It has been such a long time since Homura simply sits down and relax herself from the task of sparing Madoka the fate of becoming a Magical Girl. She realizes she has forgotten most simple pleasures in life. Pleasure such as taking a cold shower at her leisure and then sit on a balcony or patio and feel the cool evening wind brushing against her face or hair.
Right now she is in a pajama three sizes too large for her and a pair of bunny slippers on account of all her original clothes are now in a washer. She sits on the wooden step of Nobi resident, watching her 'brother' Nobita Nobi swinging away with a wooden baseball bat in the garden.
Her brows twist together as Nobita starts resemble more and more as one of her old acquaintance: Sayaka Miki. They are both idiot who charge ahead into their first problem then try to solve it by banging their head against the wall. And now, they both play baseball apparently...
If her 'brother' is as much hopeless romantic as Sayaka... Homura can already predict how his life will end.
"You are going to catch a cold if you only wear a pajama." A blanket is wrapped around Homura's shoulder. She hears the disapproval voice of her 'mother' Tamako. She is about to let out a scowl but instead holds the blanket even tighter. It shouldn't make that much a difference consider her body's enhanced resistance due to being a Magical Girl zombie, but the blanket really does feel warm.
"I'm not worried about getting a cold, I can heal myself using magic." Homura lets out a weak protest as she tries to uphold her pride. She gets a mug of hot coco into her free hand for the effort.
"It's a silly way to waste your magic when you can simply stay warm. Here, have some hot coco." Homura gives Tamako a nod as she slowly take a sip of the hot coco. It's a bit bitter, reminds Homura of the chocolate from a Pocky stick Kyoko loves so much. She never understands why Kyoko has such a fascination with Pocky stick for life is too bitter as it is.
Homura remembers Kyoko mention something about "you have to appreciate the bitterness to appreciate the sweetness even more" during her third timeline. The raven haired time traveller is pretty sure the homeless redhead simply speaks out of irony.
Still, the coco is warm just like the blanket, so Homura simply sits on the wooden step, quietly sipping her hot coco while watching Tamako goes into the garden and hands the other mug to her biological son.
Funny how fast your life changes with one simple decision. In Homura's case, her decision of trying to trust Nobi family.
／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
Homura ponders the options she has. Looking past her pride the raven haired time traveller knows very well she needs all the help in this world if she wants to have a real chance of meeting let alone saving Madoka in this timeline. Not to mention the fact she doesn't lose anything if she can't persuade Nobi family since she would simply go back to square one: living like Kyoko.
On the other hand... if this family really does have some kind of back door dealing with Incubator she may wake up on an operating table getting probed by Kyubey. And consider how unreliable her power has become, she can't rewind herself out of the situation.
Homura makes a decision after a brief moment of pondering the pro and cons she realize the possible pros out weight possible cons.
If this ends with me getting probed... I am really going to kill Kyubey another hundred times.
Taking a deep breath while looking at Nobi family sitting around for dinner, the time traveller opens her mouth with a stern voice. "I'm ready to tell you about myself. But first..."
Homura points her across Kyubey and Dorabey around the table. "...I don't want those two listening in on my story."
"Fair enough, I don't want those damn honey badger to know my life story either." Tamako gives a nod as she stands up, walk to another cupboard and takes out a Dorayaki treat. She throws it toward the garden like a Frisbee. "Hey, Dorabey. Think fast!"
"DORAYAKI~!" Dorabey leaps up into the air like a well trained dog and catches said treat with his mouth. The stunt looks impressive even to Homura, consider the blue furred Incubator manages to wrap his tail around Kyubey's neck and drag the white furred cute alien with him.
Dorabey: "We'll be back after you gives me a telepathy signal. And don't worry about Kyubey listening in to your conversation. I'll make sure to put up a telepathy barrier to prevent him and myself from doing so."
Kyubey: "Should I say: Foiled again. This is not the end of me?"
Dorabey gives Nobi family and Homura a salute using his bunny ear as he drags Kyubey away like a ragdoll. Homura simply glares dagger at those two cute looking abominations as they slowly retreat from her field of view. "I'm not sure an Incubator's word can be trusted."
"You know very well they can't lie." Homura frowns at Tamako's word, mainly because she knows Tamako has a good point. "Now... do you feel like coming clean, young lady?"
"I will now, but you won't believe my story." Homura says with a serious face while staring from Tamako to Nobisuke. They both gives her a chuckle as a reply.
"You do realize we are two of the rarest things when it comes to being a Magi: A Magi who lives long enough to raise a kid, till he's at the age when he can become a Magi himself. We seen our share of crazy things in our lives." Tamako lets out a prideful laugh as she abruptly glares at Nobita. "Doesn't mean I approve of you become a Magi, so don't get any funny ideas young man!"
"Figures... I never get to do anything cool in this house..." Nobita lets out a muffled grumble as he lowers his head and bury himself into his rice bowl once again.
That idiot has a very twisted definition of what defines being 'cool' if he thinks losing his soul and become a self-aware zombie is cool...
Homura fights her urge to roll her eyes as she takes another deep breath, thinking over the amount of information she's willing to give to Nobi family. "I... come from the future. I lost a very important friend, so I made a wish with the Incubators to see her again and gained ability to travel through time. But I accidently reversed time too much, and ends up eighteen years into the past where my friend hasn't even been born yet."
That's a horribly condensed version of her past and it leaves out the part she's been over hundreds of cycles failing to save her friend. Homura is pretty sure that's enough information for Nobi family to gain some sympathy yet not enough to make them too cautious about helping her.
Nobita looks up from his dinner and stares at Homura. The stoic time traveller sees something in his eyes that looks strangely like... empathy? But surely a buffoon like him can't possibly understand how she suffered. "So that's why you said you have no home and no family. Must be tough gets stuck in time like that."
Tamako on the other hand doesn't look too impressed with the story. She taps the table with her index finger for five times, before nonchalantly asks. "Is that all?"
"What do you mean: is that all?" Homura is thankful she's not eating or drinking anything at this moment. The stoic time traveller is pretty sure she'll end up chocking on her food or drink if not outright blow them out of her mouth.
"Sorry if my wife comes off too blunt. She doesn't mean to insult your predicament. It's just... well, you did say we won't believe your story so we were both thinking some very elaborate and strange background you may have." Nobisuke scratches the back of his head and lets out a smile that almost look like he's embarrassed.
"Someone from the future doesn't surprise you two any way at all?" Homura raises one of her eyebrows. The response from Nobi family, except the glasses wearing boy is anti-climatic from her expectation to say the least.
"After you meets Magical Girls from the past, other planet, some subterranean civilization, alternate reality... a Magical Girl from the future simply feels like part of the package." Tamako gives a nonchalant shrug. It makes Homura wonders if the mother is pulling her leg, or actually lived such a rich life of bizarre occurrences. From the expression Tamako's moron of son currently gives her mother... Homura deduces she's not the only one in the room thinking this thought.
"I'm going to take a leap of faith and assume your power can only take you to the past, which is why you still remains in this timeline instead of trying to return to the future?" Nobisuke strikes his chin with one of his finger. Homura lets silence be her answer. To tell the truth, Homura isn't too sure how her time reversal works. She's not about to try to rewind herself into the correct time when so many things can go wrong.
"That's not your full story and you are trying to hide something, young lady. Oh, don't give me that look. You are talking to a mother. Spot a lie from child is How to be a Parent 101." Tamako puts her hands on her waist as she stands up from the chair. "It's decided then. Until either you, or us figure out a way to get you back home, you are staying with us. We'll adopt you as our daughter for the remainder of your stay."
"WHAT?" Both Nobita and Homura sharply turns to stare into Tamako's eyes. Such decision seems to come out of the blue even if Homura doesn't want to complain about having a free place to stay in the past.
"It's a logic solution no? A Magical Girl without a goal tend to fall into despair much easier than one with a goal in sight. Having family to talk about it can help alleviate such a fate much more. Plus, if worst come to worst... this house hold has two veterans. We will be able to... keep things under control."
Homura frowns at Tamako's explanation. She doesn't like to think about the possibility of herself fallen into despair and turn into a Witch like Sayaka often does (and both Mami, Kyoko at some timelines). Still, she agrees with Tamako's assessment. Her becoming a Witch is a likely possibility if she can't find a good goal to anchor herself or find a way to return to the correct time. When that eventually happens she'd rather have someone puts her out of her misery rather than lets her continue as a grotesque twist of her real self.
Despite the cold and distant face Homura puts on herself, she does still have a conscience. She secretly feels guilty every time she chooses to ignore the plight of people in danger when she focuses on saving Madoka instead of everyone else. Turning into a Witch and starts to harm innocent people, be it Madoka or someone else isn't something Homura wants. At that point, having Nobi family destroy her corporeal form would be akin to mercy killing.
"I... see your point. Very well, I guess I will be in your care for now." Homura reluctantly lowers her head and gives Tamako a nod. The mature woman looks positively ecstatic as a result.
"Wonderful! I always want to raise a daughter, and my idiot of a son could learn something about responsibility by having a sibling." Tamako claps her hands together while Nobita lets out a undignified grumble at her remark. "That means you are expected to be in school by tomorrow young lady. I won't raise my daughter to be a NEET."
For a moment, Homura is completely speechless at Tamako's ability of jumping from point to point. And judging from the response of her 'brother', Homura is once again not alone.
"Aren't we forgetting something..." Nobita rises his hand as if trying to get some attention from his mother. "Homura just said she got stuck in the past. So she doesn't exist in this timeline. How can we make her enroll in a school, and by tomorrow morning no less if she has no record in our government system?"
"Easily solved, DORABEY!" Tamako snaps her finger as she calls out the blue Incubator's name. Both cute alien abominations reappear out of the shadow from the corner.
"I take your discussion is done?" The blue Incubator turns his head and look at the four humans in the room one after another with curiosity in his eyes.
"Homura needs some document forged to enroll her into my son's middle school. Make it happen." Tamako turns around and orders Dorabey like a queen ordering her most loyal servant. Homura doesn't like the fact Tamako is relying on the Incubator's help to get her document forged. Then again, she suppose those damn vermin will discover her secret one way or another.
"Who's going to sell his soul for this contract?" Homura let out a scowl at Tamako's request as she takes a quick look at Nobita. Well... this moron is the only one in the room left with a soul to sell to Satan's little helper.
"Don't worry Homura, it's not a contract but a favor. Consider this as my way to repay Tamako for feeding me... and also..." Dorabey leisurely stroll besides Tamako's feet before he extend out his fluffy rabbit ear out like begging for a treat. "...DORAYAKI~!"
"Here you go, you greedy honey badger." Tamako takes another Dorayaki treat out of the cupboard and drop it into Dorabey's ear. Kyubey's reaction to such exchange is to simply cock his head sideways.
"I can never understand your fascination with that particular kind of food." Kyubey says with his usual emotionless tone.
"And I can never understand how you go about for more than 600 years with your business without enjoying your life in the slightest." Dorabey swishes his tail across Kyubey's face like he's trying to slap the white vermin before disappearing into the night once again.
／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
With that short exchange, it is decided Homura will be going to Saigaku Middle School with her 'brother' under the name of Homura Nobi. The time travelling Magical Girl doesn't have any objection to such arrangement. Eighteen years is an awfully long time to sit through if she just lie on her back and does nothing. School is as good a place to pass the time as any.
Although there is a tingling sensation in the back of Homura's mind something bad will happen. She can't figure out the source of this impending doom feeling so she shoves it into the back of her mind like every other thought she can't figure out.
"I'll take it to the sink." A voice makes Homura rises her head as someone's hand pick up the empty mug on the wooden floor. She sees her 'brother' Nobita Nobi standing in front of her, sweat dripping down from both his messy short hair and his head from the intense work out. The raven haired Magical Girl supposes she should say something to her 'brother' on account of being polite. Although she's at a loss for word what should be said. She's never been talkative for one reason or another when she's with other girls, let along with a boy.
"...Isn't it too early to practice for baseball season?" After a short second of pondering Homura decide to throw in the towel and just speak out the first thing on her mind.
"Maybe, but I don't want to get sloppy. Last year our school team lost in the first round." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he exit the room.
That brief attempt at conversation goes well... Nobita didn't immediately starts antagonizing her like Sayaka, so that's a success in Homura's book.
Homura hears the sound of the shower turning on after a short time. So her 'brother' is in the shower. He probably wants to wash all the sweat and dirty away after a heavy exercise. While this is going on, the raven haired Magical Girl decide to stop looking at the wall and take a short walk around her new 'home'. Her exploration ends up in a boy's room which she assume belongs to her 'brother'.
The iron clad time traveller gets the impression from a bookshelf mainly consist of manga on the left side wall. It's not surprising as Nobita doesn't come off as the literature type. Other than the bookshelf, there's the closet on the right side, and a desk right against far side wall and window which overlooks the garden.
It is quite a simple room to the point of being shabby at this age. Upon closer inspection Homura realizes the room is much neater than she initially thought. There's no rubbish on the desk, and all the study materials are well arranged. Even the manga and a few encyclopedia on the bookshelf is in alphabetical order.
While Homura enjoys reading, she's never a manga type and she much prefers old school literature rather than graphic novels. That becomes especially true when her whole life turned into some perverted version of Magical Girl manga. She finds it rather insulting when some idiotic protagonist in a manga can pull off some stupid stunt to save the day due to plot convenience, but herself forever lives in agonizing failure.
Still, one of Homura better known acquaintance is a big time manga and anime fan. During one of the earlier timelines when Homura still bothers to make friend with everyone, said friend of her tries to convert her down the path of manga. It doesn't go well due to various reasons.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Getter Robo... all the battle and mecha oriented Shonen manga reminds Homura of Sayaka's room. Except the blue head's shelf is a complete mess.
Homura traces her eye along her finger that runs over the edge of the bookshelf. An old manga suddenly catches the raven haired girl's attention as she pulls it out of the shelf: Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka.
／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
Homura doesn't know what she should do when Sayaka invited Madoka and herself for a home visit. Especially since the blue haired tomboy seems to be from a different dimension than the more literature savvy, glasses wearing nerdy girl. She looks at the bookcase in complete wonder, reading through the names of Sayaka's manga collection.
"So, what do you want to watch Homura-Chan? I got Dragon Ball Z, GT, Macross 7, and Gundam Wing." The tomboy with short blue hair throws her bag into a chair as she starts pulling out jewel cases one after another from her anime collection and throw them into a small pile on the floor.
"Ah... I don't know. I never heard of those animations before." Homura gives the excited looking blue head a sheepish smile. That is not exactly the truth, the truth is more like the raven haired girl didn't even know what animation is as she always prefer to immerse herself to an old fashioned literature book than something more graphical. Right now she seems to be learning a different language from Sayaka despite said blue head is speaking perfect Japanese.
"Really? Not even Dragon Ball? Have you been living under a rock? That's like, one of the most-est popular-est anime in forever!" Sayaka jumps up to her feet as she holds the jewel case of Dragon Ball Z into Homura's face. It is almost like the blue head believes rubbing the jewel case into Homura's face will somehow trigger the switch for a non-existing memory. Homura feels her breath is getting heavier despite she's no longer burdened by her heart condition due to her being a Magical Girl.
"Please don't be too hard on Homura-Chan, Sayaka-Chan. Besides, I didn't even know about Dragon Ball till you start asking me to watch that anime with you." Madoka steps in front of Sayaka and Homura, holding Sayaka's left hand with her right, and Homura's right hand with her left. "Let's just have a fun afternoon together. Do you have any recommendation, Sayaka-Chan?"
"Then how about we watch my favourite? Gurren Lagann!" Sayaka suddenly pulls a blanket and tie it around her neck like a cape. The tomboy grabs her baseball bat and rest it on her shoulder like a sword. She throws Dragon Ball Z onto the floor and pull out another Jewel Case while staring Homura with a serious face. "Homura!"
"H..Hai!" Homura instinctively stands straight up and gives a meek reply.
"Stop believing in yourself! Believe in Sayaka and Madoka who believe in you!" The blue head points her index finger at Homura with an extremely commanding voice. Sayaka looks very impressive to Homura for a second before bursting out of laughter. "Pretty neat huh? It's a quote from my favourite character in Gurren Lagann."
"Yes... it is very neat. Although what does it mean?" Madoka claps her hand while cheering her friend before giving Sayaka a no clue face. The blue head almost fall over as a result.
Homura bends down to her knees and start looking over Sayaka's anime collection while the blue head busies herself explaining to Madoka the greatness of her quote, and by extension the anime. The raven haired girl starts to trace her finger and pulls out an anime that feels a bit more... adorable?
"Princess Knight?" Homura takes a good look at the picture on the cover. It features a girl dressed in a medieval style hat and a blue shirt. While Homura thinks the girl look pretty in her own way, there's something you don't associate the cover character with the tradition meaning of being a 'princess'. Her posture looks boyish and heroic despite also being feminine.
It is a rather strange mix, but Homura has to admit it works.
"Ah! What's my mom's old anime doing in my collection!" The jewel case quickly gets snatched away by Sayaka. When Homura looks at the blue head, she realizes Sayaka has a fierce blush on her head that makes her look like a ripe apple.
"Isn't that a blue-ray? I wasn't aware they used to make blue-ray back when Mrs. Miki watch anime." Madoka pokes one finger on her own chin as she inspects the jewel case of Princess Knight.
"Well... mom didn't have enough money to buy it when she was young, so she bought this when it got a blue-ray re-release..." Sayaka starts to twitch her feet together as she holds the jewel case in front of her chest and looks at the floor.
"Sayaka-Chan, just because you are brave doesn't mean you can't like cute things. It's okay to admit you also like Shojo manga as well as Shonen manga." Madoka steps in front of Sayaka to look at her best friend in the face as she closes her hands around the blue head's hands. "What do you say we watch some Princess Knight for today?"
"I... also want to watch this anime with you two." Homura closes her own hand around Madoka's hand with a light, but warm smile on her face.
"Alright! Princess Knight it is! I'll have you two know this series is created by Osamu Tezuka the godfather of manga and anime. It's often credited as THE first Shojo manga and anime..."
／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
Unknown to Homura, a smile moves up her lip as she starts to think about the happier time of her past... or is it future consider she's stuck 18 years in the past. She didn't hear the sound of someone turning the door knob, or the footsteps of her 'brother' until it's too late.
"I see you are one for the old school." Nobita's voice makes Homura tosses the manga into air in surprised like a kid who gets caught stealing from a cookie jar. She awkwardly tries to catch the book as she waves her hand in front of her. She lets out a breath of relief when she manages to catch the manga between her fingers.
Then the raven haired girl hears a faint rip sound, as half of the pages of Astro boy tears apart and falls on her foot with a thud. Homura stares between the pages on the tatami floor and her fingers before moving her gaze on Nobita.
"It can't be helped... Astro Boy is fairly old so it's only a matter of time before the pages start to fall off." Nobita lets out a defeated sigh as he walks in front of Homura and pick up the fallen pages up. "Does you foot hurt?"
"No, it doesn't... I didn't realize you are one for the old school either... brother." The word brother goes through Homura's teeth like running a stone through the surface of glass panel as she tries to adjust to this new disposition. Still, the glasses wearing buffoon doesn't seem to mind. He is probably too thick headed to even notice.
"I feel nostalgic about old times when things are simpler. It's not like contemporary manga where most ideas are done to death. Most new manga artist goes for the extreme for the sake of being extreme to get popularity from viewers rather than make good stories." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he takes out the other half of Astro Boy from her hand. He put both together before sliding it back into its proper place on the shelf.
Homura remains speechless for a brief moment. It seems her 'brother' possess some insight uncommon to a buffoon. While she stares at Nobita in confusion, the boy walks to his desk and turn on the lamp. "Do you mind flipping the switch at the door? I concentrate better when there's only my lamp."
So he is the kind of bookworm that buries his head at the middle of a dark quiet night with only the light of a lamp illuminating his study material... very typical old school Japanese nerd. Then again... Homura thinks over all the time she would leave her own apartment dark except one single lamp while mapping out her battle plan to prevent Madoka from contracting with Kyubey. She doesn't exactly has solid ground to criticize Nobita.
Homura silently oblige to Nobita's request. She watches her 'brother' working some math problem in silence. She quietly goes to the shelf and picks up Astro Boy again and sits beside Nobita's desk. She'd prefer to read something with a bit more class, such as the work of Alexander Dumas. But if she needs to walk down the path of manga like Sayaka wanted... Homura suppose she can't do better than the godfather of manga.
I guess it's okay to fall into self-indulgence once in a while... The raven haired girl thinks to herself as she remembers one timeline when she convinces Mami to become an idol, makes Kyoko into Mami's successor who patrols Mitakihara and helps Sayaka winning Kyousuke Kamijou's heart. It is... refreshing to be in a timeline where her former friends all live relatively happier life before she reset the timeline once again to try to save Madoka.
"It's bad for your eye sight if you read manga like this." She catches Nobita's voice over her head. The voice is filled with only concern for her well-being.
"No need to worry. Being a Magical Girl means I can easily fix any problem my body has."
"Must be handy..." Nobita lets out another undignified grumble as he goes back to his study material. The two of them sits within the dim light of the lamp in silence, each going on with their own business till midnight steadily approaches.
"That's all for tonight." Nobita stretches his arm skywards as he lets out a yawn. He moves to the closet and takes out his futon. "Now that I think about it... where will you be sleeping?"
"The roof is as good as any." Homura closes the manga and stands up as she looks out Nobita's window and sees the roof for the first floor. "Or I can take the hot table in the living room."
"That won't do. You take my futon, and I'll take the hot table." The raven haired girl turns to look at the glasses wearing buffoon with doubt in her eyes. "You may be a Magical Girl, but I'm more talented at fallen asleep. I lost count of times I fallen asleep when the teacher punishes me by making me stand in the hallway."
"That's... not something to be proud of." Homura feels the need to scowl but settles for a heavy sigh instead. She is slowly getting used to her idiot of a brother's quirky nature.
"When you have very little reason to be proud of yourself, you find every little thing to boast just so your ego doesn't shatter all over the floor." Nobita gives Homura a shrug and then a salute as he turns away and exit his room. "Sleep tight."
Homura remains silent and unmoving in place for a few more moments as she thinks over the bitter looking smile on the face of her 'brother'. The raven haired Magical Girl breaks her trance and stares at the futon Nobita leaves in his room. Sleeping in a boy's futon... that's a thought never run crosses Homura's head.
It's not like she's disgusted at this idea She's just unsure what she'll ends up finding in a boy's bed. Slowly, the stoic time traveller makes her way to the futon like a Witch hides in there. She turns the thick blanket over before lying on the sheet and then covers herself. It may be a bit anti-climactic, but all she feels is how much warmer the futon feels compare to her single bed in her old apartment.
It's probably just her imagination. With a final wish to have a tearful reunion with Madoka in her dream as well as the hope of not waking up on an operating table being probed by Incubators, Homura Akemi - or Homura Nobi as of tomorrow - the iron clad Magical Girl, the stoic time travelling solider, slowly lets sleep over take her.