The streets of Mitakihara on a Friday afternoon bustled with life as a sea of people walked from one place to another, the city center being a commercial and tourist stop only making it busier. The different conversations that people held around them were only drown by the engine of those cars that had dared fight against the heavy traffic that plagued the city center. The traffic light, still red for pedestrians, amassed an ever increasing amount of people around the crosswalk.
Completely nailed in place by the people that surrounded them, Sayaka could only turn her head as she tried to look at the currently frowning Homura. The girl in question looked back at her almost instantly, her frown still present. Sayaka opened her mouth to speak, only for the crowd around them to start moving.
The crowd pushed her forwards, the traffic light now green, as two rivers of people intermingled with each other; every person somehow being able to dodge everyone else as they crossed the road.
Sayaka looked straight ahead, her gaze fixing on Kyouko's red hair that worked as a guiding light in the sea of people they found themselves in; The other girl's confident steps opening a path for them as if she was an ice-crushing boat in icy waters.
Eventually they were able to get out of the main sea of people, now enough space between each group of people as to move around a bit. Their steps, still guided by Kyouko, slowly slowed down. Sayaka stood slightly besides Kyouko, still making sure to not leave Homura completely alone behind them, and looked at Homura; the girl's tired eyes looking back at her.
"Sorry for making you come to somewhere with this many people" said Sayaka with an apologetic smile on her face "But this is like, the best place to come to when you don't know what to do"
"I have to do what you two want me to do" stated Homura with unfocused eyes, the girl's attention not on them, the girl's gaze focusing far away "How I feel about this really doesn't matter"
"For the love of God, can you drop the annoying bitch act?" complained Kyouko as she looked over her shoulder "Like, I get you are tired of people but could you like, relax for once? Or at least tell us what the hell is wrong, I don't know, anything but having to deal with that"
Homura closed her eyes for a second, her gaze focusing on them as she opened them a second later.
"I don't have anything to tell you. My problems are my own"
Sayaka frowned, the girl's words more familiar than ever.
"We want to help though" said Sayaka.
Homura huffed, her cracked mask breaking for a second before the girl tried to recompose it.
"Yeah, and since Pinky isn't here there is nothing to worry about you giving her trouble, right?" added Kyouko "We won't tell her"
Sayaka nodded as her gaze moved from Kyouko to Homura, the girl seemed to think for an answer before her gaze unfocussed again, her tired eyes the only expression left on Homura's face.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't have anything to share with either of you two" she stated "I will follow whatever plan you have prepared for today, but I don't have to tell you anything"
Kyouko sighed, the girl knowing that keeping a controlled temper would be best when treating with Homura. On the other hand, Sayaka barely held her own temper, the thought that the girl was going through some rough patches bringing her back to a calmer state of mind instead of lashing out at her.
Homura had to be affected by everything that was happening to them, it was normal that the girl was feeling a bit off. Of course, that did not give her the right to treat them like she was doing sure, but Sayaka wasn't that sure she wouldn't act the same.
"All right…" Sayaka let out a sigh as she calmed herself down, focusing her mind back on the job at hand "So, anything you wanna do, Homura?"
"No, not really"
"Oookay…" Sayaka looked forwards for a second as her mind started to think of something to do, Kyouko looked behind at Homura in her place; somehow both of them felt as if the girl would disappear if they stopped looking at her.
"What do you like to do in your free time?" asked Kyouko "Cause I don't believe the 'I don't do anything' bullshit you gave us last time"
Sayaka glanced behind her back just in time to see Homura throw an unamused look at Kyouko. The girl slowly blinked in silence, whether Homura was properly giving thought to Kyouko's words or merely was regretting ever accepting the bet wasn't something that Sayaka could discern.
"I study. I used to read. And now I do whatever Madoka wants to do." Homura tried to flip her hair, the amount of people that were around them making her stop before she could follow through "That's it"
"Man, you are boring" sighed Kyouko "Way funnier to be around you when you get all annoyed about something dumb"
Kyouko drew her hand towards her hoodie pocket, the girl pulling out a box of pocky with practiced ease. She took one out of the box before she presented it towards Sayaka, another stick of pocky peeking out of the box to be easily held. Sayaka picked it without a word, now used to the girl sharing snacks from time to time.
"Ah! I know!" said Kyouko as she presented a stick of pocky for Homura to pick. Homura slowly moved her hand towards the stick of pocky "Why don't we go to Kururu mall? There are so many claw machines over there! I'm sure you'll have fun~"
Homura flinched, even if only slightly, before she finished taking the pocky Kyouko was offering her.
"I would prefer not to" said Homura before placing the pocky stick in her mouth.
"C'mon! You like 'em!" teased Kyouko, the girl's energy coming back with the smug grin that had formed in her face.
"I don't"
"She was pretty bad at it huh" reminisced Sayaka "I remember your date with Madoka being almost an hour or so of you failing at them"
"Ohhohoho, you know nothing Sayaka~" Kyouko said with the biggest grin Sayaka had ever seen on the girl.
Homura moved away from Kyouko with an annoyed frown and a click of the tongue, the smug energy Kyouko was radiating being even too much for Sayaka.
"You see~ This girl right here played claw machines by herself afterwards~" Kyouko teased.
"That isn't weird though?" asked Sayaka, a bit of empathy for Homura making itself known in her eyes "Probably tried to get better or something like that"
"No, no, no. It isn't weird, that's not it" said Kyouko as she shook a finger for a second before suddenly pointing at Homura "She simply failed to get a single item for hours, and god knows how much money she spent!"
"She had to get something; I know they help you out a lot when they see you spending a lot of money." Said Sayaka, a brow raised in disbelief.
"Nothing. Even with my help it took her hours. The plushie would just bounce out of the winning area every time it got close. She has like… a special talent for sucking at claw machines or something"
"They are a scam" interrupted Homura, an edge to her voice that betrayed her attempt at a calmed face "A trick. You are only able to win when the machine wants you to do so"
"Nuh uh" Kyouko wielded her smug grin as a spear that stabbed right through Homura's pride with every word she spoke "You just suck, admit it."
Homura's gaze remained fixed on the smug Kyouko; the girl's stone cold expression betrayed by a twitching eye.
A moment of silence fell upon them as the two girls held their gaze, both unwilling to relent. Homura, even with her bruised pride, too prideful to give up; Kyouko, confident look of superiority plastered all over her face, too entertained by Homura's reaction to give way now; and Sayaka, too curious about how the situation would unfurl to try and fix it herself.
"Admit it~" kept teasing Kyouko.
"I am not going to give you the satisfaction of doing so" answered Homura after a brief pause.
"C'mon Homu~ Say it with me~" Kyouko attempted to imitate Homura's voice "'I am horrible at claw machines, and not even God could help me get better at it'"
"You are a kid" replied Homura, a proper frown appearing on her face.
"A kid that knows how to win at a claw machine" smugly said Kyouko, as if that statement alone had made her the winner of the whole argument.
Homura held Kyouko's gaze for a couple of seconds before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Homura held her breath for a second or two before finally slowly letting it go, her eyes opening afterwards, her expression calmer.
"I don't have a reason to be here if you are just going to slander me." Homura tried to walk past them, her path abruptly stopped by Kyouko's stretched arm earning the redhead a frown.
"C'mon, don't be like that. Sorry if I went too far" Kyouko sighed, putting an arm around Homura's neck which won her an annoyed side glance from Homura, and a small frown from Sayaka. "We can go somewhere else, just wanted to break the ice a bit"
"There are better ways of doing that" annoyingly stated Homura "and get off me"
"Eh~ But you are so cold to the touch! It's refreshing in this kind of weather" Kyouko got closer to Homura, cheek to cheek with the girl and a big grin on her face "God you are like a portable AC unit. Now I understand why Madoka is stuck to you all day"
Sayaka's frown imitated Homura's own, a small angry pout on her face as the other two's conversation faded to the background.
When had been the last time Kyouko had done something similar with her? She couldn't even remember it, and here she was getting all touchy feely with Homura instead! Right in front of her to boot!
Of course it wasn't like Sayaka wanted Kyouko to be like that with her. It just seemed… unfair. Yeah, there was no other reason other than being fair. Homura already had Madoka for all that stuff! So Kyouko should be with Sayaka then!
WAIT NOT THAT WAY-
"Well, let's go to the arcade then. There is one nearby with physical games too. You okay with that, Saya-?" Kyouko's voice brought Sayaka back to reality, a slightly concerned expression on Kyouko's face when she met Sayaka's gaze "Are you all right? You are all red; You aren't having a heatstroke, right?"
"N-no! I'm fine!" Sayaka, face beet red, hastily denied it by waving her hands in front of her. "It's just pretty hot around here huh!"
Kyouko looked at Sayaka with a worried frown on her face. Homura, Kyouko's arm still wrapped around her neck, silently judged Sayaka with a raised eyebrow. The girl's silent judging gaze felt as if she knew what Sayaka had been thinking, and the mere idea of that being true – and it somehow felt like it could be – only made Sayaka more nervous.
"To the arcade right!" Sayaka turned around as she tried to flee from the situation "Sure that's cool! Let's get going!"
Sayaka took a few steps forwards.
"Sayaka, wrong way" said Kyouko, finally freeing Homura from her grasp.
Sayaka stopped dead in her tracks, taking a big breath before turning around with a forced smiled through her embarrassment.
"I-I knew that!"
Madoka was using her phone, the girl comfortably laying down on the living room sofa. Her brother was playing nearby, a few toy cars being forced to collide against each other in a repeated manner. The Devil was looking from one of the nearby chairs she that she sat uncomfortably on, her form no more than that of a doll that looked more like Homura herself than any other doll did; the characteristic grind of the dolls turned upside down in a frown. The Devil stopped looking at Madoka for a second, her gaze meeting Homura's own with a dissatisfied look; she knew she was there as a last resort, nothing more.
Everything was okay, for now at least.
Homura stopped focusing in that shard of her consciousness as everything in her sight zoomed out into an infinite number of windows, their sights that of the universe and beyond.
Reality itself shrieked; its seams torn apart each second that Homura forced her existence.
No sound could be heard, the entirety of her vision no more than a mess of different views that collided into a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes. She should be walking into the arcade at the moment, shouldn't she? Or was she already in? What of all she was seeing was her true sight right now?
It should be full of vibrant colors, so she searched for color. That took care of most of them, take out any view that wasn't in earth and another sizable chunk of her conscience was freed from the stress of omniscience. The rest was easily inspected in less than a few seconds, her sight now focused on the task at hand; the billions of other sights just a mere whisper in the background of her mind; all except for the one that had made her reach this point, it's window still easily accessible whenever she closed her eyes, the familiar sight of pink hair making her fully convinced that she was doing the right thing.
Her magic sawn reality back together, no more than a patch that would be torn apart.
Kyouko walked in front of them, Sayaka almost completely recovered from the realization of the feelings she held for the redhead. Same story as always. One Homura had seen too many times to be amused by anymore.
Wait, was Sayaka talking to her?
Homura tried to let her mind process sound once again, the sudden rush of the whole universe in her ears one she was not used to yet; the headache she had been feeling, since she forcefully took on the full power she could reach, increasing tenfold. Slowly for her, less than a fraction of a second for the world, she took care of those sounds she didn't want to hear; making sure to only hear from her real body for now.
The constant screaming of the universe could not be muted. She simply ignored them.
"-then the fighting games are a no go unless you want to be constantly destroyed by Kyouko" Sayaka said, her voice trying to speak over the machines; their noise nothing compared to the chaotic screams of the universe. "you have played Mario Kart with Madoka, right? Another racing game could be your kind of deal, don't you think so?"
"Maybe" replied Homura, measuring Sayaka's reaction to see if she should speak more, the girl's expecting look being more than enough information. "Though I don't know how much of my entertainment comes from the game itself"
False, she did. She only cared about how happy it made Madoka whenever they played, the game couldn't matter less. But telling them that would only make them push harder with their useless attempts at 'fixing' her.
There was nothing to fix, she had taken care of everything. Everyone would be able to be happy now.
Her soul was torn apart as the universe tried to reclaim it. A force such as her shouldn't live in the mortal world.
"Homura with racing games? She clearly likes shooters, let her play those" barged in Kyouko, the girl's hair tried to be hidden inside her jacket and baseball hat; fake glasses covering her eyes. The clothes the girl had insisted on getting before coming her only making her look more suspicious.
"I mean, she can choose herself…" Sayaka looked at Kyouko with a frown "Sorry, I can't ignore it anymore. What's up with the get up?"
"I kind of got banned from here, so like, don't really want to show my face around"
"Wha-?" Sayaka gasped, an angry look forming in her eyes "What the hell did you do?!"
"I didn't do anything wrong! Just got in a small fight with some dumbasses" Kyouko clicked her tongue, the memories bringing forth anger not forgotten yet "Fuckers were cheating! I just showed them some justice!"
The universe tried to take Homura's soul. Homura merely burned her flame ever brighter.
"And you tell me now?!" Sayaka looked at the girl with unbelieving eyes "Why did you even bring us here!?"
"Because it's the best place, okay!? It has the most videogames, a baseball throwing machine, and even an airsoft gun range!" Kyouko pointed towards Homura, her violent gesture almost hitting the girl in question in the face "She would like those!"
"Well yeah- but…"
Sayaka looked at Kyouko, the girl's mind battling of whether she should let the matter go or not. Her eyes showed crystal clear concern, a small amount of anger in her frown still tried to reprimand Kyouko's wrongdoings.
Yet Homura could hear the girl's real internal conflict, not about whether Kyouko was in the right or not. Not about whether they should leave or not. Just Sayaka wondering if she liked the untamable spirit that Kyouko had, or if she hated how many problems she got herself into.
Still, Sayaka would take too long if left alone to think. Better to interfere now and keep things moving.
"I would prefer to try the physical activities first" said Homura, glad that the constant strain her soul was under was not shown in her voice.
"See? Knew she would be interested in those" added Kyouko, the girl trying to drive deeper her point.
Sayaka looked at Homura for a few seconds, their eyes locking together.
A violet flame burned everything it touched. The universe could only scream.
"Fine, let's go" sighed Sayaka.
Sayaka tapped the ground with her wooden bat, the helmet she had been forced to wear a bit too big for her head. She looked forwards, the machine aimed directly at her, the loaded cannon waiting to be fired.
Sayaka looked to her side, Kyouko – still disguised – looked at her with her finger over the button, a small nod from Sayaka and the redhead pressed it.
The machined whirred, and, with a small bell as a warning, shot a ball forwards. The baseball ball whistled through the air. Time around Sayaka seemed to slow down, the air time of the ball that should have been a second feeling like a dozen instead.
Trajectory of the ball now in her head, she quickly repositioned herself and batted away.
Wood met leather. A satisfying sound echoed. The ball flew away.
Its arc too low for what Sayaka would have liked, the ball hit the net in a mid-high point. Could have been better, but she hadn't played in a long time so it was to be expected.
Another bell ringed. Another ball flew. A low throw this time, Sayaka reacted right on time to hit it; but not fast enough to make it fly high. A low throw this time that hit one of the side walls.
Sayaka clicked her tongue, a bell rang at the same time.
The third ball flew towards her. A curveball this time.
Sayaka reacted faster than she even expected herself to be, instinct taking control of her body as her bat perfectly hit the incoming ball as the girl put as much of her strength as she could into this hit.
The ball flew high, a perfect arc that went over the net as celebratory screen announced a homerun.
Two rings of the bell told her she was done, the machine turned off, its cannon now pointing to the ground. Sayaka took off the helmet with a relieved sigh before she walked out of the security cage and approached the other two.
"See? pretty easy to understand how it works" said Kyouko as she talked with Homura, the girl in question not really paying attention to the conversation judging by the lost look in her eyes.
"Yes" answered Homura, the girl's lost gaze focusing on the playing field with a pensative look.
Sayaka passed the helmet to Homura, who after a small delay took it and started putting it on; her long hair making it difficult to wear.
Sayaka waited for the girl to finish before she handed her the wooden bat, the girl picked it up and looked at it with a thoughtful look. A hesitation on her grip as the girl's sight seemed to wander into nothingness.
Maybe she was scared? The pitching machine was pretty aggressive with its throws after all.
"I don't think you'll have a problem" started speaking Sayaka "but if you aren't going to hit the ball don't stop it with your body, just let it go"
"You really think she is that dumb?" asked Kyouko, her questioning raised eyebrow judging Sayaka's words.
"She seems to be thinking too much about it" Sayaka scratched the back of her head, her weight being shifted to one her legs as a small worried blush appeared on her face "I just don't want her to get hurt just because she hesitated or something"
Kyouko's judging look turned into a proud smile, the girl's expression only making Sayaka's blush intensify for a different reason now.
"It'll be fine" stated Homura, the girl now making her way towards the security cage door and closing it behind her.
"We can lower the speed if you want" worriedly proposed, memories of her getting hit by one of the machine throws and a few weeks of a broken hand coming back.
"There is no need" said Homura as she reached her destination and got into position, the girl's posture nothing to be jealous of nor did she properly hold the bat. "Go on"
Sayaka looked at Kyouko with worry in her eyes, the redhead merely shrugged before turning on the machine.
A bell signaled the start of the machine, Homura posture changing to a more prepared one.
The leather ball flew through the air. Wood met leather once again, sending the ball flying back for just a few meters before it fell without touching the net. A bad shot, but one that made Sayaka sigh in relief; at least she wasn't hurt.
"You'll do better!" cheered Sayaka from the cage, her words quickly followed by another ball flying through the air; this time a curved ball.
Homura tightened her grip around the bat and took the hit. The girl's swing, with intent that had not been there before, perfectly hit the ball; this time sending it flying over the machine for a pretty nice throw all together.
The third bell rang, another curve ball coming towards Homura that was hit in almost a calculated manner and sent back to the same spot her previous shot had gone to.
Two rings signaled the end of the shots, the cannon lowering as Homura took off her helmet and walked out of the batting cage, her face the same stone cold expression as before.
"You did pretty good! Lotta people don't even hit it!" said Kyouko, trying to hype up the girl even if just a bit.
Homura glanced at Kyouko with a dry look "Thanks"
"Did you like it?" asked Sayaka, slightly taken aback by the girl. She hadn't expected the girl to suddenly be hyper expressive, but her almost robotic gaze only made her think she had taken on the pitching as more of a task to fulfill than a game to play.
"I guess I did" answered Homura, and Madoka's presence wasn't needed to know that she was lying.
Well, at least they had tried. They already knew things wouldn't be this easy, the girl was a hard egg to crack.
But they were going to make the girl open herself. However long it will take them.
"There are many more things to do!" exclaimed Sayaka, trying to hype herself up as she searched for renewed energy "The day has just started Homura, I'm sure we will fine something you enjoy by the end of it!"
Homura did not answer vocally, a mere nod being all the girl gave Sayaka.
This is going to be hard, huh?
Current date: Friday 30th, May
A/N: Wanted to make this a longer chapter, but I wouldn't post it now if I did, so this will be a two (or three) part special instead of the usual 10k words special chapter.
Sorry, lots of things taking my time at the moment.