The quiet ambience of the restaurant was quickly replaced by the sounds of a busy street when Homura opened the door that led outside. Homura looked around in search of the car as Junko closed the door behind them, the older woman putting a hand on her shoulder after she did so.

"Do you want to be the one to tell her?" asked Junko with a smile, hand gently laying on Homura's shoulder for reassurance.

Homura's eyes drifted towards the ground, a tint of pink filling her cheeks as she tried to imagine herself telling Madoka. The very thought of even attempting to say the words 'I'm going to be living with you from now on' already being too embarrassing for the girl.

I can say it for you~

The Devil looked at her with a sly smile, her hair falling to the side as she leaned her body to the side in order to get into Homura's view. If anything, seeing her face with those blood tinted violet eyes was enough to remind herself that she wasn't the girl from that hospital anymore, that she shouldn't be embarrassed to say something like that. A car's honk made her look up, letting her see Madoka waving at them from the car.

"I… I will tell her" Whispered Homura, just loud enough so that Junko could hear her.

The older woman gave her a small reassuring pat on the shoulder with an understanding smile on her face before she started to walk towards the car; Homura took a small deep breath before following Junko.

As Homura reached the car, Madoka leant towards the door and opened it for her; trying to throw it open to compensate for her short reach.

"Let's go, Homura-chan" Madoka said with a bright smile on her face, the girl scooting further into her seat so Homura could get in.

Homura finished putting on her seatbelt when she looked to her side, Madoka turning to her at the same time and gracing her with a joyful smile that made Homura's heart skip a beat. Madoka, almost as if to finish her attack, reached up to Homura's hand and locked their fingers together; the warmth of Madoka's hands contrasting neatly with Homura's naturally cold hands.

When Homura's eyes moved from their hands to Madoka's face, the girl was surprised with a quick peck on the lips from Madoka; the pink haired girl looking at her with a devious look afterwards.

"I missed you" whispered Madoka, Homura's face setting completely ablaze at what had been the first kiss of the day. Homura's mind was sent adrift at the unexpected show of love, the Devil screaming out of joy in her mind not helping to calm herself down.

"Madoka, dear?" said Junko from her seat, catching Madoka's attention as the girl looked at her mom; hand still tightly linked with Homura's. "Homura has something to tell you, but I don't think she will be able to if you keep embarrassing her like that"

"Eh?" Madoka looked between Homura and Junko a few times before she started to move away, slowly loosening her grip on Homura's hand. "Ah, sorry"

Homura instinctively tightened her own grip around Madoka's hand, her own body being against the idea of letting her go. Madoka looked at her with a small surprise on her eyes for a second before a smile appeared back on her face and strengthened her own grip around Homura's fingers; making sure to properly entwine their fingers.

Homura took a small breath as she tried to calm herself, holding the air in her lungs for a few seconds before she calmly exhaled it.

"Madoka, I…" Homura moved her gaze to meet Madoka's rose pink eyes, pure acceptance plastered all over her face even before the girl heard what Homura was going to say. Those kindness filled eyes were only bringing back her nerves from before. Homura suddenly found the words she was going to say completely lost in her mind as her heart quickened its beat. Homura tightened her grip on Madoka's hand as she did a quick bow of the head "I- I'll be in your care from now on"

Homura kept her head low, eyes closed as she waited for a reaction; the girl already knowing that those weren't the words she had wanted to use was already cursing herself for failing at even simple communication. After what seemed like an eternity in silence passed, Homura raised her head, eyes meeting a puzzled Madoka.

"Uhm…" The girl put on an empathetic smile "same here?"

There was a short silence before Junko let out a hearty laugh, catching Madoka's attention as Homura tried to find a way to escape the situation that she had put herself into.

"Junko…" reprimanded Tomohisa, prompting the older woman to try and stop laughing.

"Sorry, sorry" she said as she dried some tears that had started to form in the edges of her eyes. Junko turned around, facing Madoka as she tried to get her laugh in control.

"What Homura wanted to say is that she is going to start living with us from now on"

Madoka's brain seemed to go into overdrive as her mind tried to think of whether the words she had just heard were true or a trick played by her ears. Her eyes would move from Homura, to Junko, to Tomohisa, and back to Homura; the girl trying to gauge if she was just being played a trick on. When her eyes laid on Junko once more, the older woman gave her a confirming nod that made Madoka's gaze quickly move towards Homura. Her expression quickly transitioning from puzzled to a surprised one.

"I-is that true, Homura-chan?" she asked, wanting to confirm with the person in question.

"Y-yes" Homura said, unable to meet Madoka's eyes without feeling embarrassed about the situation "Junko-san asked me if I wanted to live in your house and…"

Homura stopped for a second, regret quickly overcoming her embarrassment; fear of having made the wrong decision instilling in her heart. "Of course if you don't want me to-!"

"No!" Madoka said, now grabbing Homura by her shoulders as her head laid low; her bangs hiding her eyes. "I… I would feel better if you did" Madoka's hands started to tremble as she held Homura's shoulders, the girl tightening her grip to make sure that Homura was still there. Lone tears dripped on the girl's stretched out arms.

"M-madoka?" stuttered Homura, worry for the now crying girl throwing away every other thought out of her head.

"I didn't like the idea of you living alone, Homura-chan" said Madoka, now rising her head to meet Homura's eyes. "You weren't taking proper care of yourself before, and you seemed so busy with house chores that… you always look so tired"

"T-that's just how I am" tried to reassure Homura. "I've been living like that for a long time so-"

"Knowing that doesn't make it any better, Homura-chan" Madoka leant forwards, trying to give and awkward hug to the girl with the seatbelts still on. "You shouldn't treat that way of living as if it was… normal"

Madoka let out a relieved sigh "Knowing that you will be at least eating proper meals every day… that you won't be alone whenever you are at home… it makes me happy"

"Besides…" Madoka pulled away from Homura, the girl looking at her with gentle eyes and a smile that made Homura want to give her the whole universe again "I can also spend more time with you if we live together"

Homura looked at Madoka for a few more seconds before her eyes caught Junko looking at them with a proud smile on her face. "See? I told you she would be happy"

Homura didn't answer, instead opting for properly sitting on her seat and readjusting the seatbelt that had moved a bit during the hug.

"Now that everyone knows" Junko started "We have to go get your things from your house, Homura. Madoka said you lived nearby?"

Homura flinched. Memories from what she had told Madoka before deciding to walk with her to school every morning coming back. Madoka still thought that Homura lived close by, not on the other side of town. Of course, she would have learnt about it one day or another – she had promised to let her meet Amy, after all – but there was a difference of when she was going to learn about it.

Having just been all worried about her because she lived alone, just to now learn that Homura had been lying about where she lived would surely make her angry. Or worse, disappoint her.

Junko raised an inquisitive eyebrow at the silence coming from the girl. Madoka leaned forwards, trying to get into Homura's field of view.

"Homura-chan?" Madoka's gazing eyes strung like a hornet in her heart, Homura tried to hide a deep breath.

"I…" Homura moved her eyes away from Madoka, unable to face her at the moment "I live in the old district, I can put the direction in the GPS"

Homura could see Madoka's eyebrows frown in confusion as she started understand what that meant. Junko looked at Tomohisa for a second before sighing and passing her phone to Homura; the girl taking it as she tried to not look at Madoka in the face.

She put in the direction to her house and returned the phone to Junko, who took it with an empathetic smile on her face before showing it to Tomohisa, the man nodded and turned on the car engine.

All kind of old looking buildings surrounded them as they drove towards Homura's house.

The house that was clearly nowhere close to Madoka's own.

Now, Madoka wasn't really angry at Homura for lying about where she lived. No, what she was angry about was how early that meant that Homura was waking up just to walk to school with her; it getting even worse the days where they had to be there early for club activities. It was really sweet, sure, and had Madoka not been completely worried about the girl's health she wouldn't have minded it that much. But Homura's life habits weren't the best, and she putting her own health under even more strain just to fulfill one of Madoka's requests was what was irking her. Even more with the truth coming out right after Madoka had said how much she usually worried about the girl's health.

And of course, the fact that Homura had been avoiding looking at her during the whole car trip wasn't really helping to calm her down. Maybe if Homura had looked at her with sorry eyes Madoka would have understood that she had done it without thinking much, just one more of those things that Homura does because she doesn't know best, but with how Homura was clearly avoiding her it just meant that she knew that Madoka would have gotten angry.

And well, if Homura expected an angry Madoka then she would give her one.

"We will be there after the next turn" said Homura, the girl looking through the window… or wait, was she?

Madoka fixed her eyes on Homura's reflection over on the car's window, her eyes meeting Homura's in the reflection before Homura looked away with a tint of embarrassment on her cheeks; confirming Madoka's suspicions that Homura was using the reflection of the window to look at her.

Cute, but I'm supposed to be angry at you.

Her dad took the last turn and drove down the road for a few more seconds before they reached a fork in the road; another old building in the corner of the street.

"That's where I live" said Homura.

Madoka's dad quickly found a parking spot on the almost empty street, less than one or two cars were in it.

After the engine turned off, Madoka took off her seatbelt before helping Tatsuya to take his own off. Homura quickly taking her own seatbelt off before getting out of the car. Madoka followed behind, the old European looking building catching her attention. For some reason, the building just felt right as Homura's apartment. It was a familiar image.

Her mom made a gesture to Homura, telling her to lead the way, Homura nodded before walking up to her front door and putting the keys in. The creak of the door as it slowly opened welcomed them into the main hall; no decoration on sight other than a small wooden desk with a key tray in which Homura left the keys. There was no other sound in the house other than the noise they were making, it's open doors seemingly staring back whenever one looked into the dark rooms for too long.

"Homura, can I take a look around?" asked Madoka's mom as she eyed the building, her analyzing gaze trying to take in as many details as she could.

Homura looked at Junko for a second as she tried to think of an answer.

"I don't mind"

Her mom then nodded before looking back at Madoka.

"Why don't you help me, Madoka?" she asked, Madoka being quick to catch what she meant.

"Yes!" she said enthusiastically as she walked behind her mom to one of the first doors; Homura followed them from behind.

The door opened into a big, almost completely empty, room. A table in the center with four old looking chairs and a cat's bed being the only furniture the place had in it. There was an old picture frame hanging from on of the walls, the small picture of a landscape full of flowers in it. Another door seemed to lead into another room.

"What's this room?" asked her mom towards Homura as she walked over to the cat bed.

"The living room" said Homura, still not looking at Madoka directly.

And maybe Madoka would have reacted to that a bit more, but with how Homura had just called an almost completely empty room her 'living room' she had other things in mind.

"This… this is your living room?" asked Madoka, not wanting to believe it.

"…Y-yes" answered Homura "Is there something wrong with it?"

"Well…" Madoka looked around her, the room was clean, the floor almost empty save for the chairs and table that seemed as old as the building itself.

"It's empty" finally answered her mom for her before she turned towards Homura with a frown in her expression "What do you usually do here?"

"Not much, Amy is the only one that really uses this room" said Homura as she took a step to the side so Madoka's dad could walk into the room, one hand guiding Tatsuya and the other carrying a big travelling suitcase they had probably loaded into the car previously. "I mainly eat in the kitchen, so I don't have a real use for this place"

"But there is just… so much space" wondered Madoka, getting no reaction from Homura.

"I'm guessing Amy is your cat?" asked Junko as she passed a finger over the table to find that it was completely clean.

"Yes" Homura looked at the cat's bed for a second "Though she is more of a stray than really mine, she will come and go whenever she wants to eat or sleep in a safe place"

"Aren't you worried that her getting hurt?" asked her mom as she opened the other door, a small kitchen appearing on the other side.

"Not really. She has a guardian angel as to say" said Homura fully convinced of her own words.

Madoka followed her mom into the kitchen, the pace was probably good enough to hold around four people and no more without it getting too cramped inside. Madoka didn't need her mother's glance to know that she should check how Homura's fridge was.

She opened the fridge doors just to be welcomed with a wave of cold and an almost empty fridge. Two prepared lunches were inside together with an unopened lettuce head, a few eggs, and at least two bags of tomatoes.

"Homura-chan" called Madoka, still looking inside the fridge.

"Y-yes?"

"What have you been eating?" Madoka peeked out of the fridge as she made the question, trying to meet the girl's face so she could read her expression.

"Y-your lunches" she said, still unsure of looking at Madoka but not really lying.

"And?"

The fact that Homura had to even think of an answer for something as simple as that meant that the girl was probably trying to think of a good enough lie; her small flinch as she looked at Madoka in the eyes for a second only confirming that she knew she was being scolded.

"I ate some energy bars… tomatoes... and eggs sometimes" she said, not really sounding like al lie but probably something weird was going on with how she ate them or the amount itself.

Madoka closed the fridge before walking over to Homura, the other girl completely torn between wanting to flee from there and not wanting to leave Madoka.

"Homura-chan" Madoka said, finally making Homura look at her in the eyes even if still with ah tint of fear in her eyes. Her serious gaze quickly transformed into a gentler one "You have to eat more, for me at least, okay?"

Homura looked at Madoka in a small surprise, clearly having expected to get told something very different than that. But Madoka already knew there was no ways he was going to help Homura just by scolding her; she knew that if she had to make sure that Homura did something she had to propose it as a request that would make her happy.

"Oh, don't worry" said her mom as she looked at the coffee machine, seeing that it was a cheaper model than what she had at home she decided it wasn't important enough to move with them. "She will be eating properly from now on"

Madoka looked at Homura with a smile before she remembered that she had to be angry about Homura having lied, so she tried to erase her smile from her face- Oh who was she kidding, she couldn't possibly be angry at Homura for something the girl had done so they could be together for longer.

As her mother started to leave the kitchen Madoka grazed Homura's hand to try and catch the girl's attention. Homura looked her way, a slightly confused look on her face before Madoka finally moved in and completely grabbed the girl's hand; giving her a smile too to let her know that everything was okay now.

Homura simply looked ahead and tightened her own grip around Madoka's hand in response.

They walked out of the kitchen and into the main hall, her mother picking the next door out of three. The door opened into a small bedroom, a single bed and a desk being all there was in the room itself. School books laid open on top of the desk, a few of the exercise they had still not been sent to do completely done accompanying them. The only thing that really caught Madoka's attention was the small familiar box that laid in the center of the desk; the ribbons she had gifted her.

Her dad gave them the big travelling suitcase after they finished entering the room, Madoka only dropping Homura's hands so she could get to open it as she gave a small direction to Homura so that she could get all her clothes ready; Homura simply nodded before heading towards the wardrobe – the full of clothes wardrobe.

"Well, at least you have clothes" said her mom with a quick glance into the wardrobe.

"These… these are mainly the ones that Madoka chose for me" admitted Homura.

Junko looked at her for a few seconds, the older woman still unable to understand the concept of someone really not having anything to do with their free time to the point that their house was completely devoid of anything that represented them to any extent.

If one's house was the image of the soul, then Homura had a very barren and dead one.

Not that it mattered, Madoka would water that barren land and take care of it with all her might until flowers bloomed once more.

Madoka helped Homura pack all her clothes into the suitcase as best as they could, and even thought it took quite a lot of strength to properly close it they were able to put everything into it.

"Tomohisa already took all your cat stuff to the car" said her mom as she looked around the still empty room. "Is there something else you want to bring?"

Homura seemed to think for a second before she walked up to the desk and picked two things, the small box that Madoka knew had the red ribbons she had gifted the girl, and the book Madoka had seen her read so much over and over again. The one that Madoka knew had been a present from someone else.

And with that they all started to walk out of the apartment, Homura closing behind her as they got out, and started to make their way to their house. After today all that Madoka wanted to do was finish schoolwork and go to sleep to prepare herself for tomorrow.

Current date: Monday, 26th of May.

A/N: This was just a transition chapter before we go back to the school, to be honest. This week has been chaotic to say the least, and I wasn't able to gather my thoughts about this chapter. I won't be home for two days now so I wanted to make sure to publish this one now so that I could properly work in this Sunday's chapter without having to worry about the whole moving out deal.

As always, thanks for reading and a bigger thanks for giving out a little more out of your time and commenting.