Kyouko and Sakaya arrived at at the door of Mami's apartment, late, to Sayaka's displeasure. The blue-haired girl gently knocked on the door, and moments later, they were greeted.
"Welcome back, Kyouko," the blonde warmly smiled. "Come inside now, I prepared some food for us all!"
They all went and sat down at the table, which was much to Kyouko's pleasure adorned with a large cake and a tea set. Homura and Madoka were already seated, Homura carefully sipping tea and Madoka happily waiting to eat. They quickly greeted the latecomers. More or less, everyone looked relatively the same. Madoka had grown her hair quite long, but she still tied it up in pigtails with ribbon. Mami's curls had slightly loosened. Homura still wore her long, raven hair down. Sayaka was the only one who's hair was shorter, although not by much.
It had been so long since all five of them had all sat together like this. Not since before Kyouko had left.
"Well Kyouko, since you're back, there's much to be talked about," Mami chimed, "Where did you take off to, anyways?"
I knew this would come up, dammit Kyouko though to herself, leaning back and lifting her arms behind her head.
"All over the country, ya know, exploring," With that, she drifted back into her memories. Memories of her departure.
.-.-.-.
The five girls were sitting around Mami's table in celebration of their victory over Walpurgisnacht.
"Things are hopefully going to be a lot easier now," Homura spoke with much-deserved relief.
"I'm so glad!" Madoka chimed.
"So, Kyouko, are you gonna return to your hometown, or will you stick around with us in Mitakihara?" Sayaka asked.
"If she does stay we'll have to get her properly enrolled into school," Mami playfully intejected.
"I don't think I can stick around here. I don't think I want to go back home though," Kyouko answered, unable to meet the gaze of the girl who had raised the question.
"What why not? Where will you go?" The blue haired girl exclaimed in confusion.
"I dunno, just.. staying here doesn't quite feel right, not yet. I'll figure something out though, don't any of you dare get worried about me! I can handle damn near anything!"
"If that's what you wish, however, a quarter of these grief seeds we got defeating Walpurgisnacht are rightfully yours. Please do take them with you in case you need them," the blonde girl insisted.
"Well how's this then, I'll take half of what's mine, and if I still can't fend for myself out there, I'll com crawling back. Or..,"
"Or what?" Sayaka asked, nervously.
"Or," Kyouko began proudly, "If I decide I miss any of your stupid faces too much, and want to try out that whole school thing, I'll come back and join ya again! Now let's finish off this food before it gets cold!"
With that, they resumed their meal in a strange silence. After they finished everything, Kyouko stood up, changed out of the uniform Sayaka had forcibly dressed her in, gathered her grief seeds into a backpack, and said her goodbyes, assuring them all that she would be safe and come back if anything went wrong.
Part of her was unsure if she would ever return. She wasn't sure of anything. After defeating the "ultimate enemy" in a team Kyouko found herself more lost than ever, and walked out on the only damn people who could help her. What in the goddamn hell am I doing!?
She began running as far away from Mitakihara as she could.
.-.-.-.
"Did you learn anything out there? Any valuable information?" it was Homura who broke the silence.
"'Value' is a damn subjective term. I guess I have though, nothin' that'd matter to you." Kyouko sighed.
"What do you value dearly then?" Madoka naively asked the girl. Kyouko was taken aback by this, and felt a knot rising in her throat.
"Now, now everyone," Mami came to the rescue. "Kyouko's been away for quite a long time, but I think there will be plenty of time to talk to her, so there's no need to overwhelm her with questions. So for now, let's just stick to the basics and enjoy ourselves."
Kyouko sighed in relief and the conversation once again became light. She still felt like an outsider however. Before she could mentally slip away from the conversation, she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey! I thought you were gonna make up for the food I 'made you' lose?" Sayaka jested, bringing her back to reality.
"You thing I forgot about that so easy? I was just...preparin' to swallow the whole cake dammit!" Kyouko, offended at being reminded of her early loss of food, quickly tackled the blue haired girl to the floor, knocking over the cake as well. The other three girls just stared at the scene for a moment, at a total loss for words.
Before long, Mami stood herself up, cleared her throat, and began to scold the two girls, "Honestly, I don't mind cleaning up but if you two are going to make that big of a mess I hope you plan on staying to help clean up."
The two girls immediately stopped and stepped away from each other, faces red with embarrassment. Sayaka began to apologize, while Kyouko burst into an awkward laughter. Madoka let out a chuckle at the scene; Homura sighed.
"I believe we should be going then," Homura spoke, outstretching her hand to Madoka, who smiled and nodded in agreement. They gave their goodbyes and headed out of the apartment.
"Now before you two get the idea in your heads, you have quite the mess to clean up before you leave!" Mami typically wouldn't have minded handling the mess herself, but with exams coming up, she could not afford to waste such time.
"Yeah, we know," they responded in unison.
"Oh and Kyouko, I know I said we'd leave the questions for another time, but if you are going to stay, you should get yourself enrolled in high school. You did say you would if you came back."
"Jeez let me think about it for a few days. Right now I got a floor to clean," she responded, while shoving any large chunk of cake that looked clean enough into her mouth.
"Don't eat of the floor! We're supposed to be cleaning not stuffing our faces!" Sayaka proclaimed.
"I ain't gonna waste all of this!"
"Calm down, both of you. I have studying that needs to be done," Mami interrupted before another feud could break out between them. They silently complied an began cleaning, the red-haired girl sneaking bits of cake into her mouth when she caught Sayaka looking away.
"Aaand, we're done Mami!" Sayaka announced with pride.
"Good! Thank you for taking responsibility" Mami smiled.
"I guess we should leave you to yer, uh, studying or whatever," Kyouko spoke, walking toward the door.
"Wait, if you don't have anywhere to go tonight, why not stay here?" the blonde asked, partially afraid that she might lose her friend a third time.
"Nah, I think I've bothered ya enough for one night."
Before Mami could think of something to say, Sayaka interrupted. "Well you can come over my place for tonight then. My parents are off on a business trip to Tokyo so no one would notice, and since I ditched school I don't really have to do any homework tonight. It's cold outside, so what do you say?"
Kyouko raised an eyebrow at this. She's selling this too hard... Whatever though, I don't think she plans to kill me or anything. "Yeah, sure. I got nothing better to do. Thanks for the food Mami. I didn't plan on wrecking your place."
"You're welcome, and goodnight."
The two girls exited the building and began walking towards Sayaka's house, Kyouko following behind.
A/N sorry for the delay on this one, I wanted it out by Thursday. My week was far busier than usual. Seriously though, thanks for all the follows and reviews, I'm taking everything you say into careful consideration. Over 100 people have read this and just wow. I was not expecting that much, or a generally positive response so thanks! But man, writing a five-person conversation is excruciatingly difficult.