"Couldn't you visit Kamijou-Kun at the end?"
"Nah, had no time. I was finishing my work with Kyoko, but I'll visit him today, and I'll stay longer."
As the two friends talked, the green-haired girl, Hitomi Shizuki walked silently, and that was something not very frequent.
"Hitomi-Chan…" Madoka looked at her. "Are you okay?"
"Ah, yes. I beg your pardon, I was distracted." The rich girl gave a small, reassuring smile.
"Hm." Sayaka looked at her as well. "Perhaps the last tea ceremony lasted for too long?" She grinned slyly.
" I had classic dance yesterday. Tea ceremony is on Tuesdays." She corrected, ignoring the irony on the bluenette's joke.
"By the way!" Sayaka changed the topic of the conversation. "Was it too hard yesterday?" She asked, glimpses of worry spotted in her voice and corporal language.
"Eh?" Madoka tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"Didn't you go to hell yesterday?" The blue-haired poked the pinkette's cheek.
"Sayaka-Chan…" She sighed, and smiled softly. "Homura-Chan's house is not hell."
"Oh?" She started walking around her shorter friend. "Didn't you see any ghost? Or bat? Does she hide corpses of virgin maidens under her bed?"
"Wh-what are you talking about?" Madoka asked, widening her eyes and sweat-dropping. "She has none of those!" The girl then crossed her arms. "The only creature I've seen with her is a kitten." She smiled. "You should have seen her, she was so adorable-"
Sayaka cut her off. "Aaaah… A black cat? So she is a gothic witch?" She looked excited, her joke perhaps going too far.
The pinkette stiffened. Since she had seen true witches, she had forgotten about the witches of the stories for children, and she felt pain when she heard the comparison between Homura Akemi; the girl who fought witches, and the witches themselves; who were worse than what she would have ever imagined. "She… She is not a witch…"She muttered, pouting like a child, unable to find a better answer.
"Well." Sayaka said, scratching the top of her head. "It's harder to know what Kyoko is. She threatened to kill me if I ever wasted food again! I mean… Like if we were so poor the loss of a small chip would cause the worse of the famines!"
"R-really?" Madoka's innocence and sensitivity were shown again.
"Also, she prays before gubbling up a whole mountain of food, tall as Fuji! And she has only read one book: the bible. Isn't it weird all together?!" She looked exasperated.
"Perhaps you misjudged the two transferred students, Sayaka-chan." Hitomi lectured calmly and politely. "The two of you should get to know them better, perhaps you'll find them interesting at the end."
Madoka didn't dare to answer.
"And why don't ya do it yourself, huh?" Sayaka asked, grinning.
"Uh…" Hitomi looked around. "Look! We've arrived at school!"
"Oh!" Madoka looked somewhere else, where, at a short distance, Homura was half-dragging Kyoko, who was trying to run away from the building.
The pinkette smiled. She thought they should not be that bad, deep inside, and the ebony had already proved it to her, her own way.
.
"U-u-unbelievable…" Madoka muttered, holding the papers of their work, marked with an A+. It was break time. She looked around to search for Homura and show her, but the ebony and her sister were already gone. "S-Sayaka-Chan, look!" She held out the paper, excitement filling her small body.
"Well done, Madoka." The bluenette grinned. "Look." Her paper was marked with an A+ too. "That red head is not that stupid at the end."
"I have to go tell Homura! W-we both worked hard on this, and I want to tell her it was nice to work with her!"
"Yeah… I suppose I should tell something like that to Kyoko too…" She chuckled awkwardly.
"Let's go look for them!" Madoka's kawaii eyes showed determination now. She took her best friend by her hand, and started to walk.
.
The music room was empty, and so were the terrace and the roof. They searched in every single corner, class, place they knew, but they found no trace of the two magical girls.
At the end, it was time to go back to class, and they had scarcely eaten.
They entered the room, along with the other students, when Sayaka spotted a glimpse of red.
"Madoka!" This time, she was the one grabbing the other's hand, and she ran to catch up with Kyoko, the pinkette stumbling behind. "You, Christian asshole!" She exclaimed.
The rebel turned around. "Ah, da fuckeen' smurf. Wassup?"
Madoka opened her mouth before those rude nicknames, but no words came, and at the end, she closed it, sweat dropping.
"We've been looking for you! Where were you?! And where is the ghoul?!" The blue-haired girl asked, pointing with a tense finger.
"Ah. I was stealin' food, ya know? And mah sistah, who ain't a ghoul, BTW, felt sick and went home. That' all. Wanted somethin', ya two?"
Before Sayaka started to talk and made things worse, the shorter girl decided to speak first. "W-we just wanted to tell you… That… That it has been very nice to work with you!"
Kyoko looked at her with sharp eyes, and Madoka flinched before her gaze. Suddenly, the red-haired rascal grinned, showing her sharp teeth, her gaze lifting a little to look at the bluenette, her right hand now resting on her hip, her left hand now playing a little with her messy ponytail. "So." She grinned. "Ya wanted tho tell me dat, hu?"
Sayaka blushed a little in shame, feeling her pride slightly wounded. "W-well… More or less, yeah."
"Ah, well, that cute from ya." Kyoko nodded. "It nice to work with ya too, smurf." She complimented back, grinning wider.
The former pouted, grinning back in the insides. "Thank you, compulsive eater."
Madoka, instead of listening to them, was looking worriedly into the magical girl's eyes, wondering what had truly happened to the ebony. The other seemed to notice. Suddenly, she heard her voice in her mind.
"We've been fightin' a witch. Mah sistah has lost an eyeball. She regeneratin', but not fast 'nough tho come back tha school." She told her, using telepathy, as with her mouth, she continued her 'little fight of insults' with Sayaka.
Now that she knew that, the pinkette could notice some scratches in the other's body, and a small bruise above one of her eyebrows.
"Dun't worreh, gurl. She'll be okye"
The magenta-eyed girl gave a small nod, looking downwards.
"Huh? What's wrong, Madoka?" Sayaka asked. "Are you concerned? Don't worry!" She chuckled, patting her friend's back. "Vampires are immortal, so Homu will survive!"
Madoka looked up at her, her eyes glittering as she smiled a little. "She is not a vampire, Sayaka-Chan…"
Then, the teacher came, and the class began. Every desk had a chair and someone sitting on it, but Madoka couldn't help but to repeatedly look at the empty seat the ice-queen had left.
.
"Geez, I hope he's up to visits." The bluenette said, walking towards the hospital door, followed by Madoka.
"I'm sure he will, Sayaka-Chan. … Besides, he really likes to be visited by you." She gave a cute, innocent smile.
"Aaaah. Do you think so?" Sayaka blushed, laughing sheepishly. "But well, I like to visit him too."
"I know…" She looked down with naughty eyes, though, never getting rid of the innocence that characterized her. Suddenly, something near them caught her attention. "H-huh?"
Stabbing a pillar, a grief-seed glimmered black. Madoka remembered Homura keeping them every time she killed a witch, and also, she remembered her explanation. But this time, the grief seed was there, alone. Could it mean that the witch hadn't been born again? Perhaps she would be in time to warn the ebony before the witch hatched and hurt someone. Besides, in that hospital was Kamijou Kyousuke, the boy Sayaka loved. He was in big danger. Anyways, she didn't have the number of the magical girls. How could she contact them? With telepathy, perhaps?
"Madoka, are you okay?" The bluenette asked her friend, whose face was turning red. "Breathe, damn it!"
The pinkette panted. No matter the efforts she made on it, she was unable to use telepathy. "S-sorry…" She sweat-dropped, gulping air.
"What in the world were you trying to do?"
"N-nothing! Just a silly thing…" She giggled awkwardly, the red of her face now caused by a blush instead of the lack of oxygen.
"Hm… Okay."
She kept thinking, until an idea popped inside her mind. She always sat in the waiting room, taking care of Sayaka's stuff. Maybe, it would be okay if this time, she used her mobile phone to contact Kyoko, who had given the bluenette her number. She would never do it again, but this time, it was an emergency.
.
"Don't eat with your hands." Homura said, palming her forehead. "You will touch other stuff with them, and I don't want my items to get sticky with tomato sauce." They were eating too late, for they had been witch-hunting again.
"And ya should uncovah ya'r eye. Ya look weir' with dat bandage."
The ebony sighed. Her eye would be regenerated enough to do so. She removed the white fabric from her face, and once she did so, Kyoko started chuckling.
"Oh mah gawd! Ya look like Herobrine!"
"Tsss…" Homura licked her spoon to watch her reflection on it. It was shapeless, upside down, but she was able to see what she wanted to: her eyeball. It was regenerated, but completely white. The rest of her eye hadn't appeared yet. She was still half-blind.
Suddenly, Kyoko's mobile phone rang, and the red-head picked it up as her sister looked at her with dismay; now it was not only red, but orange with the sauce over it.
"Whadayawant?!"
"Uh… S-sakura-San?" The high-pitched voice at the other side of the phone asked, a little uneasy due to the previous snap.
"Ah, it's ya, pinko. I thought it was da smurf. Ah! Call meh Kyoko, BTW." She spoke as she ate.
"O-okay, Kyoko-Chan…"
"Madoka…?" The raven-haired girl whispered to herself, as she heard her sister's words.
"Whaddayawant, anyway?"
"I… I saw a grief seed in the hospital!" She warned, sounding a little scared.
"Hm. Too bad, dat's not part of our territoreh." Kyoko said. "Da gurl with da big tits will take care of eet." After a small gasp, she snapped to someone else. "Hey, sis, where ya goen?!"
Homura's voice was heard on the background. "I know this witch. I have to go if you want her to be killed."
"H-Homura-Chan?" the fact of hearing her gave relief to the pinkette.
"Dun't go, sis! What 'bout yo' food?!"
"You can eat it yourself." Homura's voice sounded far away now, for she was leaving.
"Pffft." She spoke again to Madoka. "So Homu be comeen. Maybe 'cause da witch is too powerful for da gurl with da big tits? IDK, and I ain't care 'bout Mameh, aniways."
"M-Mami…? Who is Mami?" She was now confused.
"I'm hungreeh, Homu be comeen, BB."
"Beep."
.
Madoka had been waiting for Homura where she had seen the grief seed, though, it was there no longer. She didn't know what happened, but she'd rather wait instead of doing something by herself. She gasped when she saw the ebony running towards her, and she covered her mouth when she was able to see the insides of her left eye, they completely dull.
"H-Homura-chan! I-it disappeared…"
She stopped running, right in front of her. "I know. The witch has been born, but it has hurt no one yet." She then looked at the pillar. "Mami must be there inside already…"
"Who is Mami?" The pinkette asked.
"Mami Tomoe, another magical girl, though, she does not know the dark truth about soul gems." Homura opened the barrier, and entered it, followed by the shorter girl. "If we told her, she would grow insane, so I am keeping it as a secret. Besides, she has been a magical girl for some years, so, even though she lives blinded by the Incubator's lies and tricks, she will act like a cool senior, in a desperate attempt to get rid of her loneliness." She transformed into her magical girl outfit.
"Poor one…" Madoka muttered, looking down, as they walked through a surreal space, surrounded by pills and medicines.
"I want her as an ally, anyways." Homura continued. "I'll tell you why later."
Madoka looked up at her. "C-can I g-grab your hand…?"
Homura suddenly stiffened, as she stopped to walk.
"Th-this place… Is really scary… And I don't want to get lost…" She was fidgeting as she blushed.
Homura hesitated for a moment, but then, keeping her poker face, she held out her pale hand. "Do so, then." She said.
Madoka looked into her lilac eyes, hers glittering as she took it.
They kept walking. Mami had already defeated the minions, so they were able to get in the main room quickly, Homura placing a finger over her lips for the pinkette to be silent.
It all was made of candy, and the yellow magical girl was there, looking in disconcert at the enormous witch, who was opening her mouth to devour her head.
The ebony let go of the other, and used her shield to stop the time. Everything froze around her, and she walked towards the blonde. She preferred not to reveal her time-controlling powers, so she decided to jump against her and push her, releasing the time in the right moment for the witch to bite the air as their bodies met the ground.
"Akemi-San?!" Mami squealed, out of air.
"Ngh." The ebony stood up as fast as she could, filling her hands with grenades from her shield. "Move!" She commanded, as the witch turned around to face them, now angered.
"Ah?" The blonde crawled backwards, the witch already throwing herself against them.
The raven-haired girl pulled out the rings from the grenades, and threw them into the witch's mouth, giving enough time for the big-breasted teenager to hide. They exploded inside the huge creature, and she vomited herself to live, now going to eat Homura. The paler girl kept disappearing before she did so, beckoning the witch far away from the other two girls. In one of those apparitions, she filled the enemy's tongue with bombs.
The witch's body was consumed due to the explosions inside her, she puking herself anew and again, until her body exploded and her grief seed fell into Homura's hand. Everything went back to real.
"Homura-Chan?" The pinkette ran towards her. "You've been amazing!"
She blushed a little bit, and looked at Mami. "I don't give a damn it was your territory, I just wanted to avoid an unnecessary death." She said, flicking her hair.
Mami stood up, trying to recover her dignity. "I was not going to say it. Besides, I must thank you for saving me."
"Oh!" Madoka looked around. "I-I must go back! Sayaka will be waiting for me…"
Homura nodded. Madoka ran back into the hospital and the ebony looked at the blonde again. "I'd like to have a talk with you. It's important."
Mami looked at her blankly for a moment, and then, nodded. At that very moment, she was still processing everything, and it would take her a bit of time. Luckily, she snapped back to reality faster than what was expected, and spoke. "Let's go to my home, then. I can share some cake with you, and we can speak as we drink a cup of tea." Just like in every time line, every time she found the occasion to invite someone to her home and cook for them, she would take a profit of that opportunity, since she hated being alone and lonely.
"… It seems alright to me." She looked deeply into her eyes, as she did with everyone. Despites her size being a little shorter than the blonde's, she seemed older, at least, more mature, stronger, perhaps because of her experience, her security and coldness.
The former gave a calm smile, though her golden eyes did reveal that she was still scared in the insides, and she was carefully controlling her breathing not to show so. "Come along, then."
Even though Homura already knew the address, she walked beside Mami, as if following her, somehow.
.
Mami's home hadn't changed at all. It was pretty big for somebody who lived by herself, but not as big as Homura's. It was beautiful, very well decorated, everything tidied, and it had a faint scent of flowers.
"Please, take a seat." Mami offered, pointing to the crystal table that had the shape of a triangle, colored amber. "I will be right back."
The ebony obeyed, and after a while, the two teenagers were sitting as they politely ate the cake and drunk the tea, their manners completely opposite to Kyoko's.
"You are very good at cooking." Homura complimented coldly.
"Well… I live by myself, so I have to cook every day." The older girl replied, her smile never fading.
The raven-haired nodded. "So do I. But I share my home with my sister, Kyoko Sakura."
Hearing that name made the other's lips quiver a little. "Ah… I see…" Now growing solemn, she looked at Homura. "Well, Akemi-San… What did you want to talk about?" She asked, fully concentrating, though never forgetting the previous scene.
"At the end of this month, the most powerful witch will reveal herself. Her name is Walpurgisnacht."
"…And how do you know that, if I may ask?" The blonde's expression now didn't show suspicion but curiosity.
"That's my business." She said.
"And how powerful is it?" Mami asked.
"Powerful enough not to need a barrier." Homura answered. "By the single fact of revealing herself, she will cause millions of deaths." She then closed her eyes, making a short pause before continuing. "She is so strong a single magical girl cannot defeat her." She lied. Only one could defeat her by herself, but she would never put her into that. "That's why I'd like to propose you something."
"What is it?" The blonde put a small piece of cake inside her mouth.
"Kyoko and I are already a team, but I'd like to make an alliance with you. The more we are, the stronger we will be against her."
"Huh?!" The idea of being in a team where the red head was became harder to process than the fact that she had almost been killed by a witch. "Wh-what do you mean? Does she agree?" She looked extremely nervous now, her fingers slightly tapping the table.
"I haven't told her yet." She said. "But perhaps, she will understand."
"I don't know if it's a good idea…" Mami looked downwards, insecure.
"Is it a better idea to allow the witch to destroy the city?" She asked, bitterness now added to her usual coldness. "Besides… you hate being alone, don't you?"
"H-how do you-?!" Mami's eyes widened, but then, her gaze calmed a little, as she smiled with resignation. "That's another one of those things you mysteriously know... Right?"
Homura looked downwards for a short while.
"…And you are not spying me…"
"Do you even think I have time for that silly thing?" The ebony snapped, the bitterness disappearing, now replaced by darkness.
"I guess not…" Mami let out a soft giggle.
Homura stood up. "Thanks a lot for the meal, Mami Tomoe. It was delicious." Coldness always came along, even with her compliments. "I will tell Kyoko about it. But it's getting late, and I must go now. Good night." She carried her dish and cup towards the kitchen, and then walked towards the door.
"Wait!" Her voice stopped her. "Won't you tell me what you have done to Kyubey and why?"
The ebony hesitated a little, but walked away again, until she went out of the house.
Mami sighed, alone again.
.
"Say whaaat?!" Kyoko asked, exasperated, looking deeply into the ebony's eyes, the left one completely regenerated now.
"You have already heard me. If we want to defeat Walpurgisnacht without Madoka Kaname and Sayaka Miki making the contract, we will need all the magical girls we can find."
"But why Mameeh?! Not Mameeh!" She shook her head, desperate enough so as not to eat in a short while.
"Do not be childish, my sister." Homura said, remaining as calm as possible. "Perhaps it's the right time for you two to make peace. It will not ruin your 'bad girl' reputation, after all."
"Nggg…" Kyoko groaned, looking down. "Yeah, maybe ya're right." She looked back at the other. "If dere be no other choice, I will. But I won't be her friendo, I'll just be someone who dun't bite, unless she gets… Too closeh."
"Mhm." Homura nodded.
"And dun't expect me to be politeh!" She added.
"You are never polite." Homura said, looking away.
Kyoko could not help but to grin. "Tssss… Yeah."
"So… Is it a deal?" The ebony looked back at her sibling.
"Yeah, I guess." The red head nodded.
"Good." Homura stood up.
"Are ya leavin' again?" Kyoko stood up as well."
"I am. I left a melon in the fridge. Keep me a small slice."
"Okie!" She made a toothy grin.
"Good night." Homura left, disappearing inside the darkness of the empty streets.
.
"Sayaka-Chan is a little depressed… Because Kamijou-Kun's arm won't heal properly…" Madoka talked to herself, hugging her pink stuffed bunny, curled up around it. Her vision hadn't gotten used to the darkness yet, and she thought that, perhaps by talking to herself, she would grow sleepy. She didn't know if Homura was going to come or not, and she found nothing better to do. "Today… Homura-Chan saved another magical girl… A witch was going to eat her…" That image just made her more conscious of how dangerous the witches could be. "Homura-Chan is very good at fighting… But I don't want her to get hurt… Today, she has lost an eye…" She closed her eyes. "I don't want to imagine what would have happened… If Homura-Chan hadn't pushed her aside… Why is everything so scary…?" She covered her face with her blanket, as if that were going to keep her safer. "Maybe… If I made a contract… I could make everyone happy… Safe and sound… But…"
"No, Madoka, no."
Homura's voice surprised her, and she quickly uncovered her eyes, this time able to repress her squeal. "H-Homura-Chan?"
Her eyes glimmered with worry. Was Madoka dreaming or was the ebony finally showing an emotion? "Don't forget what I told you. You would end drowned in the deepest and strongest despair… And you would cause a harm equal to the good actions you made."
"R-right…" Madoka lowered her gaze. "I haven't told Sayaka-chan about this… It's okay this way, r-right…?"
"It is." The ebony nodded. "The fewer implicated people, the better."
Madoka made a small smile, knowing she had made the right choice.
"But please…" Homura said, cold and emotionless again. "Forget about making the contract, if you don't want to turn into a horrible witch."
The pinkette looked downwards again. "It's just that… I cannot help but to feel useless… I see a lot of sorrow around me, and I can do nothing about it…" She looked sad and pained.
"Look…" The ebony said, her lavender eyes stabbing the other as a sword stabs an enemy. "…you might not believe that… but you actually do a lot."
"Huh?" Madoka widened her eyes, and blinked.
"You are kind, always care about everyone around you… You try your best at everything, no matter what. You never do anything with bad intentions, showing you are an empathic girl. You are innocent and incorruptible, and deny yourself for the sake of those you love." Homura sighed. "You are too kind for your own good…" Before Madoka's astonished silence, she looked away. "What I am trying to say is that you try your best to help, and even though you don't realize it, you succeed many times, making the other feel better, showing them you love them and care… Anyone would wish to have a friend like you. And those unable to appreciate your efforts or see how worthy you are, they just don't deserve you."
"Homura-Chan…" She would have never expected the ice-queen to say that, and even though she was still cold and emotionless, she believed she meant it. Perhaps the others were wrong about her, or perhaps, inside that enormous wall of dark ice she had built, there was a sweet heart. Would she ever grow to reach it? "I… D-don't know what to say…" She murmured, blushing.
The ebony's face was all reddened, but the darkness masked it. "Forget about it." She snapped coldly. She was already regretting everything in shame. Perhaps telling her that opinion had been going too far, but she couldn't help it. The fact that Madoka always underestimated herself and criticized herself broke her frozen heart. "I am here, so sleep."
Madoka didn't dare to say a thing about it, but she would never forget what had just happened. "Good night, Homura-Chan…" She muttered, before closing her eyes, starting to breathe peacefully.
"Night." The purple magical girl answered, as usual, but this time after a low sigh, coming from indescribable emotions no one would ever know about.