All four girls sat around the table below the swinging pendulum. Four white cups of steaming green tea were distributed amongst them, made by Homura, something she usually didn't do. Sayaka lay down, yawning beside Kyouko and her pair of baggy eyes. Across the table Homura and Mami sat, both wide and awake. Homura had called them all together to discuss something she became more aware of after watching the news and reading newspapers, blogs and articles online for further research.

"I know it's pretty early in the morning to discuss matters, but this is important," Homura said. "This past month has shown a dramatic increase in the amount of missing girls, girls our age, around the neighboring cities of Mitakihara. I'm sure you heard a little about some of the cases."

Sayaka yawned again and pulled Kyouko's leg close, her arms wrapping around it, head resting on top of her thigh. Kyouko's eyes widened, mouth opened but she quickly hid her face and any thoughts away. To this day Homura still did not understand those two's true relationship.

"Say what?" Sayaka said. "Never heard about this before. Don't be surprised, though. I don't watch the news all that much."

" 'Fraid I haven't either," Kyouko said.

"I've heard a little about it," Mami said. "What's the problem, Akemi-san? You think this is Magical Girl related?"

"Correct, Tomoe-san. I'm more than sure all these cases are Magical Girl related."

"Hm," Kyouko said, "you think these cases could have resulted from something like territory disputes? Maybe a group of girls got in a fight, the losers died and the winners hid the bodies?"

"That's a little extreme," Sayaka said, eyeing Kyouko. "Plus Homura said this is happening in cities, Kyouko - as in plural. There's no chance something like that could happen in so many places."

"Shaddup," Kyouko retorted.

Mami sighed, a cup of tea in hand. "Girls, it's 7 o'clock in the morning. Find some other time to fight. Akemi-san has important things to say, else we wouldn't be here."

Homura nodded. "I think these cases are all connected to each other somehow."

"What do you think is going on?" Mami asked.

"I'm not sure," Homura said. "Perhaps a sharp increase in demons."

Large increases in demons weren't uncommon. Kyubey once said it had something to do with their attraction to the collective grief of many humans gathered together in one place, a city. Just a couple days ago Homura faced a large herd. A normal Magical Girl likely wouldn't stand a chance against the amount she fought that night. It wasn't impossible that large amounts of demons in other cities followed the grief in the air before engaging in combat with inexperienced Magical Girls too weak to fight back.

"I don't think so," Kyouko said, taking out a box of pocky sticks. She placed one in between her teeth, near a fang. "You said only girls our age are missing. If it was demons doing this then there'd be more than just girls missing. Maybe it's other Magical Girls doing this."

Magical Girls... would there be any insane enough to do this? Maybe, but on such a spread out scale as all these cases? Not likely.

"Let's not make bold accusations," Mami said. "We don't have any facts. All we know is Magical Girls are possibly being targeted.

Sayaka snatched the pocky box from Kyouko's grip, taking a stick, ignoring the redhead's glare. She sat up to dip the pocky stick in her own tea, stirring it inside the cup. Then she devoured the stick in two quick bites, faster than Kyouko.

"Look guys," Sayaka said, "no matter who or what is doing this, we need to put an end to it."

"Sayaka, it's none of our business," Kyouko said. "We don't need to do anything unless we get targeted."

"I actually agree with Kyouko on this one," Mami said. "We can't do much, Miki-san, if they're not coming here. We need to protect this city and ourselves."

"Which is why I've gathered us all here." Homura handled her teacup with calm fingertips before taking a slow sip. "Be on your guard at all times, more so than usual. Stick close to each other. I don't want to find someone missing or dead because of their own stupidity."

Sayaka stood up, looking at the three girls, hoping for at least one of them to join her side. "You guys can't be serious, right? If we stop the situation now, we won't need to worry about anything. We can't just sit around-"

"Oi, Sayaka, calm down and think." Kyouko sighed. "We don't even know what's out there. What are ya gonna do if you're faced with, like, five evil Magical Girls or three dozen demons or somethin'?"

"Easy. I'll kick their asses."

"That was rhetorical."

"I know."

Homura cut in, "This is serious, Miki-san."

Sayaka snapped back at her. "I know that! There's four of us here though. Maybe two of us can search the other cities for a couple of days to find out more information."

Homura remained placid. "Did you forget we have lives, school, and demons here to take care of? Besides, that's dangerous - especially when we don't have much an idea of what we're looking for. Stay here. Stay close. That's the plan."

Sayaka stared up at the enormous pendulum, it's shape reflected and swinging back and forth in her blue eyes.

"I just... want to protect people. Is that so bad?" She tilted her head towards Mami. "Isn't that we're supposed to do?"

Mami frowned. "That's true. But we can't protect everyone, and in this case we need to protect each other. You understand, right?"

"...Yeah," Sayaka murmured under the medium ticks of the pendulum. "Anything else I should be disappointed about? Because if not, I'm leaving."

"Be alert and on the lookout," Homura said. "If you happen to find yourself facing a threat, retreat at all costs. Then regroup with us."

Sayaka's rolled her eyes and she gave a quick salute to Homura. "Yes, Sgt. Akemi!"

Homura responded with a hand running through hair.

Kyouko chuckled.

Mami sipped her tea in a poor attempt to cover the smile on her lips.

"Miki-san, don't do anything rash," she said.

"Yeah, of course. Since when do I?" Sayaka headed towards the door.

Behind her Kyouko trailed. "I'll make sure Sayaka doesn't do anything stupid."

"Ohohoho, and here I thought I'd treat you to some morning ice cream. Guess you don't want any." Sayaka stuck her tongue out at Kyouko after opening the door, then she sprinted off.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry!" Kyouko said, rushing after her.

After the two left, a silence remained. Mami and Homura still sat beside each other. They usually didn't chat other than for battle strategies. Perhaps this would be a good time for small talk - only, what could Homura say? Definitely nothing about Madoka. It would only further alienate Homura from Mami.

Homura didn't care for the average things girls her age talked about like fashion, boys and gossip. From past timelines, she knew Mami cared somewhat for those things, but she wasn't about to start a conversation she didn't care for, nor was she going to start one only she cared about.

Mami faced Homura, looking puzzled, keeping quiet. She tapped her fingers against either thigh several times.

Finally the blonde spoke, "So... Akemi-san, it seems you and I will be together for a while, huh? What do you want to do?"

"Well..." Homura didn't know, but her stomach did; it growled for a good second. She had her hands on her stomach, her face slightly red.

Mami blinked several times before giggling. "Breakfast it is."