A medium sized room, one double bed in the center in which two girls were sleeping together. One of them with blonde hair and the other complete white. A phone alarm went off, the sound quickly waking up the blonde girl who sat on the border of the bed before turning said alarm off. The white-haired girl still sleeping deeply, completely unfazed by the loud noise the alarm had just made.

Mami looked at Nagisa with a small smile, the girl would often insist in sleeping with her. And as much as Mami would often tell her that it would be better if each of them slept in their own bed, she liked to sleep together with her as much as Nagisa did.

Mami slowly got up from the bed, trying not to wake up Nagisa, and headed towards the bathroom. Taking care of her hair was no easy task, one that required a lot of time of her mornings. Sometimes the extra time she spent made her be a bit late for some discount sales, or sometimes between her hair and Nagisa's almost impossible to brush hair they would be a few minutes late to school, having to run so at least one of them wouldn't be late. It was moments like those that made her wish to have magic so she could just do her hair with the flick of a finger.

Sadly, she didn't.

After finishing up in the bathroom Mami headed towards her kitchen. The kitchen was quite big for the size of the apartment, the stove had four fires and there was enough space around to not only move freely but to have more than enough counters to not have to worry about running out of space. Something that often would come up when she tried to bake something new.

Mami opened her fridge and looked inside. If it wasn't because of the amount of cheese Nagisa had gathered the fridge would be almost empty, they probably should go shopping tomorrow after school. Maybe they would even have to eat out today… Though Mami preferred not doing so.

The inheritance she had gotten when her parents died, together with the orphan state aid she was being paid, was enough money to live by herself. But ever since Nagisa and her started living together Mami had noticed her savings starting to dwindle. She had already taken a few measures like buying cheaper brands of tea, lowering their meat intake and of course she wasn't buying clothes more than three times a year and just to replace older ones.

But Nagisa was still a kid, she didn't want to take away the things that made her happy, which meant a lot of cheese (something Mami had learnt, was quite expensive) and as a grade schooler that she was, a lot of school expenses.

Mami obviously didn't say any of this to Nagisa. The girl may act like a spoiled child from time to time, mainly when it came to cheese, but she was still a very understanding kid for her age. Probably due to the condition her family was in before Mami 'adopted' the kid, Nagisa had led a life that forced her to mature faster.

But Mami had promised to not let Nagisa have to worry about anything that 9 years old shouldn't. And that obviously included the economical problems they might face, Mami was sure to find a solution to the problem. Maybe she would try to find a part-time job, though having to balance her work with taking care of Nagisa and school may prove to be hard.

With a sigh Mami took out some sliced cheese and ham and went on to make a sandwich for the still sleeping girl. Mami quickly prepared the sandwich before putting it into the sandwich maker and went back to her room, where Nagisa was still sleeping soundly.

Mami approached the girl and gently shook her, the girl reacted by slowly opening her eyes with a very sleepy face on. The two-colored eyes of the girl had always fascinated Mami, most of the eye was of a caramel color, but in the middle of it a bit of a yellow like Mami's could be seen.

"Nagisa, it's time to wake up~" said Mami with a gentle and quiet voice.

Nagisa's reply was to burrow her face on her pillow. "Just 5 minutes mor…" The girl went back to sleep, not even finishing her sentence.

"Oh my…" Mami brought her hand up to her face, holding her own cheek with a thinking expression "I guess I will be eating the double cheese sandwich I made then"

Almost as if a jolt of electricity had gone through her body, Nagisa got up in an instant, her eyes completely open and a serious expression on her face.

"I'm awake!" she exclaimed before getting out of the bed.

The girl ran towards the door before stopping in her tracks for a second and turning around. She approached Mami and almost launched herself into the older girl, giving her a hug.

"Good morning Mami!" Mami tried to return the hug, but Nagisa finished the hug faster and ran towards the kitchen.

Mami couldn't hold back a happy smile before getting up and going towards the kitchen herself.

Nagisa was already waiting in front of the sandwich maker, excitedly waiting for it to finish cooking. Mami decided to start boiling some water and prepare her tea, it wasn't a weekday so maybe she should be able to go by without eating a proper breakfast; that way she could save some money.

Before the water began to boil the sandwich maker made a 'ding!' noise, Nagisa quickly opened the machine and went on to pick up the sandwich.

"You are going to burn yourself"

Sadly, Mami's warning came too late as Nagisa was already holding a smoldering hot sandwich which she quickly had to leave on the counter, the girl clearly placing the sandwich safety over her own. The girl started to blow at her fingers, trying to cool them down; Mami let out a small chuckle.

"It's not funny!" said Nagisa, a pout on her face. "It was really hot!"

Mami let out a small chuckle

"I just wonder when will you learn to wait a bit after it's done?" Mami turned off the stove since the water was already boiling "Or at least use a spatula, please"

"Okay…" said Nagisa before picking up a paper towel and using it to pick up her sandwich. She looked at Mami.

"I'm finishing up here, you can go eat to the living room"

"I'll wait." said Nagisa "I want to eat with you"

How much happiness did those words bring to Mami. After her parents had died finding Nagisa was probably the best thing that could have happened to her. She didn't have to be alone anymore, she finally had someone to be with during the long lonely days that her life used to be.

After the car accident Mami found herself without a purpose in life. Studying didn't make much sense for the girl, not since her parents who were the ones always cheering her on were gone. Maybe if she had had some kind of obligation to do, something she knew if she didn't do bad things would happen her life would have meaning again. And that was what Nagisa was. A purpose. Someone to protect, someone she had to take care of.

Mami finished preparing her tea and went towards the living room, Nagisa in front of her. They both sat at her glass table and Nagisa turned the TV on. Some kind of animated show about two twins solving mysteries with their uncle was playing at the time. Nagisa seemed to enjoy the show, and the noise did make the house a bit livelier. The episode that was on was one Nagisa had already seen, so Mami didn't hesitate to talk with the girl.

"Do you want to go somewhere today?" Mami took a sip from her tea "You wanted to go somewhere, right?"

Nagisa took a second to think before realization came upon her.

"Yes! There is this place one of my friends from school told me about." The girl placed her half-eaten sandwich on a plate before speaking again "Apparently, they have an amazing cheesecake!"

"I see"

They were having a bit of trouble with money, but…

"Where is it?" asked Mami with a soothing smile on her face.

"By a park near the river. The one that's close to your school!" replied Nagisa, the girl realizing this meant they would go there.

"Well, if that's the case" Mami finished her tea "We can go after lunch then, we'll have our afternoon tea over there"

Nagisa's smile came as bright as it could, the girl's eyes almost shining from joy, before doing a little jump and hugging Mami.

"Yaay~!" Mami returned the hug "I love you, Mami!"

Maybe she will end up searching for a job after all.

The front of the establishment was quite the sight. A nice wooden sign, in which the name of the place had been carved out and colored with different pastel colors, hang from the overhang of the ceiling. The big windows of the building had been covered with some decorations of flowers and strawberries. A really cute menu had pictures of all the types of cakes they served. It was, without a doubt, as good as her friend had told Nagisa.

But there was something that completely drained her hope, and instead filled her heart with despair. Glued to the front door there was a small piece of paper. The opening hours being printed on it. It was open all week, but… It closed on Sunday's afternoons.

"Why would you close on a Sunday!" angrily asked Nagisa towards Mami, the girl that had been taking care of her had a bit of a frown.

"There is nothing much we can do" said Mami "I'm sorry, we even walked all the way here…"

Nagisa had been against walking so far away instead of taking the bus or the train. But after Mami telling her that that way she could get two slices of cheesecake instead of only one, since she was burning down the calories, Nagisa had found that maybe walking the long distance wasn't that bad.

Nagisa knew that the reason Mami had given really wasn't why she had proposed walking there. The older girl hadn't noticed, but Nagisa knew that they were running low on money; She would often see Mami during the night wrecking her brain as she tried to cut down their expenses in any way possible. She had also noticed the different taste their tea had since a few weeks ago. As much as Mami had been storing it in the same box the old one used to come in, Nagisa was pretty good at tasting and had noticed right away.

Even then the girl didn't say anything. Not because she wanted to exploit Mami's kindness, but because she knew that if Mami learned that Nagisa knew she would probably overwork herself to try and fix the problem right away. It was bad enough that Nagisa had to ask the girl to sleep with her or she wouldn't sleep properly, trying to do more night work than she should.

"It's okay" said Nagisa, catching Mami's attention "There is a park nearby, can we go there?"

Seeing Nagisa play at a park would probably ease Mami's heart. She knew that the more kid-like things she did, the calmer Mami would be. Anything to not have to hear her cry at night again like it often happened when they started to live together. And besides, it wasn't like she wouldn't have fun playing anyways.

"Yes, let's go there" said Mami, the same smile she always did on her face. Almost as if it was a tick rather than a real smile.

The park was indeed pretty close, in less than ten minutes they had already reached their destination. The afternoon sun was quite calm, with very little fog around and some clouds in the sky, making for a perfect temperature to play right then.

The park wasn't empty, and Nagisa thanked God for that; having to play alone in a park would be way too embarrassing even for her, and she knew Mami would be more embarrassed in case someone saw her playing with Nagisa. They played at home, but outside it always was hard on the older girl sense of pride.

The ones that were playing at the park right now was what looked like a three, maybe four years old and what seemed like his older sister. A girl with two pigtails and pink hair, the girl clearly not caring if someone saw her play with his little brother, maybe Mami could learn something from her. As much as Mami thought she was an adult, she really wasn't; playing should be fine for her too. Though Nagisa credited that -I'm an adult- mentality to the girl not having friends her age.

With that thought an idea crossed the white-haired girl's mind. Nagisa looked at Mami, who had a slightly surprised expression as she watched the pink haired girl. Without a second thought Nagisa took Mami's hand and walked towards the other pair.

The first to realize was the little kid that had been playing in the sand, they seemed to be building something. Well, what he was doing seemed a bit of a stretch of the word 'building'.

"Frends! Frends!" the boy said, pointing towards Nagisa and Mami.

"Ah!" said the pinkette as she noticed them, a smile on her face "Good afternoon."

"G-good afternoon" Mami still was a bit confused, clearly, she hadn't expected Nagisa to bring her closer.

"Can I play with you?" said Nagisa, looking towards the three years old.

The kid thought for a second before giving a strong nod with his head and making a "Uhn!" noise that Nagisa had to take as a yes.

And with that Nagisa got what she wanted, interjecting herself between the kid and the pinkette, and started to help the kid build whatever that mound of sand was supposed to be. She gave the pinkette and Mami a quick look and seeing the two were just looking at them decided to intervene further.

"I'll take care of things here ma'am, you two can go talk somewhere else. You are in the middle of a building zone!"

The three years old confirmed what she had said by making more of those 'Uhn! Uhn!' noises and shooing the girls away.

"Ah! Sorry!" the pinkette moved away, a smile on her face. She seemed to be used to the sudden demands of kids. Before moving on she turned towards Mami "Nice to meet you! I'm Kaname Madoka"

Mami took a second to react.

"Same here, I'm Tomoe Mami"

And with that the duo went towards a bench and sat there talking, Nagisa kept an ear out for them while playing. Thank God her instinct about that Madoka girl being a talkative one was true. Because Mami was clearly not used to talking with people her age. Thankfully, the pinkette seemed to be taking the reins of the conversation.

"Younger siblings can be a handful sometimes, can't they?" said Madoka, looking at Nagisa and her brother "Takkun is usually pretty nice, but there are times when he wants something and won't stop complaining until he gets it!"

Mami let out a small chuckle.

"Nagisa can sometimes get like that with cheese too" Mami looked at her hands, a bit of a sad look on her eyes "Though I guess it's kind of my fault for always giving her what she wants"

"I can get that!" Madoka exclaimed, putting her hands together "Mom and Dad always scold me later, but I just want him to stop crying! Do they scold you when you give her cheese too?"

A chill ran down Nagisa's spine, quickly looking towards Mami with a worried look.

"I…" Mami stopped for a second, her hands grabbed her skirt before putting on a forced smile "We live alone, so that doesn't really come up"

Madoka looked at Mami, the girl seemed to be trying to read the girl's expression. And after a second Madoka seemed to understand the meaning behind Mami's smile, or at least notice it was a forced smile, as she changed her own expression to a worried one.

"I'm… sorry" Madoka said, Mami looked at the girl with a bit of a surprised expression.

"Y-you don't have to be!" hurriedly replied Mami "There really is now way for you to have known, don't worry"

"One would think that when two of my friends are in a similar situation, I would be a bit more… Cautious when asking people about their family" Madoka said, a bit of an embarrassed smile showing.

"Really, you don't have to worry" Mami kept going, the girl never wanted to bother people with her own past problems "It's been two years, I'm kind of used to it already."

Mami looked down, a calming smile appearing on her face before she spoke up again.

"And besides, taking care of Nagisa has helped me a lot." The girl raised her head, looking at Madoka again while letting out a small chuckle "Between taking care of her and school I've been so busy I don't have time to think about those things anymore"

Madoka looked at Mami for a few seconds, her eyes completely open. Mami's expression changed to one of concern before speaking again.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't bother you with this thin-"

"That's amazing, Mami-san!" Madoka suddenly exclaimed, taking Mami by surprise.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Even though you are going through something so hard…" Madoka clutched her chest, trying to convey the toughness of the situation "You were able to keep living life like normal, and even took care of someone younger than you"

"I- it really isn't something that-" Mami was interrupted again, as Madoka shook her head.

"No, instead of giving up… Instead of just letting life consume you… You kept fighting for her" Madoka looked at Mami with shining eyes "You are amazing, Mami-san"

A bit of red started to appear on Mami's cheeks, the girl not used to take compliments from someone other than Nagisa. And surely enough, not compliments that praised what she had been fighting for these past years. Nagisa was happy about having forced her to talk with the pinkette, even if it had seemed it could all have gone very badly a moment ago.

Mami seemed to hold back some tears, though they still formed in the corners of her eyes. Before putting on a hopeful smile and looking at Madoka.

"Thank you, Kaname-san"

"You don't have to thank me" the girl said, a determined and joyful look on her face "I just said what I think"

And with that there was a moment of silence between the two, letting Nagisa focus on the construction that had been going on while she was completely focused on the pair's conversation. Tatsuya, as she had learnt the name of the kid was, had been building what looked like some kind of house. Nagisa had to assume it was his, and helped the kid with the fence walls.

It didn't take much for Mami to speak up again.

"S-so Kaname-san…" Mami didn't look at the girl, instead keeping her eyes on Nagisa.

"What is it, Mami-san?" asked the girl, looking at Mami with a smile.

"I- I would like to thank you with some tea if you want." She made a small pause before speaking up nervously "Another day of course! It is quite late already"

God, Mami trying to make friends was something that always made Nagisa cringe a bit. Not because she didn't want the girl to have them, it would be nice if she did. No, the problem was that Mami was horrendous at it. In fact, had she not had the excuse of thanking Madoka she probably wouldn't have said anything. Instead, she would have kept sighing the whole week at the missed opportunity.

Madoka just made her smile bigger.

"I would love to!" she said, clapping her hands together. "Ah! Can I bring some other friends along? I think you would get along with them!"

"O-of course!" Mami tried to calm down, for someone that always tried to keep this cool and refined image of herself she was way too nervous when it came to people her age "The more the merrier."

Madoka took out her phone.

"Let's trade Line IDs so we can talk about it"

"Right, here you go" she said before pulling out her own phone.

After a second they traded their contact information, Madoka looked at her phone for a second before getting up from the bench.

"I should get back home" she said with a smile "I promised to help with dinner today. Let's talk again sometime, ok?"

"Yes, thank you" said Mami, a smile on her face.

The girl returned the smile before turning around and going up to her brother.

"Let's go, Takkun"

"Aye!" the kid got up without a fight and held Madoka's hand as they walked away waving Mami and Nagisa off.

Nagisa got up from the sandbox and went up to Mami, the girl still looking at her phone with a smile on her face. Nagisa couldn't resist to show a smug grin.

"Happy, eh?" she said, an obvious smug attitude on her voice.

"Yes…" Sadly Nagisa's attempt to embarrass the girl was completely overshadow by Mami's joy as she placed her phone back on her pocket. "Shall we go home? We can buy some cheesecake in the supermarket if you want"

Nagisa put on a big smile before taking the girls hand as she got up from the bench. Mami taken a bit by surprise by the gesture.

"No" Nagisa made a pause "I prefer to wait and have you make one by hand"

"Fufu~" Mami let out a small prideful giggle "Sure, I will make you one. Maybe I will make a big one for when Kaname-san and her friends come visit"

"As long as I get more than them" Nagisa laughed.

Sayaka sat on the living room couch before pulling out a laptop and turning it on. She took off the towel she had placed around her neck after drying her hair and threw it to the side. The computer finished booting up, and as such Sayaka opened the videocall program she usually used, it was about time so she made her usual Sunday night group call.

A few seconds passed before the call connected, way too close to the screen appeared a man and, in another square, appeared a woman; the man had blue hair, while the woman had blonde hair. After her parents noticed that Sayaka had finished connecting, they both got away from the screen. Her dad's background was that of a small apartment, the one he had rented while working in Hokkaido, while her mother's background was a café, the sun still out.

"Hello, Mom, dad" said Sayaka as she left the laptop on top of the table so she didn't have to hold it.

"You finally logged in Sayaka-chan!" said her mother, a few people that could be seen in the café turned their heads towards the excited voice. "We've been talking for 10 minutes already, you know!"

"Sorry, sorry" said Sayaka "We took more time than usual to clean the dishes"

"It's okay" said her dad, the man was still wearing his office suit "So, how has this week been? Did you study for next week tests?"

"Yeah, we did a study session with Hitomi and the others" Sayaka let out a sigh "I'm still a bit scared about math though"

"I'm sure you won't have any kind of problem!" said her mom.

"I don't know about that…" Sayaka let out a nervous chuckle.

It always felt strange to talk with her parents like this. Though she was starting to get used to it. Her parents were quite close now, but they had quite a rough patch a few years back when her mother wanted to see more of the world. Saying that she had lost most of her young years she wanted to explore the world more and use her tourism degree. Of course, this meant that for her dad who was already working ten hours shifts everyday he would now also have to take care of Sayaka.

During that time Sayaka had felt almost as if her life was going to break apart, but thankfully they were able to fix their problems after they had heard Sayaka blame herself for their marriage breaking apart. And to be honest, she really had been the problem. It was her being born that made her mother unable to travel, and it also was the reason her dad was working more hours. But when her parents heard the 9 years old blame herself, they decided to reconcile. And the three together made a plan, her mother would wait till Sayaka reached her 13 years of age to start travelling as a flight attendant. That way the girl could at least take a bit of care of herself, and her dad would ask to lower his working hours to be with her for as long as possible.

All that didn't really matter when her dad got a promotion and now had to travel around Japan most often than not, but Sayaka had learnt most of the stuff she would need to do around the house so it wasn't much of a problem. Besides, her parents were happy and it was a much better option than them getting a divorce.

Life also got quite easier when Kyoko started to live with her, mainly in the cooking department. Well, she couldn't really lie to herself, it was also way less lonely since the redhead was with her.

"Hey, good seeing you" said Kyoko, looking from behind the couch; they girl had just finished bathing and was still drying up her long hair.

"Kyoko-chan!" said Sayaka's mom "It's nice to see you! Have you been eating well dear?"

"Yeah, though not thanks to her" playfully said Kyoko, Sayaka gently hitting her arm with a smile while her parents laughed a bit.

"I'll be returning home next week" said Sayaka's dad "Please, take care of our daughter until then"

"Dad!" said Sayaka.

"You can count on me, pops" said Kyoko with a confident smile.

"Well, I have to go" Sayaka's dad looked at his phone "It's getting quite late and I have to wake up early tomorrow. We'll talk more later"

And with that he got off the call, her mom following closely after saying goodbye to Sayaka and Kyoko.

"Glad to see they are okay" said Kyoko, throwing her hair towel towards Sayaka and sitting on the ground in front of her.

"Yeah, Mom will be staying a few weeks more in France before coming back" Sayaka started to dry up the redhead girl, the amount of hair she had was amazing to say the least. "After that only a few days home before going off to Canada"

"She never stops huh?" said Kyoko, letting her neck relax as Sayaka moved the redhead's head around to try and dry the roots.

"Yeah, she said she would be here for august at least" Sayaka sighed "Thank god the company forces holidays on its workers"

Sayaka kept drying Kyoko's hair, it was kind of calming. The girl had such beautiful hair and there was so much of it that when it was a bit damp after taking a shower if felt like caressing a cloud. The first time Sayaka had helped the girl to dry out it's hair it had happened from a small discussion they have had, Kyoko complaining about it being a pain to dry had led to the redhead not finishing drying her hair; this had made Sayaka angry after she found the couch wet where Kyoko had just lied down. So, she proposed to dry the girl's hair for her. And Sayaka quickly started to appreciate the moment, it was a pleasure to touch the puffy hair of the girl.

"So, pops coming back next week then?" asked Kyoko, her eyes had been closed for a while now.

"Yeah, more work for you" Sayaka let out a small chuckle.

"I just have to cook one more serving, not really much extra work" Kyoko opened her eyes and tried to look at Sayaka "Besides, he helps a lot with cleaning. And it's fun to have him around"

"You talk about him as if he was a dog or something" Sayaka said laughing

Silence came back once more, this time to stay. A few more minutes passed before Sayaka had finished drying up Kyoko's hair. The redhead stood up and sat next to the bluenette before turning the TV on, one of her late-night anime was about to start.

As the ads started to play Sayaka got up and went to the kitchen, searching for something to drink. It was quite late, so she didn't really feel like drinking some soda, and making tea felt like a lot of work at the moment so she settled for some hot chocolate that she could just heat up in the microwave. She opened the kitchen cabinet and searched for her mug.

It was on the fourth tray, a cup she had since kindergarten. She got it during one of their crafts classes, Madoka had made it for her; a badly drawn mermaid was in one of the sides, while Sayaka's name was on the other. It wasn't a pretty mug, and the materials weren't the best either, but Sayaka had grown attached to it.

Though picking up the mug did bring some thoughts into the bluenette's head.

How did she feel about Akemi Homura? After talking with Madoka she knew she wouldn't be able to make her friend stop talking with her. And besides, was there really a need for it? Kyoko had told her the girl didn't have any kind of problematic background. So, it could just as well be she was bad at socializing.

Madoka was clearly attached to the girl for some reason too, and being so hostile towards her would probably just hurt Madoka. Maybe she would just try to be classmates with her. Or if the other girl wanted, they could try to be friends.

"You okay?" Kyoko's voice brought Sayaka back to reality "You've been holding the hot chocolate box open for a while now"

"Ah… yeah, sorry. Just thinking about some stuff" Sayaka forced out a smile as she finished pouring her mug and placed it in the microwave.

"Thinking about Madoka and that Akemi girl again?" sighed Kyoko, they had been living together for a while now but it was still amazing how easily she could read her.

"Yeah…" admitted Sayaka, there was no point in hiding this from Kyoko; and besides maybe asking the girl would give her some hint as to what to do. "I just don't really know what I should do with her"

"Listen…" started Kyoko, the girl getting some potato chips from one of the cupboards "Pinky is completely enthralled with the girl"

She walked towards the kitchen's door.

"And I don't think she wants to hurt Madoka. So, my advice is that you try to get friendly with her too. That would probably make Madoka the happiest"

"Yeah, you are right…" Sayaka took out her hot chocolate from the microwave "I guess I'll try to talk with her tomorrow. It's not like the girl is crazy or something like that."

The room was still dark, the blinders hadn't been raised at any point during the day. The door still half opened, as it was left like when the girl had entered the room before retreating into her dimension. Something she had come to regret.

On the single bed that filled a third of the room a girl, using a white blanket to cover herself completely, was sitting close to the wall; trying to get as much view of the room as she could so nothing that got inside would become unnoticed. Homura hadn't moved from her room ever since she came back from Hell that morning. She had spent most of her day scared of the voice coming back, but thankfully for her it didn't.

The rest of her day was spent thinking. Thinking about what had happened in her dimension. Thinking about how she said words she didn't intend to say to Madoka. Thinking about the devil that had taken control of her own dimension and familiars, and hoping the devil didn't have control of them anymore.

The door completely opened, one of her Clara Dolls got into the room and looked at the cowering Homura. She paused for a moment, almost as if she was trying to think what to do (Something Homura had always assumed was just an imitation of what people would do, and not actual thinking; but now that she had seen a part of her own mind actively plotting against her, she wasn't sure anymore about the grade of independence her closest familiars had). After a few seconds of 'thinking' the Clara Doll spoke.

"G̶o̶d̷de̵s̴s̷ ̶h̶a̴s̴ ̵m̷e̷t̷ ̴C̶h̷e̴e̵s̷e̴" the creepy smile the doll had didn't change an inch as the words came out.

"I… I see" said Homura, her voice sounding as meek as it did in the first timeline "Thanks"

"T̵e̴a̶ ̷P̶a̸r̴t̸y̵ ̴w̴i̸t̵h̴ ̶e̶v̵e̷r̴y̷o̷n̵e̵.̴ ̵G̷o̵d̴d̸e̵s̷s̶ ̸w̴a̸n̵t̸s̷ ̴t̴o̴ ̴i̵n̷v̴i̸t̴e̷ ̷g̶o̴o̸d̶-̵f̶o̵r̶-̴n̶o̵t̶h̶i̶n̷g̵" The doll kept speaking, now tilting her head as she tried to ascertain the condition of her master.

"I will see what I'll do" said Homura before retreating back into her blanket.

So Madoka had met Mami. It really didn't surprise her; Homura had known it would end up happening one way or the other, though she had hoped it didn't. It was Mami the one that always placed the idea of becoming a Magical Girl in Madoka's head after all. Though, at least now that the girl wasn't a magical girl, or rather she didn't remember she was one, she shouldn't cause any problem.

But going to a tea party with her? Even if Madoka was going to invite her Homura guessed that declining the invitation wouldn't be too hard. The motive was clear, as she had been showing she didn't really like to talk with a lot of people. And she had been accepting a lot of Madoka's requests, so Madoka should be understanding with this one.

Or at least she hoped she could say no. Last time she had tried the devil had spoken for her. She wasn't that sure if she could fight back were it to happen again... Though, if there was something clear in Homura's mind it was that she wasn't going back to her dimension, at least not until the amount of despair that was gathering in it went back to a normal amount. The last thing she wanted was for her familiars to turn against her again.

Wait, talking about familiars. She didn't hear the doll walk out.

Homura took off the blankets and tried to look where the doll had gone. But she froze the moment her sight was able to adjust as the Doll had gotten closer to her and her face was mere inches away, the creepy smile of the doll and her unmoving eyes piercing Homura's soul.

"W-what do you want?" said Homura, trying to get some space between her and the doll.

"I̷ba̴ri̷ ̴w̴a̴s̵ ̴ri̷gh̴t̵.̶ ̵G̶oo̵d̵-̴f̶o̷r̵-̴n̶o̷t̴h̶i̷n̴g ̷i̵s̴ ̴we̷a̶k̷" said the doll.

Homura looked at the doll, trying to ascertain if the words she had heard were right and not a mishearing on her side. It was true that the dolls would often 'rebel' whenever Homura wouldn't follow her own rules or that they never left her alone if she got too nervous about Madoka. Though this rebellion often came in them throwing tomatoes at the girl, not actually rising against her.

She wasn't sure about how much of her own mental state affected the familiar's behavior, but she didn't want to find out either. Homura looked straight at the doll and placed on her cold mask, the one she had developed through countless loops, before speaking up with as much determination as she could muster.

"If you have nothing else to report, get out of my room" Homura got out of the blanket and stood up from the bed, facing the doll with an imposing posture "I believe you have a duty to fulfill, Reiketsu."

After a second the doll simply turned around and walked away.

Homura waited for a few seconds, seeing whether the doll would come back or not. The answer seemed to be that she wouldn't.

"Well then…" Homura looked at the clock on her wall, almost five in the morning "I should take a shower before morning comes"

Homura walked to her closet and got out her school uniform. She prepared her school bag, making sure that she had Monday's books inside. She picked up everything and headed towards the shower, leaving the school bag in the living room while on the way.

"I did promise Madoka I would walk to school with her"

Current Date: Monday, 12th May