This day hasn't been going as what she was expecting for Madoka herself, a middle schooler. Her pink hair was quite noticeable along with her red ribbon tied on them.
The middle of the morning seemed ordinary in the classroom she was in. And knowing how the day must go, she'll have an idea it is a very busy one. Knowing how classes are right now, she might not have that much time to look at her other classmates. She was a busy body, listening intently at the teacher in the classroom.
When it was time for lunch as the morning was turning to noon, Madoka sighs just before she moves from her seat and attempts to leave.
But then…
"Kaname-chan." An all too familiar girl's voice called her, and it came from Homura Akemi herself, now approaching from the front of the classroom. Madoka usually stays at the back of the classroom. With her attention now focused on Homura, Madoka smiles and greets her.
"Homura-chan!"
"Hah… Madoka... I know there's more to you wanting to call me that. We're in a classroom and…" Homura smiled weakly and blushed. "It's a little embarrassing."
"Hm?" Madoka seemed to have a neutral emotion. "Don't you like being called by your first name?"
"Well… I guess it's fine. It's nothing, really. But… I'm just looking forward I could…"
"You can call me by my first name too, you know! There's nothing wrong with it since we're close friends after all!" Madoka, now with hands on her waists, smirked. "What? Can't call me right for once? You always seemed really protective when you're around me."
Homura winced at how Madoka noticed it. "Oh…"
"You can stop doing that and just… Just call it like you can trust the rest. That'll work, right?" Madoka winked.
The other girl just crossed her arms and smirked back. "You've been getting that from others who know more of what friendship is. I guess it's fine."
"Thank you, Homura-chan!"
"Join me for lunch?"
"Okay!"
And they were at the school's rooftop.
Madoka was glad to be there since the morning seemed to be rather tiring. She gulped on the water bottle she had with quite the eagerness before the lid finally leaves her mouth, and breathes out in relief to being refreshed. "Wow… This morning was rather tiring!"
Homura was observing Madoka while eating her sandwich. "That test the class had was just right for you. I don't think there's anything else tiring than that. I think it's your sleeping habit."
"Eh?"
"Ever since you moved back from America, you might have that little culture shock that you decided not to change things. You just try fitting in, when in fact at your home, your old habits of staying late are still with you." Homura's observation rather surprised Madoka a bit.
"Am I that sloppy?"
"Perhaps. You can adjust it."
"Eh…?"
"And I'll help you for the meantime on that habit of yours, Madoka."
"Thank you, Homura-chan. I… I appreciate it, really." Madoka turns away, embarrassed. This in turn made Homura glad.
At the end of the day when the students were leaving in the afternoon, the skies show orange colors. Madoka was among those students, but she was separated from the others. As the students were heading their own directions, a raven once standing on the lamppost spread its wings and flew up.
Madoka finally made her way to her house and past the main fence, just before she knocked and called out in the house that she was home, before closing the front door behind her. That raven from before landed on the fence that belonged the Kaname residence. Its eyes with a dark purple to black color gazed on the door. The raven looked up the tree before flying to a branch and landed there. It turned to see the window to a room in the house. And the raven saw Madoka enter the room, undressing. As the raven was witnessing Madoka undress, it carefully watched the girl being careful about herself while taking off parts of her clothing. The raven witnessed everything. It seemed to be a pervert of sorts…
In another house at night, the shadow of a raven appears under the light of the living room. It is as is before the shadow slowly changed shape as it shape-shifted to a figure looking human, and seeming to be a girl's shadow now replacing the raven once there. A black feather to the girl's feet. The smile on Homura's face was made after the day had progressed. It went well as she had planned. Not only that… she witnessed something she never should have.
Her clothes were scattered in her bedroom. Her moans were heard from her. The bed was the only one in the bedroom, but instead of a sleeping Homura who was there, she was in the nude, and in heat, while her hand was in between her legs as she kept rubbing it furiously. Her free hand held her chest, while the fingers between her legs were rubbing her walls.
She moaned in the bedroom, not caring of who would hear. She kept her legs together as she furiously kept going. The blush on her face was more focused on the fingering, and her lustrous imagination, with Madoka right in the center of it all. While bathed in the light of the moon, she slides her feet forward while letting her legs extend. And with one last moan, juices came out from the walls she teased so much.
Homura then put her fingers into her mouth, tasting the result of her lust. This was her lust. It was her longing. And making her smile, the center of it all… was Madoka… She smiled at this, before black wings extended from her back. "It's time I give her a heads up." She said this to herself, before flapping once, and a few black feathers were left in the room while she was nowhere to be found.
In another reality, the 18-year old Homura was sleeping in her room. Knowing the day was long after defeating a wraith without Alan's help, it tired her out for the day. She was snoring only softly as she had no problems sleeping at all. Her back was on the bed. She had no pillow under her bed. The moonlight lit her body from afar, and she was partly visible at the window far from her.
The peaceful sleep was about to be disturbed. Homura's brows slightly went down, as a sign of being disturbed. She saw images in her mind… seeing battles against witches, wraiths… and even demons. She didn't know about the demons and she wondered what they were. Then she saw Mitakihara, formed in memory, but with Nightmares involved. She saw a group of girls before she met them. The dream was about the past. Was it her past? She couldn't understand.
A black feather fell to the floor near the window. And standing near it was none other than Demon Homura, now retracting her wings as she saw her older self already reacting to the images. 'Yes. Witness them. Ask yourself what they are. You'll know about me, tonight.' She thought before smiling.
The 18-year old then began to see images of herself, transforming into a witch. She was engaged by the same group of girls, as Magical Girls as they defeated her afterwards. Then, she saw images of herself, waking up to a desolated world, while seeing a pink-haired goddess above her. As she suddenly held the goddess with her hands, she smiled and had evil thoughts.
Homura opened her eyes so suddenly, seeing the ceiling while feeling her heart was beating and her panting was made through those images. 'What… are they…?'
"Good question," A younger voice, similar to a voice of her younger self said.
And Homura was alert as she sat up before seeing the dark-dressed girl with the hair and the eyes, and the figure she never knew of seeing: herself. This made her shocked, not believing her own eyes. Her younger self smiled at Homura. She couldn't lay a single thought that could describe this moment, except that it might be a dream.
"Except it's not a dream, Homura." The dressed self began to walk towards one end of the room near the door and stopped just a little far from the bed her older self was lying on. "This is very much real."
"Who the hell are you? And why…? Why are you…?"
"…me?"
"No. You're not."
"I am. I am your flesh and blood, but not in the terms of blood, Homura. I am you… since I created you. I can tell how you feel. You feel surprised. You feel I'm a false identity and representation of you. And you feel that I am… hostile. Thus… you have an instinct…"
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!" Homura summons a pistol before swinging it towards her younger self, now swinging her own pistol at Homura. Not caring of the situation, Homura takes aim.
Time slowed as both Homuras aimed their pistols at each other before they pulled the trigger. Time slowed down further as the bullet paths of each one they shot out were almost close. The bullets even moved past each other, but not before making contact and greatly changing their trajectory. As time flew normally, one bullet hits near the door, and another hits the wall near the bed, both missing an inch from both their heads.
Demon Homura smiled and laughed at this realization. "Your protective instinct, I always had. And you have. Like I said… You and I, are identical." She lowered her weapon and threw it aside, now seeing a panting older self not believing everything she's seeing. "You can call this a nightmare, but I'm not making it so. It's something you need to be opened up to, now that you're going to expect more to come your way."
Homura then lowered her weapon, curious of what her younger self meant. "What are you talking about? And those… images…"
"Memories. Those were true memories. The other memories before this point we meet… They were all fabricated. Though… you lived it, still. I can't say it's not true either. But the life you're living right now, runs on my terms."
"What are you saying?! Who the hell are you?!"
"Can't you tell?"
"You don't control my life… And you don't control who I am!" Homura's impatient nature makes her younger point a finger to her, before snapping two. Homura suddenly found she couldn't utter words anymore, and kept her mouth close. 'What the…?' And just as she was about to move, her body suddenly stopped to move at all. 'No… No way! I'm… I'm… frozen…?! How?!'
"Oh, you don't need to ask. And unfortunately, I DO control your life. I DO control who you are. But I chose that you carry my name: Homura Akemi. You're looking at your original self." Demon Homura smiled and held her dress, before doing a curtsy. "I am Demon Homura, the one who says and does the existence of this universe I call home and my own. You should consider not finding another religion, as I'm your one… and only." She snaps her fingers, letting Homura's binds disappear and made her move again.
Homura couldn't see this as something she could avoid, and began to just be curious. "If I'm your… doppelganger… then what am I supposed to do? You… You control my life, for what?" Homura asked this and her Demon self laughed at it.
After Demon Homura calmed from her laughing, she spoke up. "I'm glad you asked the most sensible question, and the first of all others. You should know… You can still live this life to give its own meaning. But the real purpose you're really here, is not only to live, but get stronger."
"Get… stronger?"
"You see… I've been trying to perceive myself just as a normal human like always. However… things have been coming down as another failure. I've been having failures for many times now. I was once human. And you saw it through the memories you were shown."
"That was you… from your past?"
"Past… Present… Future… it won't matter. They were images as to how I lived before I became a demon."
"Those memories… it included you outsmarting a goddess. Who was she?"
"She was someone I always wanted to love, for myself. But that love I had was so unhealthy, and so selfish, that it grew into something more powerful than I ever imagined. I was once a magical girl, and a witch. And now… I brought myself to be a demon and changed everything. The laws of this universe, were first based from neutrality, then that goddess, and now… from me."
"I… see." Homura seemed to take this, somehow easily. 'Why does it feel… nostalgic?'
"It is because you're me." Demon Homura replied to her doppelganger's thought. "Don't think your mind can escape me. Every thought that's coming from you also comes to me."
"Then what the hell am I? Your experimental hamster?"
"…of sorts."
"What for?"
"It's simple: I want you to become my new face. You might be confused, but I have personal reasons. At least you know… Dear… Homura." She makes an evil grin before she reveals and spreads her black wings before hovering off the ground. "No one will believe you when you say this to anyone else. This is your role: Get stronger. Live as you see fit."
"This… This can't happen to me! It can't!"
"Unfortunately… it did. And the price of you living in my realm requires you to live as you see it fit. Things will be coming for my objectives to come true. And when I say I have objectives, it means every word I said to you had a purpose. And you might see it soon for you to finally understand it."
"Would this make me worthless?"
"No. I told you: You have a role. And you'll live that role…" Demon Homura licked her lips. "Now… You have a day to go through. I won't haunt you. So find everything around normal until I arrive. Until then… be a good girl." And she snapped two fingers together.
Homura suddenly opened her eyes and sat up to an early morning, it seems. Her panting was there, but the thing she experienced, appeared to be just a dream. Looking around, she wanted to know if it really happened. But she saw no weapons or bullet casings, or the bullets. There were even no feathers, most especially black ones, in the room. It might have looked like a dream to her, but it was too real to be called a dream. Most of the things she saw and heard were almost intact. She even felt that there might be some things that are missing from her memory. This made her determined. There was a reason her life was existing: She was being used.
But having no choice, Homura decided to live her days, knowing the first she should do, is get stronger.
Alan was in a boxing gym in the same city as he gave a combination of punches at a punching bag. He was wearing shorts and an undershirt while wearing only wrist wraps on his hands. His punches were also accompanied by kicks from his foot-wrapped feet. From a boxing stance came his kick-boxing stance as he kept his focus on the punching bag, giving an expertly executed combination against his dummy target. He then made one more strong kick towards the punching back, before sensing someone was behind him, then swung his body and brought his elbow as the weapon, then stopped just as the elbow was an inch away from Matt's neck. "Matt." He called out his name and smirked before putting his arm down.
"Jeez, Alan! You could have killed me with a neck-shot!" Matt was nervous but was slowly calming down. "You go to this gym? Isn't it empty?"
"Eh… The old man who owned this gym let me in while he was setting things up. Nobody comes around these days since school and office days make up in a busy season. They got a pretty busy schedule."
"That's something."
"Anyway, what are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd tell ya it's an hour away from class."
"No shit. What time is it?" And Alan looked at Matt's watch, before he immediately went to a duffle bag he owned in a rush. "No shit, Matt!"
The school bell with a sound of a tone in Mitakihara High recently rang out. The school itself had no students on the outside, and most of them were inside the classrooms, save for the only figure running from the gates and furiously running in the halls.
The classroom's sliding doors opened as Alan, neat in his school uniform, finally made it in the classroom just in time, and got to his seat, just before the sliding doors near the blackboard opened. He noticed the teacher was a male, and someone he didn't recognize, it seems. Was he a new teacher? Is he just a substitute in the absence of the real one? This was new to him. He never saw him before in his life.
The teacher adjusted his glasses as he finally got to the center of the blackboard, and faced the students who were supposed to listen to him for the class. He was Japanese and the students seem to respect that. Thus, he spoke: "I am Mr. Kadokawa. Nobody knows who I am, so just call me that name if you have any questions. Ms. Fujimoto sadly got to go home after she got sick. I know you saw her this morning, but she didn't feel well, it seems." And the rest of his explanation didn't seem much important to Alan.
The rest of the morning went smoothly.
Homura then met Alan later on at the school rooftop alone. It seems, she might have concerns.
She had her arms crossed while looking at the south view from the rooftop. "Alan… You ever felt like you're being watched?"
"Hm? What do you mean? If you mean Matt, he's done."
"No, I understand him. It's been one month that his contact never called, but… This is kinda different."
"Different? Different how?"
"Did you by chance get a substitute teacher from your class?"
"Huh? Well, yeah. He's…"
"Mr. Kadokawa. And you know what the irony of it is? We had a substitute teacher ourselves. She calls herself Ms. Kadokawa."
"No shit?"
"I'm not joking. This… this is too conspicuous. They're either a blood-related duo who got themselves into being substitute teachers by watching us, or they're there for worse reasons."
"What's your call?"
"For now, just… observe them. If they make eye contact with you at any moment, notice if they're nervous."
"I doubt it is a problem. Because I did."
"Good. That may confirm my suspicions. Alan… I have a plan. Mind if you listen?"
"If getting killed isn't going to be my fate, of course." Alan then walked closer to Homura before they both talked in whispers.
The end of the day was quick as students were leaving Mitakihara High. This time, Homura and Alan were walking together.
At a nearby snack place called "スナックシャック (Snack Shack)", Alan was using his chopstick as he gobbles down a local sushi. Homura was only watching him eat.
After Alan finally finished his plate, he noticed it was already dark out. "Ah. Time flies?"
Homura sighs. "Hah… It's because you eat a little slow."
"Homura… First off… It's only rare that I taste delicacies from around the country, okay? I speak the language, but I don't eat the food."
"Interesting enough, considering you might have forgotten our plan."
"I know. Those two might be watching us, so we'll just keep walking casually."
"They'll eventually catch on that we're expecting them. But we'll see what their move is, soon enough." Homura then browses a pocket before pulling out bills of Yen towards the shack owner before standing up. "Come on. Let's expect them ourselves."
And so, they travelled together in the darkness, while street lamps lit the way of the streets they walked on. The moon was being blocked by some clouds, so they couldn't see much in the way except if the street lamps help them with the light they emit. They knew their senses were high, and their ears were hearing footsteps. Those footsteps were running footsteps, meaning their attackers are moving from one place to another to get a vantage point.
Homura and Alan then stopped by a small quarry for an apartment complex. They entered the empty quarry and looked around.
And Alan eventually heard a twig snap from somewhere before he urged Homura to "Stop! Hear that?"
Homura's sharp eyes darted left and right, just before at her right, she sees a glint of a sharp object coming her way as time slowed. Her reflexes worked as she bent her knees and declined her head and leaned backwards, just before flying blade misses her by an inch. Time flowed normally before she got one leg to push her off the ground while she summoned a pistol and aimed towards the blade's source, then pulled the trigger. As she landed on the ground, Alan saw the figure from the same spot move in the shadows.
"Damn it!" Alan cursed before summoning his hunter's crossbow and sensed running footsteps behind him before time slowed, he ducked and swung his weapon behind him before his arm was blocked by two hands. Time flowed normally as he lets go of his crossbow as he saw the figure's leg headed for his face, before he swerved his head away from the kick. He found it only a distraction as the figure spun and had the other free leg hit his head instead before he fell down, now seeing the female figure locking his neck tightly. It was choking him.
Homura then saw this and raised her foot, before bringing it down upon the figure, only to see the female figure quickly move out of the way, aware of releasing Alan. Homura looked at the female figure who finally got on her feet from afar. It was Ms. Kadokawa. The other figure eventually ran and slowed to a walk. That figure seemed to be a male, and he was someone he recognized: Mr. Kadokawa. Both of them had black hair and almost the same short haired haircut.
Mr. Kadokawa smirked at the two. "Pitiful. The two of you seemed alert, but you're both unaware of your own fates."
"Then again…" Ms. Kadokawa spoke up. "You should have been more prepared to evade us."
Homura summoned an auto-shotgun with one hand, then cocked it before holding it with two hands. "Why the hell would you want to kill us?"
Alan got a good look of the two. 'Damn it… What are they doing? I've been in the school for a month, but I never heard of people wanting to kill us.'
"You already know I'm a Magical Girl then."
Mr. Kadokawa chuckled. "Hehehe… Of course. It's impossible others would track a Magical Girl, and a Punisher Wizard on normal terms. We, however… We're different."
Ms. Kadokawa spoke up. "So how do you think would you be able to escape the 角川ツインズ (Kadokawa Twins)?"
"Ms. Kadokawa… Are you asking them? They shouldn't answer, since they already know." He grinned evilly. "They won't." He browsed a pocket before throwing a very small object in the air.
Homura examined it and was shocked. 'A grief seed?!'
Ms. Kadokawa then threw a small glass tube with metal tipped covers along with the grief seed.
Once again, Homura knew that inside the glass tube seemed to be dark shadowy particles moving from the inside. It was too familiar. 'What the…? Is that… corruption?!' And it was answered as the small glass tube made a small explosion before the corruption flowed into the grief seed. Homura and Alan both saw the grief seed stop dead in the air before it shook violently after sucking the corruption.
"Oh…" Alan said.
"…crap…" Homura continued. And they both saw the grief seed finally hatch. All four later on, were not on the quarry after it happened, as if nothing happened.