I do not own PMMM or Magia Record. PMMM is own by AniplexNA. Magia Record is owned by f4Samurai

Chapter 3: Old Friends?


Three months later:

Homura put down her binoculars and considered her options. Having spent the last several months observing Madoka and Sayaka the best she could, she came to two conclusions.

One, Madoka had very little magical potential. That didn't make sense. In all of her previous timelines, Madoka was literally a walking magical geyser of energy and potential, a shining light in the world of magical signatures. Yet at the age of 11, Madoka was barely appearing on her radar, much less an incubator's radar.

Two, that did mean that the incubator would likely not approach Madoka any time soon. Such low potential targets were a low priority for the incubators and would only be approached if they were desperate.

Which meant that as long as she remained this weak, Madoka would never be approached by the incubator, much less contract to become a magical girl. For the first time in her life, Homura let out a sigh of relief. While her magical potential could definitely change at any time, she could afford to relax her observation of her and focus on dealing with her other situations; like dealing with Yachiyo and the girls in Kamihama.

She was just about to leave when her gem picked up the all too familiar signature of a witch's barrier.

Homura sighed, might as well go deal with that and protect Madoka from that threat too.


"They're too strong! What do I do Kyubey?"

"Try using channeling your magic into your weapons and using them to defeat the witch."

"They're just ribbons! How are ribbons supposed to defeat a witch?"

Homura froze as she encroached upon the arguing girl and incubator. The girl was shorter, with shorter hair and a more youthful face, but Homura would never forget her eyes, and her blonde hair. Tomoe Mami, age 12, was fighting her first witch, and was obviously a newbie. Her eyes were wet as she waved her ribbons out at the witch, who clearly was having no issue dodging such easily telegraphed shorts. The creature at her side was encouraging her, but clearly wasn't much of a help.

Homura considered her options and then decided that helping Mami was more important than leaving her to possibly die. She pulled out a pair of eagles and took a running leap, sending her somersaulting over the blonde's head and landing in a crouch before her.

"What?" Mami stuttered but Homura ignored her. This witch in particular wasn't witched out magical girl, but rather a familiar that grew up, meaning they were significantly weaker than their mother witch.

She jumped forward, diving under a hail of chairs shot at her, and landed directly under the witch's bottom. She pointed her eagles upward and let loose. A rapid succession of bullets put the witch out of its misery.

Homura grimaced to herself. Had she really gotten strong enough to take down witches without needing to use her time magic?

Or had her experience with the unusually strong Kamihama witches enable to breeze through Mitakihara witches with a few quick shots?

A question to ask for another time.

"Ummm...thank you very much!"

Homura turned around to the young blonde. She gazed up to Homura, a full head shorter, and bowed. "You saved my life! Again, thank you very much!"

"Ummm...you're welcome..." Homura managed. Mami had never thanked her before. Most timelines, Mami was downright hostile to her.

The blonde pointed to herself, "I'm Tomoe Mami! And this is Kyubey! You were so cool right there!"

Mami had most certainty never told Homura that she was...cool...before either.

The kyubey gazed up at Homura. "So you're the mysterious magical girl that we do not know of."

Homura nodded, "my contracting was unusual. But I'm still doing my job, so it shouldn't be a problem right?"

The creature took her words into consideration before diplomatically withdrawing. "As long as you continue to hunt witches."

Mami glared at the incubator, "shush, like you were of any help today." She turned back to Homura, "Umm...how did you get so good?"

Homura shrugged, realizing the answer could be very awkward. "I was mentored by a senior magical girl." She decided tactfully. That was vague and said very little.

"Umm..." Mami paused, "would you...be willing to mentor me?"

Homura froze. This most certainly put an new twist on things. First Mami was thanking her, now she was asking her to teach her? What was wrong with this timeline?

"Well..." Homura started, "unfortunately I live in Kamihama. I was just in the area."

Mami's eyes darkened and her head dropped, "oh, sorry for bothering you..." she turned around and began to trudge off, "let's go kyubey."

Homura watched them take two steps, "wait."

They stopped.

Homura sighed, "but I'm here pretty frequently and I guess I could give you a few pointers."

Mami's eyes glistened as she jumped up and down, "really? Yippee!" She whooped as she ran up to take Homura's hand, "I will not let you down...umm...what's your name?"

"Akemi, Akemi Homura"

Mami nodded, clasping both of her hands around Homura's hand. "I will not let you down Akemi-senpai...no Sensei!"

Homura took one look into Mami's innocent and adoring eyes and wondered if she would regret this down the line.


The next day

"-and so I will be going to Mitakihara once a week to train and mentor Tomoe." Homura concluded.

Yachiyo nodded, "no problem. We should be able to hold down the fort when you're away. But are you sure you can mentor her yourself?"

Homura nodded, "She's very new and needs basic tactics and training. I have worked with a girl like her before and am...familiar with her style. It will simply be a matter of teaching her to emulate said style."

Yachiyo pondered that. So Homura had worked with magical girls before them, but wasn't working with them any longer. Interesting.

"I do have one thing to add though."

Homura perked up, "yes?"

Yachiyo sighed, "why didn't you bring her here? We could have helped you train her no problem."

"Well, she lives in Mitakihara and-"

"-that's no excuse!" Yachiyo interjected, "The next magical girl you agree to help, you must bring home!"

Homura looked very confused, "Ok?"


Two weeks later

Mifuyu walked down the halls of Mizuna girls academy, "Yach-chan has been acting strange recently."

"Is that so?" Her underclassmen and friend, Tsukuyo queried. "I wasn't aware Nanami Yachiyo could act strange."

Her other underclassmate, a blonde by the name of Yukika joined them, "Since when did Nanami-senpai start acting like this?"

Mifuyu chuckled, "it was around when Homura joined our group. Yach-chan's been very weird since then."

"Maybe she's found a new gambling game!" Yukika chirped in, "mom says sometimes gambling makes me weird."

"That's just you Yukika." Tsukuyo chided her, "Nanami-senpai is the boss of the West. She would not be seduced to such a vile practice such as gambling!"

"Hey!" Yukika shot back, "Gambling isn't vile! It's a fun form of entertainment and excitement!"

"That drains people of their money!" Tsukuyo added smugly.

Mifuyu sighed, putting herself between the two, "now now you two. This is a prim and proper girl's academy and I will not have my Kohai receive punishment for unladylike behavior."

As she got the two girls to apologize, Mifuyu noticed another girl sitting alone in the corner of the lunch hall. She had messy purple hair in braids and seemed to be sulking in the corner, eating silently. But there was something else Mifuyu noticed about the girl. She nudged the pair. "Hey girls, do you see that girl in the corner?"

Tsukuyo peeked over the crowd of girls and shook her head, "What about her?"

Mifuyu shook her head, "try with your other sight."

Tsukuyo and Yukika frowned but closed their eyes and focused. And then they too got it.

Mifuyu led them through the crowd and to the girl in the corner. "Excuse me." Mifuyu introduced herself, "I'm Mifuyu, and this is Tsukuyo and Yukika."

The girl peered up at them. "You talking to me?"

Mifuyu nodded, gesturing to a certain familiar ring on the girl's finger. "That's a very nice ring you've got there."

The girl's eyes narrowed, "I guess, what about it?"

Mifuyu put her hands up, "Oh, I wasn't trying to take it. I just wanted to point out that it was a very nice ring. Did you get it from a white cat?"

The girl's eyes widened, "How did you..."

"Allow me to introduce myself once more." Mifuyu bowed, "my name is Mifuyu and my peers and I are all magical girls, just like you."

Yukika and Tsukuyo gestured to their own rings, showing them off to the girl.

"Might I ask for your name?"

The girl nodded slowly. "I'm Hanna Sarasa."


Note:
For those of you who don't know, Sarasa Hanna is one of the primary antagonists of the pre main story Magia Record, being the hidden antagonist in As the Azalea Bloom, See you Tomorrow, and Breakpoint events and Nanaka, Meiyui, and Kako's Magical girl stories. She is the primary antagonist of Azalea 2 event. But here, she's just a new magical girl, yet to have been corrupted by the darkness. Let's hope to keep it that shall we?