Madoka hummed happily as she brushed her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. Her mother, right next to her, had just started to apply her make-up. Madoka fought against a hair knot, the hairbrush having troubles to get rid of the rebellious knot Madoka decided to use her own hands to untie it.

Her mind wandered as she took care of the knot, going back to the whole reason she had woken up with more energy than ever today. The embarrassed face of Homura as Madoka kissed her twice before saying that she loved her. How soft and dreamy Homura's lips had been, the sensation still lingering on her own whenever she thought of the moment they had shared. Homura saying that she also loved her…

Madoka couldn't contain a squeal as she thought back to the girl. They were now dating. She and Homura. Homura was her girlfriend.

She still couldn't believe it.

"Well, someone's happier than usual" remarked her mom as she applied eyeliner.

Madoka let out a guilty giggle "Is it that obvious?"

"You have it written all over your face" Her mom finished with one of her eyes before giving Madoka an accusatory glance "So, what should I be so thankful to for making my daughter this bubbly?"

"Oh you know… nothing" Madoka's cheeks blushed a bit as she thought back to yesterday's events "Just had fun yesterday"

"Hmmm…" Her mom hummed, clearly not convinced by her daughter words.

Madoka opened one of the drawers, taking the red ribbon Homura had gifted her without even looking at the other options; why should she even consider them?

Should she do her hair in a different manner today? Maybe that would catch Homura's attention more. But how did Homura like her hair to be anyways? Did she even like the pigtails? Would she prefer braids maybe? Or just straight?

The last one made Madoka chuckle at the irony of it.

"So, what happened with Homura?" asked her mom, a smug grin on her face as she worked on the make-up of her other eye.

"I- I- I didn't say anything about her!" Madoka quickly retorted, taken aback – although she should have expected it – by the bullseye her mom had just gotten. "You know… we just had fun… at Mami's house"

"Madoka… You really don't know how to lie" Her mom finished with her eye make-up, as she went to pick up her lipstick. "What other reason would make my lovestruck daughter be this happy on a workday morning? You are probably thinking about how much you want to see Homura in a few minutes, aren't you?"

"If you already know, then why are you asking…" Madoka pouted, her mom's teasing taking away bit of her good mood. Not that it would be enough to make her stop thinking about everything she could do today though.

"Sorry, sorry" Her mom waved off as she started to pick up the things she had used. "So, do you want to tell me about it?"

Madoka, still with an angry pout on her face, looked at her mom for a second. The girl took her time, slowly putting back the things she had used herself. But after a few seconds of thinking, even if just to make her mom wait in exchange for the teasing, she answered.

"I… I asked Homura-chan out"

Her Mom blinked a few times, her brain not believing what her ears were telling her. Her confused eyes fixed on Madoka as the pink haired girl started to blush because of the silence; eventually forcing her to speak up.

"Wh-what's the problem?" asked Madoka, not having seen her mother this surprised in… well, as far as she remembered.

"No, no. You did nothing wrong." Her mother was able to recompose herself, though her surprised expression didn't leave her face "I just didn't expect…"

Madoka listened intently as her mother tried to search for the correct words to use, her usual quickness to answer any question thrown her way becoming useless in front of the only thing she had never expected to see.

"I didn't expect for you to do it so quickly" admitted her mother, putting on an apologetic smile "Honestly, I thought it would take you a few months at least; maybe less if Sayaka pushed you to do it"

"You told me to take the initiative!" reminded Madoka, her face red in embarrassment as her cheeks puffed into an angry pout.

"I did! I did!" Her mom conceded, patting the girl's head as an apology "But really, what kind of situation made you jump from 'getting a bit more physical' to suddenly 'asking her out'?"

The vivid image of Madoka stealing Homura's lips in the heat of the moment, her panic attack now calming, came back to her mind. Almost as if she felt guilty for doing such a thing her eyes darted around, trying to look away from her mom. And really, she should feel guilty. It might have turned out fine, but she did kiss Homura without even knowing if the girl liked her… and she did it twice.

The remorse filled aura that Madoka was emitting made her mother look at her suspiciously, her previously playful expression changing from seriousness to denial.

"Madoka, what did you two do?" her mother asked, Madoka could feel the seriousness of her voice.

Madoka tried to answer, but between the bit of guilt she felt from it, and the great amount of embarrassment, a knot formed in her throat; catching her voice before it could come out.

"I'm not going to be angry at you or anything" Her mom added, a gentle yet serious tone accompanying her voice. "I just think you are too young for that kind of-"

"It was just a kiss!" Madoka quickly shouted as she realized where her mother was going, her mother thinking she would have done… that, making her blush deepen. "I kissed her! That's all!"

Her mother looked at her with wide eyes at the sudden raise in voice, slowly relaxing her expression as she realized her own misunderstanding.

"I see, I'm glad that it wasn't that big of a deal," Her mother sighed "With how long it was taking you to answer I had to think of the worse! And even more so with how late you came back yesterday!"

"I told you I was going to be at Mami's house with everyone!" Madoka looked at her mother, still not believing that her mom would even think that Madoka would do that kind of thing. And it was true that she had thought about doing… things with Homura, but not that far! Not yet!

"Sorry, sorry" Her mother apologized as they started to make their way towards the kitchen, the smell of breakfast guiding them all the way.

[-]

"Madoka, you've checked that everything was okay on Akemi's lunch three times already. It's not going to change this time" her dad said as Madoka carefully opened the boxed lunch once again.

Madoka inspected the elaborate decoration she had made today, the restrictive chains that held her back from so many ideas being casted aside since she was going out with Homura now. Between all the time it had taken her to perfect her carrots hearts, using only God knows how much seaweed to get a nice looking 'I love you', and what she considered her best piece of work yet: the crystallization of all her training in lunch box making, of all the videos she had watched for inspiration and techniques… a portrait of Homura and herself made with rice and seaweed, a quality very much like her own drawings on paper.

She had spent so much time daydreaming about how Homura would react when she saw it that if, for whatever reason, it got messed up she would probably cry. Scratch that, she would definitely cry.

"I moved it around to place it in my bag, what if it got messed up!" Madoka said before slowly putting the lid back on, making sure that the box was properly closed.

Her mom looked at her with an entertained gaze, a smirk on her face.

"How are you going to survive the walk to school like that?" she laughed.

"I have a plan!" Madoka proudly announced, carefully grabbing the bag. She placed the strap on her shoulder and tightened it to its shortest possible distance; effectively locking the bag right under her arm "This way I just have to make sure to walk as steady as possible!"

Her dad looked at her with a worried look, her schoolbag being so tightly pushed against her body made it so the edges and corners of some books and notebooks stabbed her sides, making it look like it was – and it really was – painful. Her mother on the other hand seemed to be more amused than worried by Madoka's antics.

"Well… if you have to keep perfectly straight-" her mother held a laugh "Then that means you should stay further away from Homura, right? You can't keep a steady pose if you cling to her"

"That's…"

Every single scenario that Madoka could imagine ended up with her moving the bag around. Hugging her? Impossible without making a mess, and the bag would end up hitting Homura too. Walking side by side to each other was feasible, but not with much physical contact; that would disturb her perfectly straight pose. Kissing Homura? It would work, perfectly even. Except that there was a problem, the height difference between the two would make it hard to do without being on tip toes… the solution was simple though, Homura had to be the one to start the kiss…

Though seeing that Madoka had been the only one to start one… well…

"I can manage until we get to the school!" Madoka said, having realized that the chances of Homura starting that were closer to zero than she liked them to be. "It's not like I'm going to die if I don't show her affection"

Her mother looked at her with doubting eyes while she took a sip of her coffee, not wanting to say anything about Madoka's last statement; having decided to just let her daughter figure that one out by herself.

And Madoka knew why. With how much she had always shown affection to her family and friends, suddenly declaring that she wouldn't do so with the person she loved… Well, a snail saying they would win a race was more plausible.

"A-anyway!" Madoka stuttered as she slowly made her way towards the front door "Homura is probably waiting outside… so…"

"Yeah, yeah" Her mother waved her off with a smirk on her face "Good luck"

Homura waited outside of Madoka's house, her back leaning against the wall that guarded it. There was no real reason for her to be there so early in the morning, with still over twenty minutes for Madoka to come out she had gotten there awfully early. But every passing minute she had spent waiting in her house had felt like torture, every ticking of the clock taking longer than usual.

So, she had gone to Madoka's house forty minutes early.

Homura searched for her phone inside her schoolbag, unlocking the screen to see the time. Still twenty minutes until Madoka comes out, she was probably having breakfast with her family in this very moment.

Let's go inside.

No, this was a time for her to be with her family. Homura had nothing to do in there. She could wait a few minutes; she had been waiting for far longer to see her in another world.

The Devil had been awfully calm since yesterday, which honestly, surprised Homura. She had expected that the Devil that always tried to get closer to Madoka would be screaming at her after Madoka had… Well, after yesterday's events. Instead, the Devil had only started to speak when Homura reached her house, and it had mainly been prodding her to go to Madoka's house.

I was caught off guard. Won't happen again.

Homura knew that was a lie. If the Devil was anything like her – which seeing what kind of other entities were awfully similar to the Devil, was very much possible – Madoka was the only thing that would constantly catch her off guard. After all, she knew better than anyone else that being around the person she had devoted her life to always made her drop her guard.

Everything that had come from Homura always dropped their guard around Madoka. The only one that had been able to do such a thing, for now, was Reiketsu. And she was the literal embodiment of the cold-heartedness she had develop during the loops as a guard. There was a reason why that doll was the one that always followed Madoka, Homura knew she would be the only one that wouldn't get sidetracked; the only one that was able to only care about results and not how to get there.

Reiketsu was the second thing she hated most about herself.

In the end, the 'why' of it didn't matter. The Devil wasn't being aggressive right now; Madoka was showing her more affection than ever; and she even was looking forwards to the day.

Homura unlocked her phone once again, letting out an impatient sigh. Eighteen minutes to go.

[-]

The front door of the Kaname household opened with a click. Homura stepped away from the wall, turning around to face Madoka as the pink haired girl walked outside. Homura felt a smile creep the moments her eyes landed on Madoka.

"Good morning, Homura-chan!" Madoka's face was beaming like a star, but her body felt awfully stiff. It looked as if the girl was trying not to move around too much.

"Good morning, Madoka" Madoka walked around the girl, placing herself next to her.

They started to walk towards school, but something was nagging at Homura's mind. Wasn't Madoka a bit further away than usual? After yesterday events, the girl had been so close to her that it even made it harder to walk – not that she minded – but now there was enough space between the two for someone else to squeeze through.

Homura had also expected a bit more of a warm welcome, her mind going back to the first loops in which Madoka would basically throw herself at het whenever they met; and they were just friends back then. Homura thought that maybe a hug would have been nice, or if Madoka really had wanted she wouldn't have objected kissing… No, no. Madoka had already given her more than she really deserved, being with her like this was more than enough.

Yes. There was no reason for Homura to worry. If Madoka didn't want to do such things with her anymore then it was more than okay. She didn't need physical contact with the person she had loved for longer than she could even remember. Just being with her would be enough.

Homura caught Madoka stealing a peek at the girl.

"Is something the matter, Madoka?" Homura asked, her own problems could wait.

"N-no." Madoka sheepishly smiled. "It's nothing"

"I see…"

A silence fell between the two, a more awkward one rather than the nice silences they had the day before. Homura really wanted to get closer to Madoka, but with how stiff the girl was looking she couldn't muster enough courage to do so.

Just go give her a hug, or a kiss, or anything! If you won't do it, let me do it!

No, Homura quickly shot down the Devil.

Homura didn't now the reason why Madoka was so stiff. But if the girl was feeling uncomfortable about something that she didn't want to talk about then it wasn't Homura's place to be selfish.

Though, what if Madoka was regretting what happened yesterday? What if it all had been a spur of the moment?

…

Homura slightly turned her head towards Madoka, trying to ascertain what the girl was thinking about. Madoka noticed that Homura was looking at her, turning to see her with a warm smile. Homura smiled back, her worries dissipating as they were bathed in Madoka's light.

Madoka had asked her to stop with that kind of thought. And as long as Madoka was there with her she felt like it could be possible, the presence of her friend… the presence of her girlfriend was more than enough for her to stop worrying.

Something gently moved Kyouko around, the touch felt warm and welcoming. And all too familiar touch that she really didn't want to let go of.

"Oi, wake up" a voice lingered in the ether of her sleep. Kyouko ignored it, preferring to let herself be taken by temporal oblivion.

The previously gentle moving around became more aggressive, practically thrashing her around.

"Kyouko, wake up!" The voice seemed familiar, but the promise of sleep was far more tentative.

"Kyouko!" She could feel a few slaps on her face, gentle but annoying enough to pull her ever so slightly away from her promised sleep.

"KYOUKO!"

Kyouko's eyes instantly shot up, her hand quickly going to caress the cheek in which Sayaka had bitch slapped her.

"What the fuck?!" Kyouko looked at Sayaka, a puzzled look on her face. "What was that about!?"

Sayaka, already with her school uniform, sighed as a wave of relief washed over her.

"I've been trying to wake you up for half an hour already!" Sayaka explained "I thought you were dead or something!"

Kyouko frowned, picking up her phone to check the time. Indeed, they should have gone to school ten minutes ago.

"Fuck" Kyouko jumped off the bed as she started to get out of her pajamas – when did she put them on? – and walked towards her closet, taking out her school uniform. "I'll get ready, you can start going without me"

"I'll wait" Sayaka said as she started to walk out of the room "I made some eggs and bacon for breakfast, are you going to eat them? Or do I put them in the fridge?

Kyouko hopped on one leg as she quickly put on her socks. "I- I'll eat it!"

"Okay~!" Sayaka shouted from the hallway as she made her way to the living room.

[-]

Kyouko and Sayaka were running towards school, though not through the main path they usually took. Instead, Kyouko had proudly declared that she knew a shortcut, but they would have to run and probably jump a fence or two.

Sayaka had begrudgingly accepted when Kyouko promised her they would get there, not only faster, but before classes even started. A promise that Kyouko really was hoping she could achieve; because if she didn't this whole plan would end up becoming ammunition for Sayaka to use against her.

And she really didn't want to hear Sayaka be all smug because she was wrong about this shortcut.

So, Kyouko ran like she had never ran before. Sayaka thankfully was pretty athletic too, letting her follow her without many problems – The thought of Madoka following her instead of Sayaka crossed her mind, they would have probably stopped every few minutes to let the girl catch her breath.

A few meters in front of her a fence appeared. About twice her height the fence guarded a path into a small forest with a nice downwards inclination that would make it easy for someone to tumble and fall, a forest that Kyouko knew connected with the school.

"Get ready to climb!" shouted Kyouko. The redhead reached the fence and, almost as if it were second nature, swiftly climbed over it and jumped to the other side; stopping to wait for Sayaka.

The blue-haired girl had more troubles than her, clearly not used to climbing fences, but she could still figure it out quickly enough that it really didn't stop them for too long.

"You know" Sayaka said between tired breaths as she jumped off the fence "I'm starting to second guess this whole thing"

"Too late already" Kyouko smirked as she started to walk down the incline, making sure to keep a steady foot with every step. "Make sure you don't fall"

Sayaka sighed behind her before following Kyouko, using the trees that were closer to them as help while she was descending.

Less than three minutes later the sound of a familiar small river could be heard not too far away from where they were, the sound of people walking and chatting around quickly following suit.

"We are almost there!" Kyouko shouted, looking behind her to make sure Sayaka was still following her. She didn't stop running, crossing the edge of the forest and going into the main street where all the students were.

The first thing she noticed was Sayaka's wide eyed expression as she tried to warn her. The next thing was the feeling of smacking right into something with a lot of force, enough for her to be thrown backwards and fall to the ground.

"Are you okay, Kyouko!?" Sayaka shouted as she walked out of the forest herself, going towards the redhead and offering her a hand to help her get up.

"I think so…" Kyouko groaned.

"Madoka!"

Kyouko turned her head towards where the voice came from, a sense of guilt quickly flooding her as she saw who she had just smacked into.

Madoka laid on the ground, the girl slowly raising up with the help of Homura. Kyouko could see the girl had clearly had it worse than her. Some of her skin had been eaten by the rocky path, her high knee socks had a pretty big torn from her probably landing on a few jagged rocks; small amounts of blood starting to flow from the newly formed injuries. The girl held her hand against the side of her torso with a slight pained expression, where her schoolbag rested.

Homura looked at Madoka, searching for any other injury on the girl, before she closed her eyes and started to take deep breaths as she tried to calm herself.

"Fuck, I'm sorry Madoka" Kyouko approached the two girls, but had to stop the moment Homura gave her a side glance that could kill.

"Don't worry, don't worry" said Madoka as she started to look at her own wounds; the girl probably trying to add a visual to the pain she was feeling. She smiled weakly at her, letting out a small forced laugh so she could stop thinking about the pain "It was an accident!"

Homura's face darkened; the girl took another deep breath. Her mouth opening as to speak.

"I should have paid more attention" she declared, a quiet tone on her voice "I was distracted, this is my fault. Sorry, Madoka"

Kyouko was about to call out Homura, but someone else was faster to quickly put a stop to that train of thought.

"Homura-chan" Madoka took Homura's hand, tenderly gripping it with strength "There was no way you would have reacted to that, it was too sudden!"

"Yeah" Kyouko added, feeling as if she had to say something seeing this all was because of her. "I was the one running without looking in front of me, stop with the self-loathing"

"I could have prevented it" Homura muttered, her eyes moving from one of Madoka's wounds to the next "I can't let you get hurt"

"It's just some small wounds!" Madoka pointed out "I'm more concerned about having to replace the sock to be honest-" Madoka's eyes suddenly opened in shocked, the girl quickly going to open her schoolbag and open something inside. A face of disappointment appeared on her face for a second, but it quickly vanished as soon as it had come. "A-anyways, I should probably go to the infirmary to get them disinfected and see if I need a bandage or not"

Madoka took a step forward, a bit of a misstep being easily apparent. Homura didn't take long to react, quickly swooping in right next to her to serve as an improvised crutch.

"I will accompany you" stated Homura with resolve.

"You don't have to! You will miss class if you do"

"I don't care"

Madoka looked at Homura with a mix of embarrassment and disbelief before she let out a sigh.

"We'll see you two in class!" Madoka waved them off "And don't worry about it too much, okay Kyouko?"

Kyouko waved them off, now that the adrenaline was gone, she started to feel her own pain; though after a quick inspection it seemed to be just from the blunt of the crash than anything else.

"You okay?" said Sayaka, looking at her worriedly. "The crash was pretty bad"

Kyouko moved a bit, a strong pain coming from her left arm.

"Yeah, don't worry" Kyouko lied, making sure to not show any sign of the pain she had felt. She would go to the infirmary when Madoka wasn't in there, the last thing she wanted was for that goody two shoes that tried to burden herself with other people's problems think Kyouko had gotten actually hurt from the crash. "Let's go to class"

Sayaka nodded in agreement before they started to make their way towards the classroom.

"By the way" Kyouko winked at Sayaka "Told you the shortcut would work"

Current date: Thursday 22nd of May.

A/N: Sorry that it took this long, work piled up and I was already having trouble with the chapter. We now have to start a new arc in the story, and setting things up is making it harder than I expected.

I have a clearer image of next chapter in my mind, so I will try to get it done before the week ends.