"Yo, Nobita, you dog! Who did you have to NTR to got that cute babe walking beside you, because she's way above your level!" The boy with light colored short hair spastically waves his hand at Nobita as he runs up to Homura's 'brother'. Judging from this kind of action this boy is a bigger idiot than her 'brother'.
Nobita ties his brows into a knot as the overly enthusiastic Nakazawa look alike throws one arm around his neck. "'Aren't we still in the age group that hate all girls because of cooties' you said... yet, you of all people ends up with a girl way before me or Hide-Hime. Aren't you going to introduce her to me?"
Hideki Nakazawa is one of the two male students whose name is known by Homura. That's mainly thank to her home room teacher Satome's tendency of bullying the clown after love life failures. What Homura remembers about the boy is he has a fondness of literature of all things if you can believe it. Despite this common interest Homura certainly doesn't consider Nakazawa one of her friend. That clown is simply too obnoxious for any possible friendship with Homura. Judging by the striking resemblance this boy is a close relative. Either Hideki's father, or an uncle considering the timeframe.
"I'm not in a relationship with my own sister." Nobita rolls his eyes at Nakazawa. Homura fights the urge to rises an eyebrow when she notices Nakazawa's face seem to light up after hearing the word 'sister'. This older Nakazawa will do something stupid or annoy if he is anything like the Nakazawa Homura knows.
"I didn't even know you had a sister before. Is she a lost twin at birth because of a hospital fire, or a Kaiju attack, or an alien invasion..."
"You do now real life is nothing like manga right?" As much as Homura wants to agree with her 'brother' she is reminded of her current state as a Magical Girl. Of course, real life Magical Girl is not as magical as made up ones from manga.
"Alien invasion... maybe." Homura mutters quietly with a smirk on her face.
"...That's beside the point. Nobita, old buddy, old pal. You are going to introduce your best-est friend Hideo Nakazawa to your own sister, aren't you?"
So his name is Hideo instead of Hideki... I shouldn't be surprised consider how young Satome and Madoka's mom are. This boy can't be Hideki Nakazawa of course. It doesn't matter. Unless he is secretly a Magical Boy he won't factor into any of my plan...
Homura's mind skips a pulse as the term 'Magical Boy' comes up again in her head. Why did this thing suddenly enters her mind? Surely of hundred of cycle she went through the iron clad time traveller only meet Magical Girls. That may not be strictly true, consider she can't recall her last few timelines other than some fragment of image about Magical Boy. This either means her soul is finally starting to corrupt like all Magical Girls eventually will, or someone decide to wipe her memory of Magical Boy. Both possibilities are equally terrifying to her.
Although the raven haired Magical Girl seems to have a million things running over her head, it only takes a moment in real time.
"Fine..." Nobita rolls his eyes again as he points his finger at Nakazawa while facing Homura. "Homura, Hideo Nakazawa, our class idiot. Nakazawa, Homura Nobi, my sister."
"You aren't the class idiot?" Homura's remark makes Nakazawa burst out laughter. This one is certainly even more loud and obnoxious than his possible son/nephew.
"Touché..." Nobita gives his sister a shrug as the three of them walks together. The Nobi siblings walk in silence as before while Nakazawa provide the background sound effect.
I should be calm enough by this point now that I can start formulate some kind of plan... long term plan preferably as I'm stuck in the past. Yes, some goals to anchor myself into reality is always good, just like how I repeated my cycles past hundred times or so.
How about some priority list? That's always a good thing. What should I put on the top of that list?
I want to see Madoka...
I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see I want to see...
"Nobita old pal. You still haven't answered my question yet. Last time I checked you are the only child in your family for 13 years. How did you suddenly get a sister old as yourself?" The chirpy voice of Hideo slowly starts to grad on Homura's nerve as she tries to think some more about her situation. While it's highly distracting, Homura does realize how Hideo acts is much more normal then her 'brother' or herself for a middle school student. After all, they should be young enough to not have a single care in the world.
"Ok... two things: Number one, you aren't my sassy best friend. Number two, Homura and I aren't really siblings. Homura is more like my distant cousin who just lost her folks so she's living with us now..." The time traveller swears Hideo's face suddenly turns from cheerful and happy to 'I'm going to murder you' within a split second as Nobita mentions the word 'distant cousin'. As much as she hates sounding like Kyubey of all creatures, this display of face changing is actually quite intriguing.
"WHAT! You means you get to do all those enviable things living together under one roof thingy with a sister like figure who aren't related to you by blood! Like sleeping together, eating together, bumping into her when trying to take a bath so you get to see her half naked..." Hot steam starts to escape the ear and nose of the older generation Nakazawa as he stares down at Nobita like a raging bull while shaking Nobita furiously by his collar.
"You do realize we aren't living in an harem comedy manga, and I'm not its typical useless bumblefuck protagonist." Nobita rebukes Hideo's outburst with a sigh of self-defeat. A pair of hand suddenly breaks those two boys apart while Homura still tries to decide if she should continue towards the school by herself or separate the idiot brigade. Out of the corner of her eyes Homura realizes Nobita steals a quick glance at her. Her glasses wearing 'brother' grumbles in a quiet but still audible voice due to her Magical Girl enhanced hearing. "Besides, I don't want to get a bullet to the head..."
She should have know giving those two damned Incubator a headshot each would cause some kind of repercussion. Oh well, at least it goes better than all the timelines with Madoka or Sayaka.
"I know you aren't shy at showing your affection to your friend Hideo, but don't you think that's a bit too much?" The pair of slim, yet surprisingly strong hand belong to a boy with well groomed long hair who separates the boys out of their scuffle. Even at first glance Homura realize this is one of the good boys in school. His well ironed and neatly dressed uniform is a very good indication. His soft almost effeminate feature (not helped by his hair style) reminds Homura of a certain boy from her own class if a bit less towards artistic and more towards academic spectrum.
It's at this point Homura suddenly realize she has no idea who this boy reminds herself of. The only other boy she knows fairly well from her timeline is Kyousuke Kamijo: The musical prodigy who Sayaka Miki hopelessly fall in love with. At the surface Kyousuke Kamijo appears to be the one she's thinking of but a small back portion of her brain keeps on whispering to her. As she tries to concentrate on this line of thought further, she seems to glimpse a lock of purple hair as well as a sharp pain in her head that staggers her sideways into a wall. As she tries to regain her composure a bombardment of different voices start to assault her still echoing ears.
"Why are you holding me back Nobita? Can't you see I'm trying to help your sister?"
"You are either insane or stupid if you think I'll let you take advantage of Homura while she's dazed."
"YOU TWO ARE ALREADY ON A FIRST NAME BASIS!?"
"Are you okay, Miss? Do you need a hand?"
Homura turns around to see the effeminate boy offering his hand towards her for support while her 'brother' has Nakazawa in a sleeper hold. The raven haired Magical Girl softly shakes her head as she stands on her feet again.
She has to do something about this lost memory of her. Although in hindsight she should only do it when she's at home or alone. It draws too much attention if she keeps on losing conscious. The hospital driven Homura Akemi may secretly desires some attention to herself but that craving has fled to kingdom come as soon as she enters Mitakihara Middle School and she's bombarded by questions from other students.
"Alright, but if you really don't feel well please don't hesitate to ask for help." The effeminate boy gives an understanding nod as he turns towards Nobita. "Nobita-Kun, does your friend always have this problem where she spontaneously loses her conscious."
"No, it's first time she's out like a light." Nobita releases Hideo as he looks at the third boy while scratches his head. "I only met her last afternoon though."
"YOU TWO ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER FOR LESS THAN A DAY AND YOU TWO ARE ALREADY..."
"Shut up, Hideo." Nobita shoves his hand right up Hideo's mouth, turning his angry shout into a muffled grunting noise. "I should introduce her to you Dekisugi. Homura, Hidetoshi Dekisugi, our class prodigy. Dekisugi, Homura Nobi, my adopted sister."
"Nobita gives me too much credit... I'm the same as everyone else if slightly more persistent. Anyways, it's a pleasure to meet you Nobi-San." Dekisugi gives Homura a formal bow which confirms Homura's suspicion he is one of the good boys of the class. "I hope you'll enjoy attending our school."
"Same." Homura gives Dekisugi a solid look for a second before she returns his friendly gesture and reluctantly squeezes out a response. For some reason she feels wary of Dekisugi's image of a perfect gentleman. Maybe it is caused Mami's complete breakdown. That little event makes her weary of all the 'perfect at first glance' type. Surely they all hide some skeleton in their closet. Homura wonders what is Dekisugi's skeleton.
"How is your study coming alone Nobita? Our math contest is next week." Dekisugi either doesn't catch the badly hidden distain in Homura's voice or choose to not mind it. The effeminate boy turns to Nobita as he walks in between Nobita and Hideo to block out their leering contest.
"Not as good as I'd like, our family adopting Homura and all... real storm of shenanigans, but I can't complain. And hey, Saigaku still has you if I drop the ball." Nobita gives Homura a quick look before he lets out a shrug. Dekisugi doesn't say anything other than giving Nobita a pat on the shoulder and squeezes hard on Nobita's shoulder.
"Damn you Nobita, why does all the good things happen to you? Why can't I get a beautiful step-sister living under one roof with me. And to top it off... you rub it in my face by complain about it!" Hideo gets down on his knees while throws his arms skyward in an overly exaggerated posture.
"Maybe the reason you are unlucky with the girls is because you act like a creep all the time." Nobita stares at Hideo with an utter contempt in his brown eyes as he lets out an exasperate sigh.
While her 'brother' is busy being stupid with his friend Homura decide to go back to her thoughts. She takes a deep breath and starts to think over her situation once again. Aside from the assumption she can't regain the control of her power due to her soul gem's unique status... there's also some good thing about stuck in the past. For one she's no longer working around the rather limited one month schedule for preparation. She will have a lots of chances to challenge Walpurgisnacht as long as she keeps herself and Madoka's parents safe.
It will be a much easier task than keeping Madoka safe consider her parents won't be tempted by Kyubey at making a contract. This means she should start looking out for Magical Girls around Mitakihara/Saigaku and groom them into fighting the mega Witch if the damn thing shows up in the intervening years.
That's a good priority: keep her soul gem relatively clean and start recruiting other Magical Girls as the muscle if Walpurgisnacht show up.
Although that line of thinking brings her back to the particular newspaper article she read back about a hundred loops ago: The devastation of Saigaku, which lead to the city being rebuild into modern Mitakihara. While the devastation is Walpurgisnacht level the time of the disaster doesn't match. It takes place around the end of the year, Christmas time rather than may 1st which is the only day Walpurgisnacht show up.
Could it be there's another mega Witch she never learns about? And what would be that particular Witch that can very well rival Walpurgisnacht's destructive power? The Krampus?
Wouldn't that be a remarkable sight... a giant horned goat man destroying a city while a collection of Magical Girls try to halt its progress...
"Hello... Earth to Homura, we are at school now." A distant voice as well as a waving hand snaps Homura back to reality. The time traveller looks up and realize she almost walk right pass the gate of the school as her 'brother' trying to get her attention.
"I was distracted..." Homura turns to look at the gate and realizes a girl with blue hair standing behind the gate. The girl has a very serious face, and inspect every single student walking through with a stern look. The armband on one of her arm read the word 'discipline committee' which explains why. As if that's not enough... this girl is wearing one of those old style spirit head band.
If this girl is who Homura think she is... then Homura just learned how Sayaka Miki turns out the way she is.
"That's Ichijou Hibari, one of the member on our school's discipline committee. She takes her job VERY seriously." Nobita leans against Homura and quietly whispers into her ear before walking towards Hibari. The last name doesn't match but consider it's her maiden name there's still a very good chance this girl is Sayaka's mother. Homura won't know for sure since she's never been close enough to Sayaka to know her mother other than Mrs. Miki.
"Good morning Hibari. I see you are still hard at work." Nobita puts on an obvious fake smile as he waves at Hibari. "So... my step sister's transfer paper got a little mixed, that's why she's here on such short notice and without her uniform or books. Can we go through to see the teachers and get it sorted out?"
Hibari raises one of her eyebrow as if accessing Nobita's story before casting her sight on Homura before looking back at Nobita while waving her fist. "I don't like waving the rules. Go and get your sister registered with school board and get a uniform for her. You better not be lying to me or else it's two weeks of clean up duty after school."
"Ok, we'll be gone now." Nobita gives the discipline committee member a quick nod before quickly giving Homura the gesture to move through the gate.
The boys shares some small talk about school and the current popular anime before they reach the stairs. "I'll take Homura to third floor, gets her registered with the teacher and all. You two go on without me."
"Oh yeah! Totally looking forward to rub it in Kakashi Sensei's face. I'm on time once in a while... unlike him!" Hideo lets out a snicker as he puts his arms behind his head and walk along the second floor hallway. Dekisugi on the other hand gives a short 'don't tally' before joining Hideo towards their classroom.
"Think your mother's pet Incubator did his job?" Homura turns towards Nobita and realize he's picking his nose with his left little finger. She frowns at such behaviour.
"Wouldn't know. Never met Blue Deadpan McGee in my life. You coming or what?" Nobita doesn't seem to notice her distain just like his friend Dekisugi as he dismissively shakes the snot off his hand.
"Let's get it over with." Homura lets out a soft huff as she follows her 'brother' to the third floor. She still doesn't trust this new Incubator but it's apparent she won't learn more about the blue abomination from Nobita.
Contrary to what Homura thinks the registration goes very smoothly. Not as smoothly as all the times she's been admitted to Mitakihara Middle School consider her cover story involve lost transmission paper of course. After a short time of paper work and some scraping the drawers for one of those older style sailor uniform that'll fit her, the time traveller is officially send to Nobita's class.
It's hard to say what Homura is expecting for this brand new class she knows nothing about. Maybe a different yet familiar feeling to her usual Mitakihara class, or a complete alien feeling considering all the new faces she never see all staring at her and brings out her social anxiety like her original timeline.
The ravine haired Magical Girl wasn't expecting a classroom full of students chatting with one another like a farmer's market. Almost nobody paying attention to her which is good. She looks up at the wall mounting clock to make sure she somehow didn't step into an alternate dimension. It's a quarter past class start. Shouldn't the teacher be in the classroom by now?
"Right... I know what you are thinking. Shouldn't the teacher be here by now? Well, let's just say our Kakashi Sensei is a bit quirky." Nobita gives Homura a shrug as he picks up a chalk and starts to write Homura's name on the blackboard. Hideo is the first to notice Homura as he furiously waves his hand towards her and pointing towards an empty desk besides him. To Homura's dismay, the clown manages to draw most people's attention towards her.
Homura Akemi shouldn't have any nervous feeling about introducing herself to a class consider she's done it hundred times already. Not to mention all the fighting with Witches and their Familiars should make her fearless by now. But when she's facing a complete different set of faces she suddenly feel herself as nervous as the first loop where she's not a time traveller or a Magical Girl. She feel like her steadfast solider like mask begins to crumble, and that helpless and socially awkward nerdy girl with twin braids and glasses starts to come out again.
Hold yourself together damn it! It's not like you are facing Walpurgisnacht. You are just doing a mundane task you completed hundreds of times.
"I am Homura Ak..." She almost bites her own tongue and trip over herself despite standing perfectly still. Isn't it such a great feeling when you screw up the first step of an extremely simple task?
"I mean... I am Homura Nobi, the transfer student here at Saigaku Middle School. I hope to get along with everyone."
The ravine haired Magical Girl can feel her face burning up a little. She quickly steps towards the back of the class towards an empty seat way back. Homura has about one second of catching up her breath before the student in front of her turned back to face her with a challenging stare.
"So you are close with four eye frogger huh? Maybe you can teach him how to stand up for himself. You pretty strong, pushing me off my feet like that. Up for a little arm wrestle before class?" The girl with short purple hair slams her elbow on Homura's desk.
It takes Homura's somewhat addled mind a few moments to register the person who is talking to her: Junko Kaname, Madoka's mother in her early teens. Well... her last name is not Kaname consider she hasn't married yet.
It surprises Homura that the mother of Madoka Kaname - a usually timid girl unless she's facing against Witches or their familiars in her Magical Girl form - can be this forceful in youth. If Homura didn't know any better, she would almost assume Junko will raise Kyoko rather than someone remotely similar to Madoka.
The time traveller wonders if Madoka's personality is affected more by her father rather than her mother. After all Madoka's father does have that gentle and kind feeling Madoka radiant for the few times Homura visits Kaname resident. If only the time traveler can remember the name of Madoka's father to make sure he doesn't get entangled into any Magical Girl business and dies before Madoka can be born. Oh well, at least she got the last name to go on. And if all things go the way it suppose to (which Homura highly doubt due to her cynicism) Junko will ends up meeting Madoka's father sometime down the line.
"Hey! I'm talking with you! Don't get cocky just because you pushed me on my bum two days ago! I bet I can beat you in an arm wrestle right now I'm serious!" Junko's angry shout snaps Homura right back into reality once again. Yes... Junko is starting to look more and more like Kyoko the homeless Magical Girl if a tad bit more aggressive rather than cheeky.
"Ah~, don't be so hard on our new friend. She's obviously still nervous to be in a new class." Another girl with purple hair turns around to gently pat Junko on her shoulder. The competitive pre-teen mother of Madoka seems to relax at this gesture as her shoulder becomes less tense.
"Alright. I still don't like how cocky she acts though. Does she think she's too good for us or something..." Junko pout out her cheeks as she grumbles some complain under her breath.
"I'm Yukiko Keishoutto by the way, and Miss 'I will eat your face' is Junko Ryugu. Nice to meet you." Yukiko, the other purple haired girl gives Junko a nudge as she extend her hands towards Homura.
Homura looks at Yukiko's hand in confusion. On the one hand she has no need to take it. This girl is not related to Madoka in anyway therefore her well being is completely superfluous to Homura's mission. On the other hand... isn't it nice to have a bit of a break once in a timeline? That was Homura's attitude dyrubg one of the timeline she tries to give each Magical Girl she knows a happy life. She convinced Mami Tomoe to semi-retire as a Magical Girl and become an idol to cure the veteran's loneliness. She helps Sayaka Miki gets together with the boy that mermaid princess had a crash since childhood. She even give Kyoko Sakura the area of Mitakihara so the homeless Magical Girl can hoard all the Grief Seed to her heart's content.
As much as Homura doesn't want to admit any of her own weakness... that timeline always brings a warm feeling deep down. It is also the reason why she reset the time even before facing Walpurgisnacht. She can't bear to see the happy life of all the girls get ruined if any of them die.
"...Nice to meet you too." After a short pause, Homura finally takes Yukiko's hand. Her hand feels surprisingly warm, just like that cup of hot coco from last night.
"See this, Junko? Homuhomu-Chan isn't cocky, she's just a little slow. You need to give her more time to work things out at her own pace."
"Homu... Homu-Chan?" Homura fights the urge to raise her eyebrow and voice as she gives Yukiko a puzzling look. It's not the first time someone gives her a nickname (Once again Kyoko comes to mind), but a nickname that sounds this 'cute' doesn't fits her current appearance at all. Maybe it fits the old timid and nervous Homura.
"Yes, it's cute isn't it? You should smile more often. I bet you'll look real pretty if you smile... with a nice dress. Or if you like to remain all serious and ice queen... you should maybe wear some boy's cloth. A traditional butler's uniform is fine. Yes, indeed... I bet you'll be a smashing hit with all the ladies if you dress up as with a black tux with that cool and mysterious vibe you got here!" Homura can practically see enthusiastic lights sparkle in Yukiko's eyes. She has a distinct feeling this energetic and bubbly girl is seeing her as some kind of real life dress-up doll. It's borderline freakish in its own way.
It's a good thing Homura doesn't need to deal with this bubbly girl anymore as a teacher with shaggy white hair finally walks into the classroom. "Good morning class, I..."
"...Lost my way on the road of life this morning." Most students shouts out in unison before burst out laughing. It surprises Homura a bit that the teacher doesn't look too bothered for being made the butt of the joke. From her previous experience, if someone dare to make fun of Satome sensei for getting dumped by her boyfriend again there'll be hell to pay.
"Ah, everyone's informed. Good, we can jump straight into today's lesson then..." The teacher scratches his hair as he seem to notice the name on the blackboard. His eyes quickly surveys the classroom before settling on Homura. It can be her overactive instinct but Homura swears there's a stinging feeling in the teacher's laid back eyes. "Right... we have a new student here. Judging from the name... Miss Homura is related to Mr. Nobita then?"
"Yes Kakashi Sensei. She is my adopted sister who just arrived last night." Homura turns to look at her 'brother'. It's a good thing he takes over the introduction for her because Homura doesn't feel like repeat herself to the teacher and other students.
"I see. Well, I hope you'll have fun with my class. Learning things is important and all, but you are only 14 once so try to have some fun while you learn new things." Homura can't help but smirk in her own mind at being 14 for ten years or so. Although to be fair... she rarely have fun while repeating her cycles.
"Let's start with something simple to ease our new student into her groove shall we?" Kakashi Sensei doesn't seem to notice Homura's hidden contempt as he pulls out a hat from his suit. The hat is almost filled to the brim with folded paper bits. How he manages to keep this thing within his suit without spill it all over is beyond Homura. "Since we are having a language class let's start out with a fun activity. Everyone takes one paper and pass the hat back."
As the hat is being passed back, Kakashi Sensei continue his speech. "Now, it is important to learn proper spelling and grammar of any language. But what is the purpose of both written or oral language: communication with others. Therefore it's equally important to decipher the meaning behind other people's speech. In this exercise all of you will be arranged into a group of four and two of you engage in a conversation. The two students who listen to the conversation will try to decipher what the speaker is thinking about through their tone and body language..."
Homura doesn't know what to think about this activity. It feels like something one would make up in a moment of insanity during bath because the water is too hot. On one hand she doesn't like how she'll have to be forced to talk with other student. On the other hand... it probably will be more fun than repeating Satome's mundane class for another time. The hat lands on her hand so she picks up a paper before passing the hat alone. After the groups are sorted Homura realizes she's in a group with Hideo, Hidetoshi and Yukiko.
This is going to end up well...
Out of curiosity Homura looks toward the direction of her 'brother'. It seems like he's sitting together with a girl. Both of them looking at Junko and a girl with green hair and a very bald forehead engaging in staring contest.
"Yes...YES!" Homura's attention snaps back to her own group as Hideo lets out a muffled exclamation while pumping his fist. The possible father/uncle of Hideki Nakazawa is clenching his fist tightly with both of his eyes shut. Homura can read Hideo's barely contained excitement out of his twitching face despite not being able to see his eyes.
"Hideo is definitely thinking about how happy he is. He really wants to know Homuhomu-Chan better doesn't he?" Yukiko gives Homura a mischievous looking wink as she rest her chin on her own hand. The fact Homura agrees with Yukiko makes the time travelling Magical Girl even more uncomfortable.
"I'll start the exercise with Hideo, the two of you try to guess what we are thinking about." Homura looks toward the direction of Hidetoshi Dekisugi. The gentlemanly pretty boy gives Homura a knowing smile as he turns toward Hideo. "Shall we start, Hideo?"
"Geez... aren't you a good Samaritan." Hideo rolls his eyes backwards as he lets out a huff. "Let's get the show on the road then. You are also trying to get on Homura's good side aren't you?"
Yes... this Hideo guy is definitely bitter how Hidetoshi stolen his chance to talk with me... Although there may be some truth behind his accusation. I'm never comfortable with the overly friendly type... not after Mami's complete break down anyways.
"Of course. We are going to be in the same class for some time. It's only natural to be friendly with one another." Dekisugi answers Hideo's malicious accusation with a smile and a nod. Homura can't help but feel more and more distain from this boy.
Deep down the iron clad time traveller realizes she's being unfair to Dekisugi because of her past experience with Mami. There is a chance Dekisugi simply does have the patience of a saint. Alas, in Homura's rather cynical mind the pretty boy is simply another wolf wearing the skin of a sheep.
"Pfft... I'm thinking you just don't want to talk with Yukiko here. Admit it, you are afraid she'll make you wear a dress again. You know Dekisugi, you look much better in a dress than a pair of pants anyways. Maybe you should just give up and let Yukiko pick your wardrobe." Homura raises one eyebrow at Yukiko. It seems like this bubbly purple head has set her eyes on more than one real life dress-up doll. Yukiko seems to notice Homura's gaze as she turns towards Homura and gives the time traveller a knowing wink.
"Well... I am still a boy, am I not? And I am very happy with the gender I am born with, despite what others like to gossip." Homura swears she sees a glimmer of fear in the effeminate pretty boy's eyes. Homura has to admit it comes off rather strange to her. From her memory, effeminate boy doesn't seem to have this much fear when it comes to cross dressing especially when they have a hair style that make them look even more girly...
Homura feel a sharp pain in her head as her head gets dizzy once again.
Right... have to stop thinking about girly looking pretty boys. This memory block thing is really annoying. Not as annoying as my soul gem turns transparent, or losing control of my power...
"Are you okay Nobi-San? You look like you are about to pass out again." When Homura regains her composure she realizes Dekisugi is looking at her with concern in his eyes.
"I'm fine. It's... sympathy pain. Last time one of my... 'friend'..." Homura has to wait a good whole second to swallow back the disgust in her voice. She pops her water bottle open and gets ready to have a drink. "...played dress up, a whole lot of shenanigans happened."
The time traveller can't help but think of that one timeline when Mami Tomoe goes completely loopy. The blond veteran Magical Girl proclaims herself the queen of Mitakihara. She makes everyone dress up like her down to that ridicules golden twin drill hair style. The self-proclaimed queen of Mitakihara even forces everyone to have ten tea parties every day. It's no wonder Mami Tomoe is the Dress Up Witch when she turns.
"Sounds like a handful... well, I hope you won't miss your old friend too much being in a new city and all..."
You have no idea...
"...but all of us here at Saigaku are friendly. Even the more competitive ones like Junko..." Dekisugi turns his head towards Junko who is currently having a sumo wrestling match with the green haired girl... with their forehead.
Homura almost barf out the mouthful of water she takes a moment ago.
"But anyways... what I'm saying is... it's never too late to make new friends right... ouch, ouch, ouch!" Dekisugi's friendly chat turns into painful yell as Hideo pulls his long hair.
"Hidetoshi Dekisugi you dog! Volunteer to do the exercise with me to raise your relationship point with Homura, and then proceed to chat with her! I aren't letting you finish 'Homura route' under my watch!" Hideo says with a cheeky smirk before Kakashi Sensei gives him a light tap on the head with a textbook.
"No physical violence Mr. Nakazawa."
Even with the wackiness Homura can't help but find there's some truth in Dekisugi's speech. She's not going to see any of her old 'friends' anytime soon consider she no longer has full control of her power. Right now she should focus on more productive things rather than slump in self pity. Walpurgisnacht remains the biggest threat in keeping Madoka safe once she's born. That means she should use all this extra time to formulate some kind of plan to take the mega Witch down. Preferably without herself dying in the process, or one of the Magical Girls in this timeline turn into an even more powerful Witch in the process.
She does remember during one of the timelines where Kyubey has a slip of tongue. He says something along the line of 'it's the destiny of the Magical Girl who defeats the strongest Witch to become a stronger Witch herself'. Of course, consider Madoka won't be in the current time period, she can simply perform a sympathy killing on the girl who defeat Walpurgisnacht before she fully turns.
Yes, no matter how the time traveller think about it, making connection with current time Magical Girl and rally them against Walpurgisnacht is the best approach. The question is how...
She can go on Witch hunt on her own, and likely bump into other Magical Girl of course. Although this will not be Homura's preferable method consider what Mami Tomoe says to her. Most Magical Girls tend to be fiercely territorial and tend to fight each other over good hunting ground. If she goes in guns blazing there's a good chance she'll end up confront whoever shows up rather than somehow co-operate with them.
Of course... consider the Magical Girls she meets aren't the way Mami describes... The time traveller wonders if that's also something Mami Tomoe makes up to make other girls cling onto her so she can feel good about herself.
The ravine haired Magical Girl remembers something from last night. When the mother of her 'brother' finds out about her identity the housewife asks if that's how Nobita knows about Homura and Magical Girl. He says something about meeting other Magical Girls before their encounter. This means Nobita knows the identity of some current active Magical Girl.
"Can you hear me Nobita?"
"Yes, I can use Magical Girl channel even if I'm not a Magical Boy yet."
"Magical Girl channel... why aren't I surprised you'll give it a stupid name... That's not important. Do you know Magical Girls around here? Contact them for me, I need to discuss something with them."
"Is this some secret Magical Girl to Magical Girl talk? Oh, it's one of those time traveller thing where you need to discuss with them some future event to make a better future right? Like what Trunks did in Dragon Ball Z. Let me see if I can reach one of them... Hey, Miyoko. You there?"
"Yes Nobita. I trust this is an emergency when you have to contact me during class rather than waiting for break or lunch?"
"Not really... that's actually me being a thoughtless jackass. Anyways, my sister is a Magical Girl and she needs to talk with you about something. Do you have time today?"
"I'll wait for the two of you at school gate after class. I'm doing training with Jaiko and Iyo after school and we can meet up together at my house."
"That will be acceptable."Homura comes out of her telepathic link and realize all three of her group members are staring at her with funny expression on their faces. "Is there something wrong?"
"Well, you were looking... thoughtful by yourself." Dekisugi runs his hand over his long hair as he looks out the window.
"Has anybody told you this? You look very cute when you blank out." Homura fights over the urge to either clubber Hideo on the head, or time stop and run out of the class room.
She wonders how long she'll stay sane in the school without Madoka.