The narrow street bustled with people that walked as best as they could in a path where only three people could walk at the same time. Restaurants plagued the street with their warm lights and enthralling smells coming from their kitchens. People were now starting to get tables for themselves, with almost being near full.

Sayaka looked behind her in search for Homura, the poor girl had felt quite overwhelmed the last few minutes they spent in the arcade and now she was looking even worse. Her lost eyes were full of anxious energy like that of a scared animal, her posture as tense as that of a soldier that awaited for bombs to come. Yet the rest of her face remained as calm as ever, even if only as a mask.

Of course, if Sayaka had learnt something these past few weeks it was that when someone else than Madoka could see how Homura was feeling there was something going clearly wrong.

The whole way the girl was carrying herself made Sayaka doubt whether or not they should have done this at all. True, Homura had felt odd before already, but getting her away from Madoka and launching her into fully crowded spaces forcing her to do activities she really didn't want to do seemed to only make things worse instead of getting her to try and find something she could be interested in.

And now Kyouko had either forgotten or not really thought about how getting an already distressed Homura into what felt like the narrowest street in all of Mitakihara was a really bad idea.

Sayaka walked closer to Kyouko, tapping the girl on the shoulder as she approached her.

"Ey, how long till we get there?" asked Sayaka, trying to look at Kyouko as she spoke but keeping an eye on Homura at the same time.

Kyouko looked behind her and to where Homura was, realization coming to her when she finally saw what she had been doing.

"Ah… We should be there in like two minutes or so" Kyouko made a small pause as her eyes travelled back to Sayaka "Didn't really think about it, sorry. I just thought that maybe some good food would cheer her up and…"

Kyouko's fire red eyes were tainted by remorse and anger towards herself.

"I should have thought a bit more about it, sorry. Now she is gonna think I'm doing this on purpose or something"

Sayaka couldn't help but let an understanding smile appear on her face as she grasped Kyouko's shoulder with a bit more strength to get the girl to focus on her instead.

"You just wanted to help, don't fret over it" Sayaka looked behind them, Homura still following them as if she was just a husk that wasn't there "She won't think you are trying to bother her on purpose… I think"

Kyouko smiled back for a second before wiping the smile off of her face, her previous remorse now replaced by a look of disappointment.

"Hah…" sighed Kyouko "I'm just feeling awful to be honest"

Kyouko took a step forwards, putting a bit of distance between them to clear her mind and let another group of people that was coming towards them pass.

"We wanted to find the girl something to do with her time other than Madoka but we just… made her feel worse"

Sayaka placed herself behind Kyouko as to open a bit more of space for the group that walked past them, a sigh escaping her mouth as she thought about today.

"Yeah… Kind of a disappointment that we didn't find anything" Kyouko tried to look at Sayaka behind her, the narrow street not allowing her to completely turn without hitting someone only letting her turn her neck a bit "Though Homura could have also put a bit more of her part into it you know. She just followed us around as if she was a corpse or something"

A moment of silence fell over them as they simply thought about the day, the mood quickly dampening into a sorrowful one.

"A corpse that was somehow able to win in games she hadn't played ever before" added Sayaka, forcing a smile as she spoke.

"Oh yeah, she destroyed you in quite a few" added Kyouko with a smirk, putting an honest smile on Sayaka this time. "Don't worry, I'll avenge you next time"

"Sure, but next time make sure to take us to an arcade you can play in without being scared of getting caught" Kyouko turned around to keep her eyes on where they were going "It's not the same if you aren't playing with us too"

Kyouko kept looking forwards without an answer, whether or not she had heard Sayaka the girl kept her reaction to herself.

Just a minute later Kyouko walked into one of the many restaurants that littered the street, the girl held the half curtain up as she waited for Sayaka and Homura to enter.

"Do you prefer to get closer to the entrance or further in Homura?" asked Kyouko when the girl in question passed by her.

Homura stopped as she looked into the small narrow restaurant that was the ramen shop. The place only had seats over at the counter, around six tall chairs placed close together. Homura looked behind her at the crowded street and back at the restaurant, what seemed like the chef looking at them with a warm smile.

"Or we can go somewhere else if you want you know? You don't have to force yourself" added Kyouko, Homura's hesitation making her feel worse than before.

"No, it's okay" said Homura as she walked further into the restaurant, taking seat on the furthest seat that there was.

Kyouko's eyes followed Homura with worry until Sayaka appeared on her vision, the girl in question giving her a smile that was contagious and made Kyouko smile too. They walked over to Homura, Sayaka seating next to the girl and Kyouko next to Sayaka.

The moment they all were seated the man behind the counter walked over to them and spoke with an energetic voice.

"Do you all know what you want to eat or do you need some time?" asked the man.

"I'll have the tsukemen" quickly said Kyouko before she looked towards them.

"Oh ah… Tonkotsu will be nice" said Sayaka after a quick look at the menu that was hung behind the counter.

All eyes landed on Homura, who now realized they were waiting for her to say what she wanted to eat. Her vision became barely focused before she looked at the menu for what felt like a fraction of a second.

"Shio Ramen" muttered Homura barely loud enough to let the guy taking their order hear her.

"All right, it will be done in a few minutes!" said the man before turning back and repeating their order to the other cook with whom he shared the space behind the counter.

Silence fell around them as Homura went back to staring into nothingness. Sayaka turned towards Kyouko, the redhead looking at her with slight worry. They exchanged looks for a second before Kyouko bent over the table, resting her head on her fist and looking straight at Homura with an apologetic look on her face.

"Hey Homu, you there?"

Homura's eyes focused if only slightly as she turned towards the girl, her serious face only betrayed by the tired look she carried.

"So like…" started saying Kyouko, the girl's eyes hard at work to not look away out of embarrassment "I'm sorry for… well, today"

"Yeah… we wanted you to have a nice time, not to make you more tired than you were already" added Sayaka, the girl also feeling responsible for the situation.

Kyouko finally gave in, her gaze now focusing on a small soy sauce bottle that was on the table.

"We just wanted to find something you would enjoy, maybe just a day out together with us would be enough or something" said Kyouko as she mustered all the courage she could and buried her pride deep underneath the earth "But in the end all we did was take you to places full of people and tease you way more than we should have"

"And we get it, you could have had a day with Madoka out of all the stupid mess that are the rumors in the school but we just came in and swooped you off of her side" said Sayaka finally breaking under the other girl's judging gaze and looking away too. "Then we just took you to places we like and forced you to play".

Kyouko clicked her tongue when Sayaka finished talking, a second of silence filling in before she spoke her mind "We wanted to help you not be so dependent on Madoka, and now you are probably just thinking of wanting to end this whole thing so you can go back"

Homura looked at them with slightly more focused than before, the girl's eyes looked lost but she felt more present.

"We just wanted you to have fun" muttered Kyouko, her voice almost not coming out of her mouth as she tried to speak. Sayaka nodded along.

No sound came of any of the three girls. Sayaka and Kyouko looked either to the ground or to one of the few soy bottles that littered the counter. Homura merely looked at them with her indifferent and judging gaze, the girl cold tired eyes focused on them.

It was a sigh coming from the direction of Homura what made them look up in surprise.

"Today was not a good day to do this" said Homura in her completely blank voice, her words making the other two look away once again in regret.

"But… I can't say that I hated it all"

Sayaka and Kyouko looked up once again. Homura still carried the same poker face from before, but she wasn't looking at them anymore; be it because of embarrassment or out of superiority they did not care.

"I wouldn't mind doing this from time to time" added Homura as she took a sip out of a glass of water that had somehow made its way to her. "But I would prefer to go somewhere with less people next time"

Kyouko's and Sayaka's faces lit up, the two of them quickly exchanged a loot between them before looking back at Homura with a bright smile on their face. As if they had been almost sentenced and the jury had decided to let them go in the last second. A huge burden suddenly lifted off their backs.

Sayaka, the emotional rollercoaster that had been Homura's words clouding her mind, closed the gap between her and Homura, and placed an arm around the girl's neck in a friendly headlock/hug.

"Awww, you like us!" proudly stated Sayaka.

Kyouko quickly stood up and walked over to them, putting an arm Homura's and Sayaka's shoulders.

"Geez, you didn't have to play so hard to get Homu" added Kyouko affectionally.

Kyouko hugged them with more strength, bringing everyone close together in a messy hug of varying heights thanks to the tall chairs. Sayaka could feel Homura moving under her headlock, the girl trying to get out with what felt like clear restraint.

"Stop this right now or I promise I will take back my words and leave right now" said Homura with a death glare that could have easily killed anyone, the girl's tired eyes only adding onto the effect.

Sayaka and Kyouko let go of the girl at her request, both knowing that they couldn't push it too far or she would keep to her word and leave.

"Can't believe I'm already regretting telling you anything" muttered Homura with an annoyed tone in her voice as she fixed her hair.

"Don't be like that!" reprimanded Kyouko "We just wanted to show you how much we care for you, you dummy"

"Yeah! We are here for you!" added Sayaka, now that few doubts she had gathered about today had been vanished she was feeling better than ever "For all those things you can't tell Madoka"

Their food finally came as the man started to leave their bowls in front of them. Homura straightened herself as she turned towards her food, only giving Sayaka a side glance as she spoke.

"There is nothing I would tell you two that I wouldn't tell Madoka" said Homura as she picked up her chopsticks.

"You haven't talked with her about the thing that's been bothering you lately, right?" asked Kyouko before stuffing her face with food.

Homura slightly turned her head towards them, the girl still holding empty chopsticks over her steaming bowl.

"That's because there is no reason for her to worry, as I said, I took care of it already" stated Homura. The girl gracefully took a bit of the ramen noodles she had in front of her, and was somehow able to eat them carefully to the point that it looked almost strange.

"Well-" Sayaka stopped herself, making sure to swallow before speaking up again "next time something is bothering you can tell us if you want. We would gladly help, and if you don't want us to we won't tell Madoka"

Kyouko nodded along as Sayaka spoke, the girl's mouth to full to even speak. Homura looked at Sayaka for a second before her gaze moved towards her barely touched bowl of ramen, her eyes locked with the broth for a few seconds.

"I will think about it" muttered Homura before she started to eat again.

A few minutes of silence fell around them as they all calmly ate, Kyouko having to order a second bowl – this time of tonkotsu – as if she had not eaten anything all day. While Kyouko waited for her second bowl to come out, the girl turned towards them with a smile on her face.

"So, you two wanna do anything after this?" asked Kyouko, phone in hand.

"hmm…" said Sayaka before she swallowed her food and looked at the half empty bowl that was left "I can go somewhere else if you two want to"

Both sets of eyes looked at Homura with a question plastered all over their faces, the ebony haired girl looked at them for a few seconds as she calmly kept eating. After a while she went back to her bowl, playing around a bit with the chopsticks in the broth before she spoke.

"I guess… I can be here for a little longer" said Homura with a small voice as she made small swirls on the broth with her chopsticks.

"Why don't you choose where to, Homura?" asked Sayaka "Don't want to force you to go somewhere you don't want to again, right Kyouko?"

"Yeah, it works for me" answered Kyouko. "Wherever you wanna go to Homu, we won't judge"

Homura looked at her bowl for a few seconds as she thought to herself, the girl's face as stoic as ever. Her eyes slightly unfocused, the girl slowly blinked before looking up towards them.

"I guess there is one place I used to go to…"

The table felt emptier than usual, even if Homura had only been living with them for just a week now. The empty seat next to her had been able to sour her mood more than she would have expected, not because of the absence of Homura alone; Madoka very much understood why Sayaka and Kyouko had had to 'steal' Homura for a bit.

It was because when she had seen the empty seat a passing thought that betrayed what should have been a clear mind made itself known.

Is Homura actually happy that we are going out?

Of course, Madoka knew that Homura liked being with her. The girl had been quite insistent on it. And the rest of her group agreed on that.

But being with her wasn't the same as going out with her. It had taken less than a week after going out together for problems out of their control to appear. Maybe Homura didn't really mind the rumors, but Madoka was very much taken back by them. That was something that was clawing at her mind all the time. How the people she had once thought of as – if not friends – colleagues, were now laughing at their backs; looking at them with accusing eyes, spreading more and more rumors about their relationship.

Sure, Homura didn't care about what people said about them. People could say whatever they wanted and it wouldn't change how she felt towards Madoka; and Madoka agreed! She would love Homura even if her own parents told her not to!

But she couldn't find the strength to be as comfortable as she had been with Homura when she knew that everyone was watching them in search of something to misinterpret. Something that they could use to hurt them. How everyone looked at them as if it was wrong that they were together.

A hand took her empty plate, the sudden movement making her jump back to reality as her father gave her an understanding smile when their eyes met, a smile that was accompanied by a sense of safety and warmth that only her parents could give her.

Madoka looked up to see her mother finishing a cup of tea that Madoka had not seen being made. The time she had spent enthralled in her own little world now becoming apparent to her.

The kitchen's sink turned on, the flow of water being the only sound that accompanied the noises that Tatsuya made as he read a small children's book. After a few seconds the sound of running water came to a stop, and behind Madoka appeared her dad with a smile on his face.

"I'm going to put Tatsuya to sleep" said Madoka's dad, getting a nod from Madoka's mom in return.

Tatsuya, being the good kid that he was, gave his book to Tomohisa and lifted his arms to make it easier for him to be picked up and carried over to his bed.

A few seconds later and the room was only inhabited by Madoka and Junko. The later taking small sips of her tea while the former fidgeted a bit in place as she realized what was going on.

She had been waiting the whole day to speak with her mom, and now that she had the opportunity to do so she couldn't come up with the words she wanted to speak. Did she want to speak about the rumors? How would her mom react to that? Or should she try to be a bit more cryptic about everything. Use hypothetical scenarios? Maybe just be vague and hope she doesn't catch on what was going on – or at least hope she doesn't push the matter?

"So" her mother's voice caught Madoka off guard, her mind still not made up about what to tell her "Is Homura coming back soon?"

Madoka took a moment to process what she had been asked, the unexpected question taking her out of her own doubts.

"Ah… Yeah, she told me they are going to one more place before coming back" said Madoka her hands instinctively unlocking her phone and opening her chat with Homura "She should be back in an hour or so…"

"Good" merely said Madoka's mom before taking a longer sip from her tea as silence fell around them once again.

Madoka looked at her mother for a few seconds as she tried to say something, yet the realization that she had wanted to speak with her mom without really knowing about what she wanted to tell her was now setting in. When she had talked about the rumors with the group, they had all decided to just wait for them to die down, that adults wouldn't really help in this situation as Homura herself had said… and Madoka knew that if she told her mom about something like and made it as serious as it was for her, well… adults were going to get involved.

So maybe just leave at what was going on between her and Homura? But she could misinterpret it without the proper context-

"Madoka" Junko's voice felt firmer than before, and when Madoka raised her face and looked at her she could see a more serious side to her mother coming through her gentle eyes "is there something you want to tell me?"

Madoka looked at her mom with eyes full of remorse, the thought of having to keep things away from her even if she so much wanted to speak with her about them and ask for guidance on them making her feel worse.

But this weren't problems that only affected her, they also affected Homura now. She had to try and make the best decision for both of them. She couldn't do something that would take away from Homura's own decisions, couldn't she?

Madoka nodded, finally giving an answer to her mother's question.

"I guess you don't know if you should or not" added her mom, still easily able to read how her daughter felt.

Madoka nodded once again, the knot that was now forming on her throat as guilt filled her entire being not letting her speak. Guilt over not relying on her mother when she wanted to. Guilt over betraying Homura's wishes if she spoke about the problems that plagued them.

Guilt over how she knew that Homura would forgive her for it if she spoke about it.

"T-the thing is…" started to speak Madoka, her mom properly hearing now that her daughter had been able to take the first step. "H-Homura-chan and I we…"

There was a moment of silence as Madoka tried to breathe in, the girl calming herself down with measured breaths as her mother simply waited for her to speak, an obvious sign of worry in her eyes not able to hide behind her loving and understanding expression.

"Th-there had been some…" Madoka gulped down, unable to look at her mom as she spoke "some rumors…" she murmured, not loud enough for her to even hear herself.

Madoka took a deep breath once again. Strongly closed her fist as she tried to gather enough courage to speak and attempted to confess once again.

"…There are rumors about us" she finally spoke.

This had to be the best solution for their problems, right? To seek help, right? Madoka wasn't doing something wrong just for telling her mom, right?

"What kind of rumors?" asked her mother, her previous worry overshadowed by a rising anger that was not directed towards a specific person, but rather to the idea of the rumors themselves.

That I shouldn't be with her.

That Homura is only going out with me out of pity.

That we've done it at school.

"They are…" Madoka tried to speak, a mix of anxiety from remembering people speaking behind their backs and embarrassment from some of the rumors themselves making it harder than she had expected.

"Are they that bad?" asked her mother, trying to give Madoka an easy way out of explaining things.

Madoka shrugged.

"I-it's not really the rumors what… bothers me" said Madoka, now that she was speaking out loud about everything, her mind was able to gather her thoughts properly.

"Then what is?" asked her mom in the gentlest yet fullest of confidence tone she could muster.

"It's… the idea of everyone just… talking behind our backs" said Madoka a frown of her own now appearing on her face "Some rumors are true, I guess. Some are… overly dumb. And a lot of them just seem to voice my insecurities about our relationship but…"

Madoka took a deep breath, holding the air in her lungs for a few seconds before she slowly exhaled.

"I guess the worst part is how everyone has turned their backs on me" finally said Madoka before laying her head on the table "I think it wouldn't hurt as much if it wasn't because even our class is doing it… now even Hitomi won't talk with us"

Madoka looked up from the table, head still resting on it, and looked towards her mom.

"And now I can't even be with Homura-chan without feeling like I'm doing something wrong or that someone is watching. I couldn't even shake off the feeling that someone was watching me all day long." added Madoka "I hate that so many people I used to call friends have stabbed me in the back. I hate that I can't relax until I get home. I hate that Homura has to go through all this too. I hate that I can't just do like her and not care about them. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it."

Madoka looked at the table from where she stood with an angry frown in her eyes, the sound of a cup being placed over a coaster breaking the silence that had formed in the room.

"I would like to tell you that that's just middle schoolers being… well, middle schoolers" said Junko as she played with her now empty tea cup "But this kind of people don't disappear completely when you grow up either, so I guess that's just how people are"

Madoka's angry frown turned into a confused one before she raised her head from the table and looked at her mother.

"This is not a problem you can solve on your own, Madoka" Junko said before letting out a small sigh "And with how much you were doubting whether you should tell me or not I'm guessing you don't want me to take it into my own hands"

Junko stopped for a second before leaving the empty cup on the table, her apologetic eyes met Madoka's own confused ones.

"Rumors are not something easy to kill. You try to rebuke them and people will just think they are true or you wouldn't be so defensive. You break down because of them and some people will just laugh. You ignore them and… well, they keep going for a while until something else comes up and takes your place. And I know that that time can become hell"

"So… what should I do?" asked Madoka.

"All I can tell you is that talking about it helps" Junko smiled "Don't just bottle it up"

Madoka did feel a bit better after just talking about the whole thing, that much was true. It hadn't fixed the problem at all, but at least she did feel better now that she had just been able to speak about it with someone.

"I think I feel a bit better, yeah" said Madoka, a small smile that didn't last long on her face.

"That's good then" said Junko before getting up and walking towards the kitchen sink "Don't answer if you don't want to, but why didn't you speak about it with Homura?"

"Well… On one hand I feared what she would do"

"Feared?" asked her mom, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"I feel like she would start punching people if I told her how much the rumors are hurting me" Madoka let out a small nervous laugh "I mean, I think she knows they hurt me but… I don't know, I just don't think I should tell her that much or something bad will happen"

A small silence formed around them as her mother quickly cleaned her cup and put it to dry.

"And the second reason you didn't want to tell her?" asked her mother.

"Well…" Madoka turned around to look at her mom, the posture she was sitting in pretty uncomfortable to be in "she already feels like she has a lot on her plate… and lately she has been feeling even worse than usual. I don't know if it's the rumors getting to her, or…"

"Or?"

"…Homura is pretty affectionate, even if she doesn't show it" said Madoka "but this week has been… hard for both of us in that department. I don't want to do anything at the school because people may see us, but I know that she needs the reaffirmation and I haven't been giving her as much love as I did before"

Junko stood in silence for a second before a smile appeared on her face and simply walked over to Madoka, putting a hand over her head in a comforting manner.

"Then just give her more love" said Junko before sighing "Really, you can't just tell me a pretty big problem before and now tell me that you two haven't gotten enough smooching time"

"Mom!" playfully complained Madoka, getting her mother's hand off of her head.

"Why don't you ask me about these easier problems more? They are easier to help with than all the serious stuff you somehow get involved in" said her mom with a smile. "Really, at your age my worst problem was me going against my parents"

Madoka let out a small stifled laugh. "I can do that too if you want"

"Oh~?" said Junko, as she raised her hands and moved her fingers as if to tickle the air "You dare go against me?"

"Who knows~" playfully added Madoka "Maybe I'll go to Homura's house like what you did with dad"

"You imp! I did that when I was sixteen!" Junko said before launching forwards in an attempt to tickle Madoka's side that made Madoka jump off her chair "Come here you little rascal!"

Madoka ran around the kitchen as her mother followed her behind an tried to tickle her, Madoka's younger body easily slipping by until she was cornered in the kitchen and finally caught by her mother's attack.

Maybe she hadn't come with an answer to her problems, but at least she now felt way better than she had at the start of the day. Her mother was right, talking about it helped. She would just have to wait, but at least not she had a better mindset for it.

Besides, her advice to give Homura a bit more love would also make her feel better about everything.

Current date: Friday 30th, May