It was bright and lovely Monday morning in Mitakihara as the yellow sunlight went between the lush leaves of the tall trees that lined the concrete path Homura walked on. Donning a simple casual outfit as she was going to simply visit the school, she did not wear the official school uniform since she would only officially start on Monday, 25th. It was about a week from now, so she had plenty of time to find the boys. Sanbey was sitting in her large holster bag filled with files and folders, making himself comfy inside to Homura's annoyance as he contentedly breathed in the fresh morning air. Around them, students of the school were also on their way as they happily chatted in the background.
"So, the plan is to find the boys in that file, right?" Sanbey inquired, his head resting on the bag's zipper and Homura simply nodded as in her hand, she was examining a half-opened file with pictures of the 4 teenage boys she looked for. Fortunately, she was able to meet them early yesterday and recognize their uniforms, but not long enough to deduce their personalities. Her search would have to be extensive if she was going to find 4 boys in such a big school.
"Correct. I have 7 days left before I begin my enrollment here, so I'm making sure that those 7 days don't go to waste," Homura explained, placing the file back in her bag and not caring if she almost crushed Sanbey underneath it. His complaints were muffled under the weight of the file, "If we do not waste any time, we can recruit them, train them and bring them to their full potential in just a few days. "
Sanbey poked his head out of the bag again, panting from the struggle just now, "Aaaaand how are you going to find these boys?" Sanbey shifted in Homura's bag, his triple tails sticking out with his head this time, "Finding four boys sounds pretty hard. Do you even know all of their names?"
"I have my files to assist me, along with the school board," Homura answered, "I can get them to help me if I ask."
Exiting the stony path, the two stopped at a wide opening where the path lead to as groups of students were making their way to school. They were greeted with the sight of a pair of tall, looming gates and a wide fence that looked almost too fancy for a school. Behind the gates, was the school itself. An enormous one, in fact, with glass walls and many, many windows, giving the look of a futuristic school building that matched the ones in the city. Although it looked impractical and almost dangerous in Sanbey's opinion since everything looked so fragile.
While Homura looked at it as if it was a normal thing to see, Sanbey took a while to stare in awe as students walked pass the two to enter the school gates. The sounds of the ringing school chimes made some hurry inside. Homura let out an exhausted sigh that confused the small creature in her bag, "What's wrong? I don't remember boredom being the first thing someone feels when they're going to enroll in a place like this. I mean, I know a lot of the buildings are fancy in this city, but this is huge!"
Homura ignored Sanbey's enthusiasm and decided to walk towards the steel gates. She placed her hand on the stainless material and looked at the enormous school once more. A gust of wind blew against her as she was deep in thought. Seeing this school was always the first thing she saw whenever she restarted a timeline. This would be where everything would start. All her efforts to save Madoka. But Homura's thoughts were interrupted when a nervous voice addressed her from behind, "Ummm, M-Miss?"
She turned to the voice that spoke to her and noticed a first-year student with long purple hair standing in front of her with shaking legs, hiding half of her face behind a sheet of pamphlets in her hands. She looked like one of the younger students of the school as she was a foot shorter than Homura and looked remarkably young. She looked like a scared puppy that was being stared down by a big dog, which didn't seem to bother Homura too much.
"Yes?" Homura spoke in her usual monotone and somehow frightened the girl again as the student backed up a bit. She wondered what she had done to scare this girl so easily. Sanbey was going to comment that it was her cold looks and ominous aura, but he chose not to say anything and just watch the 'conversation' the two held. He sat back and enjoyed the view.
"M-Miss, w-would you like a pamphlet for the u-upcoming international tournament?" the student nervously asked as she hesitantly offered Homura one of the papers in her trembling hands, "I-It's a famous tournament and the ticket prices v-vary from child to a-adult. P-Please come to see i-it!" the young girl managed to speak, but Homura had a feeling that it was something she was made to memorize and speak to anyone she approached instead.
Homura shoved the critter deep inside her bag when he started chuckling, zipped it and took the paper out of the student's hand which then quickly retracted. After examining the paper and finding it pointless to read any further, Homura placed it in her pocket and took out the pictures of her four targets, asking straightforwardly, "Do you know these four boys? I'm looking for them."
The girl seemed to recognize the four and hesitantly took the pictures for a quick look, "A-Are they in trouble or something? B-Because if they are, you need to see my sister on that," she gave back the pictures and held the pamphlets to her chest, "B-But, do come and see the i-international tour-"
"If you know them, just tell me who they are," Homura cut her off and the student backed off even further, hiding her face behind the sheet of papers. Letting out a sigh and pinching the bridge of her nose, Homura gave up questioning the girl and turned on her heel to enter the gates. Her advance was halted when a strict, confronting voice called out to her from behind in a disciplined tone.
"You, over there! what are you doing to my sister?"
Homura slowly turned around again, expecting some trouble. She really wanted to just get on with her business, but just heading off now might cause some more trouble instead. Looking behind her at another girl around her age, the girl had short purple hair with a long ponytail and an angry look as she stood protectively in front of the shorter girl behind her. The strap of a prefect was wrapped around her right arm as she placed a protective hand on the student Homura had unintentionally scared. Sanbey managed to unzip the bag and poked his head out of it.
"Whew. Well, it seems that we ran into some trouble. How about we-" Homura punched the thing in the head, shoving it deep in her bag and zipping it again.
The girl who had just arrived was a bit taller than Homura, looking like a third-year student as she approached her. She crossed her arms and demanded an answer, "I repeat: Who are you, and why are you harassing a student of this school? If you are trespassing, I suggest you leave the place now before I have to force you out myself, by force of I have to," she must have mistaken Homura for a troublemaker or a delinquent and the younger girl behind her tried to explain the situation.
"S-Sister, she wasn't ha-"
"Enough, Yuri, I already told you not to walk up to strangers like these, didn't I?" the prefect silenced her and shot a suspicious glare at Homura, "I ask again: Who are you?"
She was beginning to aggravate Homura. Calmly, Homura swept her fringes away from her face and introduced herself, preferring to cause less trouble than she already has at the moment, "My name is Akemi Homura, an upcoming student for next week. If you are a prefect, you may have known me from my submitted enlistment form. I gave mine a few days ago," Homura took out her identity card and flashed it to back up her statement.
She looked closely at the card's picture of Homura, "Next week...? Ah!" The prefect had a look of realization and placed a fist onto an open palm, "Oh, so you're that upcoming student!"
"Correct."
Instantly, the prefect lowered her guard and embarrassingly scratched the back of her head, chuckling sheepishly as she apologized for her rash action, "Heh... Ugh... Sorry about that. I didn't recognize you since you looked so different from the papers. I thought you were some other girl instead. I didn't think you'd come for a look, too, since, you know, you start in a week or whatever. Hehe..."
"No, I don't mind."
The prefect then cleared her throat and tried to introduce herself. She patted the girl behind her on the head and said, "Okay, 'Akemi Homura', was it? My name is Morikawa Minami, President of the Student Council here. This is my sister, Yuri," her tone suddenly became a lot more casual and less strict, "Don't mind her. She's not good with strangers and scary people. As an apology for persecuting you just now, you want a tour of the school with me? I could show you around if you'd like."
"Perfect," Homura thought. Without delay she quickly nodded and accepted the offer with a blatant lie, "I seem to have trouble navigating through this school. A tour would be most welcome."
"Not surprising. The school is designed like an Austrian prison, really makes me wonder who in the right mind designed it. Come with me, I know where to start," Minami turned to Yuri who had kept silent and watched them the entire time like a small, curious puppy hiding behind a piece of furniture, "Come on, I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
Yuri diligently nodded and Minami gestured the two to enter the gates before Minami herself followed. She was a lot less strict than she seemed to be at first and this made Homura more comfortable. If anything, she could use her to help find the boys if she did know them.
The three entered the pair of large glass doors that was the school entrance and Sanbey popped out of the bag again to breath in some air. The three took off their outdoor shoes to put some indoor shoes that were assigned to students. Homura was lent an unused pair by Minami and the three finally reached the school lobby. Again, Sanbey was left in awe as the interior of the school was very abnormal. No school had a lobby as remarkably well-designed and futuristic like this place. It looked like it had costed billions of dollars to design and make.
A flight of stairs in the middle that spiraled upwards connected multiple floors to each other, the entire lobby was a tall dome with its glass walls showing inner areas like the cafeteria, gyms and such, and the floors were a pearl, shiny white. There were even displays of art pieces decorating the place, which made the place look even more expensive. Homura paid no attention these, following Minami up the stairs while Yuri nervously walked behind the two with fidgeting fingers.
"So, Akemi," Minami spoke up, still carrying a casual tone in her voice, "Are you planning on getting used to this place before you enroll here or are you just taking a quick look? 'Cause I don't know if your guardians will be alright with you being out of the hospital so soon. I mean, shouldn't you be resting for a bit after getting out of there?"
"I'm quite fine doing this. The doctors told me my recovery was quite successful," Homura assured her calmly, adding, "And I have no guardian to watch over me; I take care of myself."
"Really? That's pretty cool," Minami smiled, "I know how it feels like to-" She was cut off by the sudden ringing of her phone and she paused the conversation to answer it. She apologized for the interruption before answering the call, "Minami here."
While she talked on the phone, Homura glanced to her left to see a still-silent Yuri beside her, a noticeable distance between the two as they walked. Her shyness, for some reason, felt so familiar to her, as if she had seen this before somewhere.
"Go on," Sanbey suggested, "Why don't you say something to her-asfafas"
"W-What's wrong, Miss? I-Is there something in your bag?" Yuri looked at Homura as she stuffed Sanbey back inside to shut him up. Homura assured her that it was nothing and if it wasn't for the fact that Sanbey could make itself invisible to others like Kyubey itself, everyone would have noticed the three wriggling tails hanging from Homura's bag zipper. Yuri was going to speak up again until Minami closed her phone and let out a groan that was almost childish.
"Is there a problem, Morikawa?" Homura piqued.
"Sorry, looks like I'm gonna' have to show you around in another way. Come with me for a sec'."
Homura tilted her head in confusion before Minami lead them up the stairs and into a long, clean hallway that had students loitering around. Some hurried off when they saw the Student Council President staring suspiciously at them. They addressed a few teachers that passed by out of politeness and headed somewhere deeper into the school.
From the looks of it, the place they went to was the learning section of the school. The classrooms' walls were that of transparent glass and the students inside could be seen either messing around or properly studying while waiting for their homeroom teachers. Some of them dropped their paper planes and looked to their books to pretend that their studying when Minami glared at them. Yuri noticed Homura staring at a particular class, wondering what she was looking at as Homura could see Madoka happily talking with her two friends Sayaka and Hitomi.
"Mi- I mean... Akemi, what's wrong?" she flinched when Homura turned her cold, analyzing glare to her.
Homura waved a dismissive hand, "It's nothing."
Minutes later, after pass the classrooms and a few long, empty hallways, the three entered a large room with a long table in the middle while students transported files and documents around to each other in an orderly fashion. There were like bees of a colony as they did not notice the three walking in, even if one of them was their leader. A slow fan span on the ceiling and there was a broken air-conditioner in the corner as bright light from the windows shone on the working students who wiped the sweat off their brows.
The student council room, Homura deduced as a student ran up to Minami and handed her a thick file. Minami quickly opened up the file and examined it thoroughly, the council student opening his mouth to speak, "Pres', it seems that there were some false identities given in the tournament enlistment forms again. We're not sure who gave these but they were really desperate. Most of these enlistments were possibly written by the people with either heath problems or lack of requirements to join, but we're not sure who gave these."
"I can already tell who's responsible for this," Minami handed the student back the file and groaned, rubbing her forehead with two fingers in frustration, "How many times do I have to tell them that they can't join? God, they're getting more annoying with each report. I'll have to speak to Tezuka later about this, so call him over here later. I'm going to kick his ass this time."
"Well... actually... it didn't come from them," the student shook his head, "This came from the Gym club."
"Oh, I think I have some ideas why did it come from the Gym club this time," Minami sighed and then turned to the two behind her, "Yuri, I need you to show Akemi around for me. I have some business to take care of, so I can't really do it. Can you take care of yourself this time?" she asked as she patted her sister on the head like how one would comfort a scared puppy.
"Y-Yes, Sister!" Yuri exclaimed and quickly nodded, earning another pat on the head from the older girl before the latter left the room with two other students in a calm, un-breaking stride. Despite the casual attitude she had talking with Homura, she looked serious when doing her business and there was that look on her face again. The same one she had when she confronted Homura a few minutes ago.
Homura glanced down on the younger student in front of her who was waiting for Homura to move. Clearing her throat, Homura gestured to the door, "Shall we leave?" she prompted.
Yuri quickly nodded and the two left the student council room with Homura in tow. She felt strange to be led around by a student younger than her, as it somewhat reminded her of Madoka and immediately, a rare smile crept on her face for a bit as she began reminiscing in her head. She could never forgot the countless times Madoka had showed her around. It was kept in her mind with other cherished memories of her and was one of the things that she always preferred to happen every timeline.
Homura's attention came back to reality when the two arrived in a small hallway with multiple doors heading into different rooms.
"T-This is where most of the clubs are. My sister makes sure these clubs fall in line and do their job," Yuri tried to explain without stammering and walked up to one doors which was dirtied by... something, and strangely had the club title sticker peeled off. Paintball bullets were visible on the surface as well and Homura did not like the looks of this. The door had been obviously vandalized but no attention had been brought to it.
Homura waited for Yuri to open the door, but instead, the door would not budge as the young girl struggled to open it.
"Ikezawa, it's me, Yuri! Open up!" Yuri politely called out to whoever there was inside as Homura was patiently waiting, tapping her foot on the ground.
"This girl is wasting our time," Sanbey said, popping his head out of the bag, "Maybe we should go look for the boys by ourselves? I don't think this girl can help in anyway."
Homura glanced again at Yuri who was still struggling with the door and looked back at Sanbey. She had to agree with the creature that looking for the boys herself would be more efficient. But she really couldn't just leave Yuri alone, can she? The girl was like a stray puppy that couldn't look out for itself even if its life depended on it, "Perhaps, maybe we should ask her to leave us instead?" she communicated with Sanbey through telepathy.
There was the sound of multiple locks being opened up from the other side of the door, something which only Sanbey and Homura noticed.
"UWAH!" Yuri yelped as the suddenly door opened and she fell face-first on the hard floor with a loud, painful thud. Homura cringed and helped the poor girl up. Looking over to the doorway see a familiar young student at the door, the boy that opened the door leaned on the door-frame with a Popsicle in his hand.
"D-Don't open the door like that without telling me," Yuri moaned as she got up and rubbed her forehead.
"I was busy sleeping just now," the boy gave a slight shrug, rubbing his only visible eye and popping his icy treat back in his mouth.
Sanbey and Homura were silent. The boy that stood at the door was one of the very boys they were looking for. Homura recognized him from yesterday as well, back at the diner and from the analyzing look he gave her, he did, too.
"You know," Sanbey spoke up, "Let's keep following her."