Madoka suddenly remembered something before she looked back at Homura with a small pout on her face "And you wouldn't eat if I didn't bring you lunch!"

"That's-" Homura closed her eyes, memories of only eating when being forced to by others stopping her before she could even deny it "You are right. I probably wouldn't"

Madoka nodded before her smile disappeared and turned into a frown.

"Wait… Do you eat breakfast at home? Before you come to my house I mean" Madoka asked completely serious.

Homura, indeed, did not eat breakfast at home. Rather, she didn't eat anything that weren't Madoka's lunches. Then again, even as a magical girl she had never really needed to eat and only did so to keep appearances by the end.

"I…" Madoka's eyes pierced Homura's, making the girl look away.

"I do" Madoka's frown became even deeper, Homura could feel her pink eyes burying into her even without looking at the girl.

"Sometimes" Homura tried to look back at the girl to show some confidence in her lies. Sadly for her, Madoka really wasn't buying it. She could take the way away from her throne in heaven but couldn't lie to her face – unless that would protect her, of course.

"No… I don't"

Madoka smiled as she rejoiced in her win, having made Homura confess up. "That's no good, Homura-chan. You have to take care of yourself"

"I will do so for now on" Homura said.

"I hope you do" Madoka said, her voice catching on a devilish – ironic – tone "Because if you don't and I tell my parents you are going to be eating with us every morning"

"I wouldn't want to-"

"You are not running away from that one, Homura-chan" Madoka said as she tugged on her arm to get her closer "I'm not going to let you not take proper care of yourself"

Homura was torn in two. On one hand, she could hear both her past twin braided self and the Devil screaming of joy. On the other hand she really didn't want to become a bigger bother than she already was. She had more than enough with Madoka's warmth, the full blow of the Kaname family kindness would end up being too much for her.

"I will make sure to eat breakfast every morning from now on" Homura made a pause "I promise"

Madoka looked at her with a big smile on her face "Thanks"

Kyouko and Sayaka came back shortly after carrying the food they had bought. Tomoe joining them a bit later. The rest of the lunch was a mix of hearing what everyone talked about while glued to Madoka.

When Homura finished her lunch and Madoka put away the box Homura started thinking. Madoka had been making lunch for her for quite a few days already, but Homura hadn't really done anything for Madoka. In a mundane sense of course, something that Madoka actually knew Homura would be doing for her.

The problem was that Homura didn't really know how to cook so food was out of the way. Making something else for her would be hard, she couldn't remember the last time she had even tried to make something that didn't have to do with saving Madoka and all the pastimes she used to have before knowing Madoka had slowly become fuzzy memories of things she didn't even remember anymore.

A gift then? Something that could mean something would probably be of Madoka's liking. Something that Homura knew Madoka would like or want…

The automatic doors of the convenience store closed behind Kyouko while she bid farewell to her coworkers, the sun about to set behind her. She took a few steps away from the store, and almost as if it had been perfectly timed a notification sound came from her phone.

She unlocked the screen, a Line notification popping up on her notification tray. The moment she took a look at the sender her eyes went wide in surprise.

"You are good at claw machines." Homura said, it wasn't a question.

"Yeah?"

"I'm at the arcade. Come."

Kyouko frowned at her screen, not only was it weird that Homura had texted her – which she had thought would never happen, their chat log condemned to remain empty – but the girl was clearly trying to get her to do something.

"What for?"

Well, if Homura wanted to ask for help, she better say it properly. Kyouko wasn't about to let her boss her around.

"You have knowledge about these machines."

Nope, not enough of a 'I need help' feeling.

"Don't know if that's how u ask someone to do something for u?"

The blue checkmark told Kyouko Homura had seen the message, but she took a few minutes to answer.

"I need your assistance with the claw machines"

Welp, that was the best thing she was getting out of her.

"On my way"

Kyouko closed Homura's chatlog before she opened up Sayaka's and told the girl she may be late after explaining the situation a bit. Didn't want to make her worry.

"Now, I have to go help a damsel in distress" Kyouko sighed as she started making her way towards the arcade.

[-]

Kyouko walked into the arcade, the loud music of different machines surrounding her. The games were as filled as she had expected them to be at this hour, people bustling around as a few improvised tournament cups started in the more competitive games. She walked towards the claw machines section, quite a few people turning around to see her as she passed by them.

After all the time she had spent in here destroying the records of most machines and teaching a lesson to the guys that thought knew how to play she had become a bit of a legend to say the least. Hell, the arcade had placed a rule of only one price per claw machine because of her.

Eventually she reached the claws, pretty empty with how they usually were at these hours. Not that she was surprised when she saw Homura emitting a murder aura around her as she tapped her credit card on the machine once again.

"Yo" Kyouko leaned forwards to see what Homura was trying to get just in time to see the vanilla-colored plushie bounce off the edge winning area and go back to the center of the machine in a weird angle.

Homura – without looking at her in the eyes as she swiped her card once more – sighed. "Tell me, is this machine a scam?" Kyouko didn't think she had ever heard Homura's voice so irritated.

"Nope" Kyouko leant her back against the machine to face Homura "Got a few prizes out of this one before, and it doesn't look like they changed it"

Homura's brows furrowed deeper as the claw failed to even lift the plushie. "It sure feels like it is"

Homura swiped her card again.

"So, want me to get it for ya?" said Kyouko as she took out a box of strawberry pocky. "Will take around two or three tries with how you've left it"

The claw picked up the bunny, started lifting it… aaaaand it slipped.

"No" Homura clicked her tongue as she swiped her card. Again. "I need to be the one to get it"

"Then why-?"

"I need advice" this time the claw only grazed the plushie "About how to win this stupid game"

"How long have you been doing this?"

Homura swiped her card again, stopped to think for a second as her mind almost seemed to go away for a second, and finally spoke "Almost three hours"

"Hahahaha" Kyouko fake laughed "Nice joke, now seriously – how long?"

The claw picked up the plushie from the tag, Homura's eyes opened in anticipation as it moved perfectly still towards the winning area. The claw stopped right on top of it, the plush still caught simply hanged.

The claw opened.

The plushie didn't fall, its tag had gotten tangled in it. Homura's eye twitched, and Kyouko could swear she saw a bit of tomato juice drip off her face; the next time she blinked there wasn't any red. Probably imagined it with the lights of the arcade.

"Oh god you've been here for three hours"

"I told you that, yes" said Homura before she swope her card again.

"Wait, wait" Kyouko said, putting her hand between the clearly desperate girl and the claw machine controls. "Give it the gentlest of pushes, it should fall into the area after it tries to grab nothing"

Homura nodded, grabbed the controls and moved it just barely enough for the machine to let her push the 'Grab' button. The claw went down, the bunny still attached, and filled the winning area with the plushie and itself. The bunny was still holding tight.

"Wait…" Kyouko whispered.

The claw opened to try and grab nothing – the plushie didn't fall, but it shifted towards the tip of the claw. The claw started to go up, the plushie scrapping itself against the wall of the winning area, slowly freeing itself…

The claw finished getting completely up, the plushie still held but gravity was doing its work. Homura and Kyouko looked expectantly at the plushie slowly freeing itself… a second later it fell.

The plushie banged against the winning area wall, and bounced back to the other end of the machine.

"How the fuck" Kyouko looked with disbelief at the machine, no way that just had happened.

Homura on the other part looked like she was ready to break the glass of the machine and take the damn plushie. Kyouko wouldn't judge her if she did.

"It's been like this for the past three hours" said Homura, pure rage boiling inside of her as she swiped her credit card again with violence. "This thing is cursed"

Kyouko looked at the angry girl – the claw failed to pick the plushie, another swipe of her card – and couldn't but feel a bit of sympathy for her.

"Why don't you try another machine?" she proposed, trying to use a bit more of a lively voice to cheer her up.

"No, it has to be this one" Another fail, another swipe. Kyouko didn't really want to think about how much money the girl had spent the last three hours. She surely didn't want to think how much more she was going to spend at this rate.

"Why? If you just want to win something there are far easier ones"

"I have my reasons" Homura was now angrily tapping her right foot against the floor.

"Let me guess…" The claw picked up the plushie, the moment it started to go up it freed itself and did a perfect front flip; landing right where it had been. "It's about Madoka?"

"She told me she wanted this one before" Homura swiped the card once more "it's part of a collection she wants to complete"

Ah right. They had been trying to get this thing during their date; before Kyouko had prepared the pairing mugs for them.

"I don't think Madoka would be very happy to learn you got it after spending this much money" Kyoko took out another box of pocky, chocolate this time, and offered one to Homura. Homura gave it a side glance, quickly returning her attention to the machine, but extended a hand to pick one.

"She doesn't have to know how much I spent" Homura said as she swiped the card once more; Kyouko could see a group of workers from the arcade looking at them worriedly.

Kyouko sighed as she saw the plushie fall down once more, straightened herself, and properly placed herself by Homura, observing the claw machine in search of the best route.

"You should focus on trying to get it into a nice position rather than just grab it blindly…"

Kyouko started to explain how the machine worked to Homura. Where to try and grab the plushie from, how she should move around to get better angles for aiming, and when to expect the claw to increase its grabbing strength.

[-]

The claw grabbed the plushie right by its neck, slowly pulled it up, and started to move towards the winning area. A second that felt like eternity passed as it came to a stop right on top of the winning area, the plushie swaying from side to side.

The claw opened.

The plushie fell.

Blaring sounds and excited music came from the machine, signaling their victory. Kyouko let out a breath she hadn't realized had been holding. Homura was too shocked to even realize she had won, her eyes tired as she slowly bent down to pick her prize.

They had won.

It had taken them another two hours, but they had won.

Current date: Friday 23rd of May.