There was a knock on the door.
"That must be Madoka." Mami said as she got up from her seat and went to let her in. As she thought, the pinkette stood in the doorway, and she didn't look anything like her normal self. Her eyes were normally full of cheer, but they were now red and puffy. Her hair was normally tied into pigtails with neat bows, but it seemed she had rushed it a bit this morning and the ribbons were tied on rather sloppily. The stress from the last week had done a toll on her, and the distress was clear on her face. Mami gave her a compassionate smile "Madoka, you don't have to knock. Please, come in." She said as she held the door open.
"I-I know… I just wasn't sure, so…" She entered the house with her head down. When she saw Sayaka at the table, and Kyoko leaning against the wall with arms folded and a pocky stick hanging from her lips, Madoka forced a smile. "Hello everyone." Then she noticed Leiko clicking away at the computer, and she turned and bowed in her direction. "Hello, Amaya-san." Leiko didn't seem to take any notice of her, so Madoka just stood there uncertainly for a moment.
"Here, come take a seat with us." Mami said softly, as she put a hand on Madoka's shoulder and led her forward "I've got a cup of tea ready for you."
Madoka nodded and went to sit at the small glass table in the middle of the living room. She could tell by the tension in the air that something was up. "Um… why did you ask me to come over so suddenly?" She asked as she was sitting down.
Sayaka gave her a reassuring smile "We found Homura."
"You did?" Madoka asked, nearly jumping out of her seat, although right away from the expression on her best friend's face, she could tell there was going to be some rusty lining to this good news "W-where is she?"
Mami cleared her throat "Well, it was actually Leiko who managed to track her down." She stirred her tea and started to explain "She's ok, she isn't hurt or anything, and Madoka, we are going to do our best to help her. So, everythings going to be alright."
"M-Mami… I don't understand. What's going on?"
Kyoko, never one for grace, just came right out with it "Some asshole government research group kidnapped her. They got her locked up in this underground test lab, or something."
"What?" Madoka looked between all her friends, then back to Kyoko "What are you talking about? The government? Why would they do that?"
Sayaka took over, knowing how fragile Madoka could be, and how painfully direct Kyoko was at times. "Well, as you know, it's thanks to Homura that the city was able to be evacuated before Walpurgis Night. In order to do that, she had to make her powers known, and I guess she got the attention of someone out there who wants to learn more about her… and how her powers work."
Leiko tapped out a few hard key strokes, then stood "We're just lucky they didn't catch on to the rest of us." She said, adjusting her glasses and walking towards the group "I found some pretty detailed logs of all her actions over the last week. Fortunately, she likes to use her time stopping trick when traveling by rooftop, so they usually lost track of her at times like that. They still watched her closely enough to know about her transformation, and they seem to think her ability is teleportation. They've had her locked up for a week now, and they haven't managed to learn much else. Apparently she is being pretty stubborn about not doing any of their little tests."
She looked over towards Madoka "Kaname, they have even spent some time watching you, and staking out your house. But they ultimately decided that you were not of any interest to them. I didn't find anything in their logs to indicate they so much as took a look at any of the rest of us. So, that's at least some good news."
Madoka listened, nodding her head slowly. Her eye's were wide as she sat there and took it all in. "I see… Um… But, I don't understand how you could know all of that."
Kyoko clicked her teeth "Turns out the rookie isn't so useless after all. Yup, I was pretty skeptical about all this, especially since we just recently got Sayaka out of her diapers."
"HEY!" Sayaka shouted, tensing up in Kyoko's direction.
Kyoko just shot Sayaka a smile which instantly released her tension and brought a shade of red to her face. Then, she started walking towards Leiko. "So there's magic that's useful outside of labyrinths, and can't really be used against witches. I've been doing this Magical Girl thing for a while, but never really put too much thought into it before. Let's just say I've recently become inspired."
Leiko eyed the redhead suspiciously as she approached her. Kyoko's hand suddenly shot forward and snatched the glasses off of her face. "What the hell are you doing!" Leiko shouted.
"Kyoko…" Mami said patiently "Now is not the time for-"
"Hold on a sec!" Kyoko said, then turned back to Leiko and gave her a grin "I just need to borrow these for a sec." Then she turned around and walked until her back was facing the group. "My specialty is enchantments. I usually use this to clone myself and try to confuse the witch I'm fighting against. It's pretty handy, and it's won a lot of battles for me. But I was thinking, it could be used in a lot of other ways too. Ways I never really thought of before. For example, if I were to change my appearance, make myself taller, or make myself seem older, it might be a little fun for showing off but it wouldn't really be useful against witches, would it?"
"Gives those back…" Leiko said dryly, her eyes squinting "I kind of need them, you know."
Kyoko ignored her and continued with her monolog "They went through a lot of trouble to bring Homura to their little testing facility, and it's been a pretty useless endeavor for them so far. Homura's uncooperative, she feels spiteful towards them, and on occasion she is even violent. Isn't that right, Leiko?"
"Is there some feasible point to all of this, or are you just trying really hard to make yourself look like an ass? Because it's working really well. But yes, based on the reports I've read, the team that is assigned to her is becoming quite frustrated with her lack of cooperation with them."
"So essentially, before they can unlock the secrets of her powers, they must first solve the puzzle of her mind and find a way to get her to work with them." Kyoko bent over with her back still facing the group. There was a flash of light, and when she rose she was suddenly several inches taller than she was before. "So it stands to reason, that if there was someone out there who could understand Homura, and talk to her, and convince her to work with them, they would be quite interested in meeting that person wouldn't they?"
Kyoko turned around, and she now appeared completely different. She no longer looked like a teenage girl, everything from her face, to her posture, and her figure matured to that of a thirty year old woman. The only thing that didn't fit the profile was her unzipped hoodie which exposed her navel and her blue shorts which would be totally inappropriate on the thirty year old woman she now appeared to be.
Kyoko grinned as she adjusted the glasses "World class psychologist Dr. Sakura, at your service."
"You're completely out of your mind." Sayaka said dryly.
"Awwww, but that's what you love about me." Kyoko laughed. As she walked back towards Leiko, she began to shrink back to her normal size and her face returned to normal. She took the glasses off and held them out to their proper owner.
Leiko snatched the glasses out of Kyoko's hand and returned them to her face "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt here, and assume I missed something during that idiotic display. So, please enlighten me. What the HELL was that about?"
"You're like, some kind of super hacker, right? Well then, make a fake identity for me and find a way to get me into Homura's room. You can do that, can't you?"
"Do you even hear yourself when you talk?" Leiko asked with a sigh "But fine, I'll humor this for a moment. Sure, I could fake all the credentials you want, and even fake a few emails between the lab staff and probably get you inside. Looking good on paper is one thing, but keeping up appearances in person is another. Do you really think YOU of all people can present yourself as an educated professional? I'm betting it would take them five minutes to see through the charade."
Kyoko folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at the insult "Don't underestimate me, chick."
"Kyoko, sorry but I'm with Leiko on this one." Sayaka said "It's a creative idea, I'll give you that, but it seems a little reckless. I mean, you don't know the first thing about psychology. And what if something happens to you while you are in there? I know how you feel, but if you end up getting caught as well, that won't do Homura any good."
"I'll just read some psychology books or something." Kyoko shrugged "It's not like they are going to quiz me the second I walk through the door. Besides, if we are still against the breaking in and kicking some ass scenario, I don't see any other way."
Leiko scoffed and looked towards Mami "Tomoe, could you please talk some sense into her?"
"Actually…" Mami said, stirring her tea "I think this is worth at least discussing a little further. As long as Kyoko holds up her enchantment and they don't discover her magic she should be fine. Really, worst case scenario they just end up firing her, then we are just back to where we started anyway. Homura is going to need a GriefSeed eventually, and one trip into the lab will also give us a lot of information we don't have right now regarding security."
"Haha! Alright Mami!" Kyoko cheered "At least someone gets it."
"This all depends, of course, on if Leiko can set things up through her hacking." Mami continued "So, Leiko, do you think you can do it?"
Leiko sighed "Yeah, I can do it alright, but I'll just once again state very loudly for the record that I think this is insane."
"Hey, you're a Magical Girl now." Kyoko winked and put a thumb up "Insanity comes with the job!"
They spent the rest of the evening discussing the plans, and as they did so Madoka's mood brightened more and more, the previously hopeless situation started to seem more and more manageable. Leiko said she would need some time to put everything together, but gave her guarantee that she could put together a rock solid alias that would be completely untraceable as a fraud. They looked around on the internet for some books Kyoko should familiarize herself with, and even started working on some conversation techniques to get Kyoko out of the habit of swearing and using slang terms.
When they were satisfied they got a good start on things, Kyoko and Sayaka went out to find some more 'professional' clothing for Kyoko to wear as her alias 'Kay Sakura'. Leiko spent the rest of the evening plugging away at the computer she set up in Mami's living room, seemingly oblivious to anything else.
"So Madoka, how are you holding up?" Mami asked her as she offered her a fresh cup of tea.
"Ok." Madoka said, giving her a smile as she took the cup from her "Better, anyway. I'm still worried about Homura, but this is still better than not knowing what happened… She just suddenly disappeared one day with no explanation… I…" Madoka shook her head "I was really scared."
Mami nodded "Based off the reports Leiko read, things really are not even that bad for her in there. There was a huge list of things they stocked her room with. TV, games, books, and anything else she wants she just has to ask for and they bring it to her." Mami sipped her tea "Of course, we still need to get her out of there. Even despite all those things, what they are doing to her is wrong, and I promise you Madoka, we are all going to do our best to help her. After everything she has done for the rest of us, we owe it to her."
Madoka nodded "Thanks Mami. I miss her, and I'm still scared for her. I know she must feel so lonely in there, but I'm glad she at least isn't getting hurt."
Homura tilted her head back and started laughing wildly "That's the worst monkey I've ever seen, KAY!" Her head fell back down and her cheek rested on the table. Her face was red from laughing as she looked up at Kyoko and smiled her delirious half minded smile "You're really bad at this."
"Oh, and well how about showing me yours?" Kyoko said, tapping her pointer finger against the picture that would now reveal a message. The paper would look like it was covered in doodles to the camera, but to the two girls, it was all writing. Homura was still quite obviously completely out of it, but at least had her wits together enough to not blow their cover. It seemed she still had her grip on reality, and she understood the situation, but Kyoko still worried she might slip and say or do something foolish.
'Please stay in character! I'm using enchantments - write back so we can talk - I'll hide it.'
'I need a GriefSeed, really badly. I'm in trouble. NEED TO GET OUT!'
'We have a plan- let GriefSeed hatch- don't kill witch! Use the barrier to get past the doors.'
That message had forced a disturbed smile onto Homura's face as she said "That's a good idea…"
"I'm sorry?" Kyoko quickly interjected, giving her a hard expression to remind her not to say anything stupid "I don't understand…"
"I had an idea!" Homura smiled "Sorry, I forgot what it was." and she knocked herself on the head. Her expression showed that she realized her mistake and was trying to apologize for it. Then she went back to drawing.
'Will it work?'
'You need to get the lab evacuated so the witch is forced to chase them outside.' Kyoko swallowed nervously before writing the next part, worried to death of what Homura's reaction might be 'Do you have bombs?'
When Homura read that message, as Kyoko expected, she had a hard time containing herself. She locked both of her hands over her mouth and held her breath to contain her laughter, but it was ultimately futile. "I'm sorry KAY!" Homura laughed "You're so bad!"
Homura picked up the pencil and scribbled out a short message. To make up for the short length of the message, Kyouko just enchanted it to look like a picture of an emoticon with its tongue out in a teasing gesture. 'lots of bombs!'
"Hey, I never claimed to be that great of an artist in the first place, you know." Kyoko said with a smile, as she started on her next message.
'Good, force them to evacuate - we need to stop this before they get suspicious - how can I get the GriefSeed to you?'
Homura frowned as she read the message then scrawled out another small message of her own 'play along'. Then she stood, and started walking away, towards her bedroom.
"Homura? Are you alright?" Kyoko asked. Then, there was a flash of light and Homura began to transform.
She turned her head and said "You can go now." as the black ribbons wrapped around her limbs and morphed into her Magical Girl attire.
"Homura? I don't understand, you seem upset."
The transformation complete, and suddenly Homura disappeared. The table that was in front of Kyoko suddenly flipped over on it's side, and Kyoko jumped out of her seat in surprise. "You think you can help me? Dr. Sakura?" Kyoko looked around, and saw that Homura was now standing with her head leaning against the frame of her bedroom door.
Kyoko lightly brushed her hand against the pocket she had the GriefSeed hidden in, and found that it was now gone. Homura must have grabbed it while time was stopped for her.
"Yes, of course. I'll do anything to try and help you, Homura. There's no need to-"
"Make them stop messing with me!" Homura said, her head tilted back and Kyoko could see tears were falling from her eyes "Dr. Endou is a bad man. He's going to end up killing me… I'm going to die here if something doesn't change. That's why…"
Kyoko took a few steps forward with her hand out, and suddenly one of the chairs flew across the room and crashed into the wall. Kyoko ducked down and let out a surprised scream. 'Damn Homura, over doing it much?' Kyoko thought, but then realized that these weren't pretend emotions. These are the things Homura had really been feeling, and although Kyoko was sure none of Homura's anger was meant to be directed at her, she is the only person Homura was in contact with so she was the only person she could take it out on.
"I have to get out of here. I have to…" Her voice lowered into almost a whisper as she stepped into the darkness of her unlit bedroom "I have to…"
"Homura," Kyoko spoke into the empty doorway "I'm going to do everything I can to help you. I'm going to go talk with them right now, and discuss some things with them." She swallowed "What they are doing to you is wrong."
"You can leave now." Came Homura's emotionless voice from the darkness of the bedroom, and then in the blink of an eye the doorway was closed.
Kyoko nodded and walked back to the front of the apartment and stood in front of the giant steel door. She looked directly into the camera and said "Ok, I'm leaving now. Dr. Endou, I'm going to want to speak with you again."
"Ok so what do we do then?" Sayaka asked. Peeking over a bush down the street from Madoka's house as they watched the scientist knocking on the door. Leiko was much shorter than Sayaka, and thus had to stand up on her toes to see over the bush.
"I'm thinking, ok? If she answered her phone, that's one thing, but sending a text message was a bad idea." Leiko pulled out her cellphone and started clicking around on it. "Mami is still on the other side of town, so she won't be any help."
Sayaka raised an eyebrow, and looked at the screen of Leiko's cellphone which just looked like colorful static to her. "Wait, how did you know that?" Leiko cleared her throat nervously, and flipped her phone closed. "Come to think of it, you never answered how you ended up here in the first place…" Sayaka's eyes narrowed as she started putting it together "You've been keeping tabs on us through our cell phones! Haven't you?"
Leiko took an indignant posture as she adjusted her glasses and said "Well, yeah, and it's a good thing I did, too! Otherwise you would be stuck dealing with this situation on your own, and I highly doubt that would have gone over well."
"Just how long have you been doing this?" Sayaka's eyes narrowed even further as she thought back "Wait, that explains how you were always able to find us when we were out on witch hunts! You've been doing this since before we even knew you! What other ways have you been spying on us? Huh?"
"Just the GPS hack." Leiko said, deciding there was no need to admit to the bug in Mami's apartment. "But shouldn't we talk about this later? Nows not really the best time."
Sayaka nodded "Yeah ok, I guess you're right." and her attention went back to watching Madoka's house.
Madoka's father answered the door, and he and the scientist started talking, but neither Leiko nor Sayaka could hear what they were saying from how far away they were.
"You can delete the records from the phone companies, can't you?" Sayaka asked "Why don't we just send a warning and let you delete it later?"
"If she isn't picking up her phone, what makes you think she is more likely to notice a text in the first place? Besides, if this guy's goal is to start snooping around, what if he happens to see Madoka's phone and check the text? More than that, there's no guarantee they aren't watching Madoka's phone remotely. I wouldn't be able to tell unless I actually had it in my possession. Basically, they might not even have to wait to get the messages from the phone companies."
Mr. Kaname talked to the scientist for a little longer, then stepped aside and gestured for him to come in. "No!" Sayaka said with gritted teeth "Why is he letting him in? Oh man, this is really messed up!"
"How did this start?" Leiko asked "Why did he come here, and how is it that you ended up following him?"
"Well, I have no idea why he is at Madoka's house now, but I just happened to cross paths with him back at the produce store. Apparently they had video of Kyoko stealing from them, and they showed it to him!"
"Damn, that's not good. Alright, well there's no choice." Leiko finally said "You are going to have to go try and warn Madoka in person."
"No way! He already saw me, if I show up at Madoka's house now he is going to recognize me and know something is up."
"Well, why the hell did you let him see you?"
"It's before I knew who he was, ok? I couldn't help it! But now, if I show up at Madoka's he is going to know I followed him." Sayaka thought, then turned to Leiko "You have to do it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Go knock on Madoka's door, and act like you are just coming over for a visit." Sayaka explain.
"What? No way! Then he would end up seeing me, there's no way I'm just going to blow my identity like that!"
"If you're careful, he won't have any reason to suspect that you have anything to do with Homura and Kyoko. You'll just be another teenage girl to his eyes."
"Look, I only showed up here as a courtesy in the first place. This whole thing has nothing to do with me!" Leiko shouted "I'm not going to risk my own life for one of yours!"
Sayaka frowned, and instead of shouting back like Leiko expected, her voice just became very solemn "If that's how it is, then I guess you really never were one of us in the first place. Fine, I get it, and don't worry about it, I don't blame you." Sayaka started walking forward "I guess I wouldn't risk myself for someone I didn't even consider a friend either."
Leiko was a bit taken aback by what Sayaka had just said, and it took a moment for her to process how serious Sayaka was. Then, she realized what Sayaka was planning to do "Wait! Where are you going?" Sayaka turned back, standing right out in plain sight "Get down! Idiot!"
"If you have another plan, let me know right now, but if you are not going to warn Madoka then I have to be the one to do it." She shrugged "Who knows, maybe this guy won't put two and two together, and assume it's just a coincidence that he saw me at the produce store. Well, wish me luck."
After feeding Tatsuya and setting him up in front of the TV to watch cartoons, Tomohisa went to his daughter's room to see how she was doing. He knocked on the door and asked "Hey Madoka, can I come in?"
"Yes, come in." She answered back in her small voice. She was sitting at her desk, looking at a hand drawn picture of a cat. There was a crease in it from where it had been folded, and the name 'Amy' printed english letters. He knew his daughter was a pretty good artist, but that picture didn't seem to be in her style. There was usually more of a cartoonish quality to Madoka's drawings. This cat picture was a very well done sketch, and it was clear a lot of time went into getting the shading just right.
"Did you draw that?" Her father asked.
Madoka shook her head "No, Homura drew it for me."
"Oh, so you've seen her recently?"
Madoka shook her head again. She had that sad look creeping back on her face, it seemed like her bad mood had not passed yet.
Tomohisa frowned and asked "Is everything ok between you two?" But Madoka didn't answer. He didn't know what had happened between them, but he figured she would talk about it when she was ready, and probably with her mother. If they had broken up, then that would explain Madoka's bad mood, especially since it all would have happened so quickly. Having her first love and her first heartbreak in such close proximity of each other would be pretty difficult for her, especially considering how sensitive Madoka could be. He didn't understand how it could have happened though, she and Homura seemed so close they were practically inseparable, and there was no signs they were starting to fight. One day, Homura just stopped coming over. He didn't know, but if Madoka's bad mood continued much longer, he figured Junko would step in and be able to cheer her up. She was always better with these kinds of things. For now, though, it seemed Madoka didn't want to talk about it.
"So I was thinking, since you are stuck here anyway, do you want to come help me in the garden for a little bit?"
Madoka thought it over and then nodded her head. "Sure, I'll help." She did enjoy gardening and she thought it would help her get her mind off things for a little while. She was just so anxious to get word from Sayaka that Kyoko had made it back ok. She was even more anxious about Homura's actual escape attempt. If it didn't work, not only would they be out of ideas to save her, who knew how badly the lab would end up treating her? They were already being so cruel, she couldn't stand the thought of poor Homura-chan being mistreated any more.
"Alright, I'll meet you out there." Her father said with a smile, then shut the door behind himself as he left her room.
She picked up her phone and thought about sending Sayaka another text to ask for an update, but she realized Kyoko wouldn't be getting out of the lab for at least another hour. Without Leiko keeping tabs on things, they really wouldn't have any information until that happened.
She set her phone down on her desk, next to the cat picture.
She changed her clothes into something she wouldn't mind getting dirty, a pair of blue jeans and a light pink shirt, then headed out to the garden to help her father. As she passed by Tatsuya in the living room, she patted him on the head and said good morning. He didn't seem to take much notice of her, as he had his hand in his mouth with his attention focused on the cartoon he was watching.
When she made it to the back yard, her father was already kneeled down by one of the tomato plants with a small pair of shears, trimming the leaves. When he saw his daughter, he looked up and said "We've just got a few things to do. I bought some new seed the other day that I want to plant, and there's also some weeds to pull. Or, if you want you can help me with shearing the mature plants. Whatever you feel like doing."
Her father had shown her how to do all three of those things. She liked to leave the shearing up to him because it was probably the most delicate of the three tasks, and he was a lot better at it than her. Pulling weeds tended to be one of the dirtier jobs, and the least fun, so she opted for planting the new seed. "I'll do the planting."
"Ok," Her father smiled and pointed over to an empty bed of freshly mulched dirt "I already have that bed cleared out, so all you have to do is dig the holes and put the seeds in. Just remember to space them out the way I showed you."
"Ok!" Madoka said as she went to retrieve a small hand shovel, then kneeled down infront of the bed to get to work. Being outside in the sun, and with a job to do, had a therapeutic effect on her, letting her forget about her troubles just a little bit. They were still there, but at least it wasn't eating at her as constantly as it had been when she had nothing to occupy her mind with. For now, all she had to do was focus on digging the holes, smelling the smell of fresh dirt, and planting the seeds. After a while, she started humming to herself as she continued with the work.
Tomohisa took a glance over at his daughter and was glad to see her with a somewhat happy expression on her face again. Neither he nor his wife knew what was going on with her these last few weeks, but hopefully whatever it was it would pass soon. He supposed she was a teenager, he had heard some of his friends who were slightly older parents refer to the teens as 'the trouble years'. He always thought Madoka would be an exception to that, but it looked like it was going to be somewhat the same for her.
Then, he heard a knock coming from the front door and he looked up. "Hm, I wonder who that could be." He said as he stood and took off his gloves "Guess I better go see. Just let me know if you need anything. Ok?"
"Ok dad." Madoka said with a smile.
Tatsuya was still at his place in front of the TV, except he had rolled over onto his side, with his hand still in his mouth, and a small puddle of drool staining the carpet. Tomohisa stepped over him and went to answer the door. He opened it to reveal a tall man wearing a trench coat and holding a pamphlet.
"Yes? Can I help you?"
"Hello, my name is Kito Tomosa, I'm with Mitakihara Home Securities, if I could have a few moments of your time I was hoping I could share some information with you."
"Well, it's not that it's a bad time, but I don't think we are interested in purchasing any security systems right now. Thank you anyway, though."
"Actually, we've selected your home to have a system installed for free. If you are interested, of course. We are new to your area and we are trying to spread awareness of our service. Since your house is in the middle of the street, it's a perfect location to help make your neighbors aware of our service. All that we would ask is to have a small sign with our company's logo at the corner of your lot."
"Well, I don't know…" Tomohisa said.
"I understand your hesitation, but, if you could give me just a few minutes I'll be able to share some information that will help you make a more informed decision."
"Well…" Tomohisa thought it over for another moment before answering "Alright, I suppose it can't hurt. Why don't you come in and have a seat?"
Kaiji entered the Kaname household and was led to a small table in the livingroom. This is the place Homura had spent most of her time prior to being abducted. If she wasn't at her own apartment on the other side of town, or scaling the rooftops of the city, she was usually here. They never were able to get a clear answer to why she would go out into the city at night, as they often lost track of her due to her teleportation skill. In the lab when Homura was asked about this, she of course refused to give them an answer. The best they ever got out of her is that she just liked 'going for walks'.
The team had a stakeout on this house during that time period, and kept an eye on Madoka as well, but they ultimately determined that there was nothing abnormal about her and she was of no interest to them.
Kaiji noticed the toddler laying in front of the TV screen, oblivious to anything else, and asked "How old is he?"
"Three." Tomohisa said as he sat down across from him "I also have a fourteen year old daughter, she's out back in the garden right now."
Good, Kaiji thought. He would play along with this salesman routine just long enough to avoid suspicion, and wait for a chance to go snooping. Right now, his best plan would be to ask to use the bathroom before leaving, and then make a detour into Madoka's bedroom to see if he could find anything. There was definitely a connection between Kay Sakura and Kyoko Sakura, there was no doubt about that anymore, but now he just needed to connect them to Homura somehow. If he could connect them to Madoka, then that would also serve as a connection to Homura since they were apparently so close, and that's what his goal was right now.
"I have a ten year old myself, a boy. He's been pretty easy so far, I'm told when they get into their teens that's when you have to start watching out."
Tomohisa laughed "Yes, I'm starting to find that to be true myself."
"I don't know, I'm not looking forward to it. Dating, going to parties, I'm told I should also keep an eye on the kinds of friends they start bringing around. My brother's daughter, my niece, is quite a handful. She recently got caught stealing from a produce store. She stole a bag of apples of all things." He laughed, but watched Tomohisa's expression closely. Maybe if this Kyoko knew Madoka, Madoka's parents would be familiar with her and know something about her shop lifting escapades.
Tomohisa just laughed, showing no recognition toward that kind of an action "Well, I don't think I need to worry about something like that with Madoka, she's a good girl and she tends to keep herself out of trouble. Her friends all seem like good kids as well."
Kaiji nodded and cleared his throat "Anyway, I suppose I should get down to business." He produced a pamphlet that he had received at his own home which somehow migrated to his car, and set it down on the table. "This pamphlet will give you a good idea of our services, but you can ignore the pricing because as I mentioned we would like to provide yours for free. For now, I'll give you a brief rundown on what we do."
Kaiji had skimmed through the pamphlet while sitting in his car a few minutes ago, and started reciting what he could remember from it. He of course wasn't actually trying to sell a security system, so he just needed to stall for a little while until it wouldn't seem too strange to ask to use the bathroom. When the toddlers cartoon came to an end, however, Kaiji got lucky by being provided with the perfect distraction.
Tatsuya started sniffing as his cartoons were replaced by some boring commercial for a law office, and his sniffs soon turned to all out crying. He rolled onto his stomach and started banging his small fists on the carpet as he screamed.
"Oh, sorry, can you hold on a moment?" Tomohisa said to the pretend salesman as he went to tend to his son.
"No problem, take all the time you need." Kaiji said, then after another moment he added "Actually, if it's not any trouble, could I use your restroom?"
"Oh, sure." Tomohisa said as he scooped his son up into his arms "It's right down that hall to the left, you can't miss it."
Kaiji got up and went to make his move. As he walked down the hall, he pushed each door open just enough to peek inside. The first room was the parents room, the second room had a crib in the middle which was obviously the baby's, then he looked into a room with pink walls and a bed that was covered with stuffed animals. Kaji found the bathroom, and opened the door just to shut it again, loudly enough so it would be heard downstairs, but he never actually went inside.
Instead, he doubled back to Madoka's room, and carefully pushed the door open, being sure not to make a sound. He entered the room, and gently closed it behind himself without actually locking the handle into place, then he started looking around. Based off the appearance of the room, Madoka certainly was a different personality type than Homura. The stuffed animals saw to that, as well as the generally bright colors and girly atmosphere. He saw a closed laptop laying on her bed, and he thought that would be the best place to start snooping. Maybe he would find a folder with pictures of Madoka and her friends, maybe one of Kyoko if it turned out they did know each other, and that's all he would need. He never made it to the laptop though, because something else caught his eye.
On her desk, he saw a cellphone lying next to a drawing. It took a moment for it to sink in, and his attention was more focused on the cellphone at first, but when it hit him his eyes shot back to the drawing and locked on. He had seen it before. He had seen that exact same drawing. It was back at the Anomalous Research Facility. It had been given to Kay Sakura; drawn by Homura Akemi.
Upon the discovery, he realized something. Though he had been searching for a connection, part of him never wanted to find it. Now that he had an undeniable link between Kay, Kyoko, and Homura, he was at a crossroads, and he didn't know what to do with it.
His hand was visibly shaking as he reached for the cellphone. He already had all the proof he needed, but he couldn't give up an opportunity to read Madoka's texts, and see just how involved in this she really was. Just before his hand reached the phone, he heard a loud quick knocking on the front door of the house, along with the bell being rung over and over again in quick succession.
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Tomohisa hollard, uncharacteristically upset with whoever it was that was beating his door down. Even Madoka heard the commotion from out in the garden and came inside, gingerly removing the work gloves from her hands and watching the front door questioningly.
When Tomohisa opened the door, he saw a small girl in a black hoodie, with thick rimmed glasses over her green eyes, and braided white hair. "Where's Madoka?" She said, rather rudely.
"Madoka's…" Tomohisa started, but when Leiko looked past him and saw Madoka in the living room, she didn't bother waiting for an answer and just let herself right in, practically pushing past him "Hey, you wait just a second, young lady."
"Where is he?" Leiko asked Madoka directly.
"L-Leiko? Why are… Who?" Her eyes grew wide with worry when she saw the intense look on Leiko's face.
"Your bedroom, come on!" And with that, Leiko started running up the stairs. Madoka and her father following right after the white haired girl.
"Young lady, what exactly do you think you're-" Tomohisa stopped chiding the rude young girl when he made it into the hall, and saw the salesman coming out of his daughters bedroom. "Hey! You said you were going to use the restroom! What's going on here?" Tomohisa demanded, quickly getting between the two girls and the man who he now saw as an intruder.
Kaiji walked right at him, not saying a word, and with a dark expression on his face.
"You better explain yourself, mister!" Tomohisa demanded once again "Y-you stop right there!" Not being a fighter he had no idea what to do in this situation, but he held his hand out in an attempt to command the man to a stop.
"Sorry about this." Kaiji said, then grabbed him by the wrist and twisted, using a submission technique which he had learned from his detective brother, to force the scrawny stay-at-home dad down to his knees.
"Daddy!" Madoka shouted.
The man let go, and then pushed past the two girls and made a run for it. Madoka went to her father's side to see if he was ok, and Tomohisa shouted after the man "I'm calling the police!"
Leiko ignored everything else, and went right to Madoka's bedroom. She went inside, saw the cat picture, and physically felt her heart drop. What worried her even more is the cellphone that was sitting right next to it. She put her hand on it, and with one small pull of magic she knew the phone had not been turned on in over an hour, so at least the scientist had not made it that far. That was good, because with that one pull of magic, she was instantly given a transcript of Madoka's texts. Some of the phrases that stood out were 'GriefSeed' 'Kay Sakura's email' 'Kyoko' and 'Still going through with the plan'. Thank GOD he had not seen those, although, it might not matter because that simple drawing which Homura had given to Kyoko (Kay Sakura to the scientist's eyes) was likely all he needed.
"Madoka, what's going on? Do you know anything about this?" Tomohisa was asking his daughter as Leiko exited the bedroom. He turned to Leiko "What about you? What is this?" From the living room, Tatsuya could be heard screaming his head off.
"A disaster." Leiko said to him, not so much as glancing at him as she continued down the hall.
"Wait, Leiko where are you going?" Madoka asked, chasing after her.
"Do you have to ask?" Leiko said, turning and adjusting her glasses as she continued to walk. "I'm getting the hell out of town, and I suggest you do the same."
Homura sat on top of the table in the middle of her 'apartment' with her legs crossed. At least five cameras were pointed at her, but none could see her inside her own private time. She stared down at the GriefSeed in her hand, watching the black fog rolling around inside it, thinking about how it would soon become much darker. Much, much darker.
She almost thought she could hear a voice, like a choked whispering coming from inside the seed. Although she couldn't understand the words, she knew what it wanted, and strange runic symbols danced around in her head. It was hungry, it wanted despair, and it wanted to be set free. With her curse ridden SoulGem so close, the entity that lived inside the seed was becoming hungry, and it begged for the cursed SoulGem to move just a little closer, so it could eat.
She undid the top two buttons of her Magical Girl uniform, and reached down to her chest through the neck. She released her SoulGem from being embedded in her skin and pulled it out from under her shirt. She carefully set it to the side, cautious not to let it touch against the GriefSeed yet, and redid her blouse.
When that was done, she picked the gem back up, and stared at it the same way she had been staring at the GriefSeed.
As she stared, and watched the dark fog swimming around under the surface of the gem, she could hear another voice, a more powerful one. When Homura focused on it, she got a mental image. Red… a red field that stretched as far as the eye could see. A sweet smell. Flowers; spider lilies. That voice had spoken to her before, it was a similar voice to the one coming from the GriefSeed, except so much more powerful. So much more personal, because it was the voice of her own despair.
"We enter the worlds that the witches create. Their worlds - their perfect paradise - and we destroy them. Then, when we are done, we feed them our grief. Go figure I'd sympathise with them, I mean, they are what we become after all. Isn't that right?"
Who had said that? It was Sayaka, in another timeline, one that was long forgotten, but those words had always stuck with Homura.
It was in a timeline when Homura told Mami, along with all the others, the truth about Magical Girls. Homura was able to save the rest of them from Mami; but she wasn't able to save Mami from herself. Sayaka seeing her senpai's labyrinth proved to be too much for the bluenette, and of course she refused to use Mami's GriefSeed to purify herself. Sayaka's witch hatched soon after, and then Kyoko's.
In that timeline, Homura never made it to Walpurgisnacht; she turned back just as Madoka finished saying the words to complete her own contract, tears streaming from her eyes.
Homura had to block it out, she couldn't listen to that voice which lingered inside her own SoulGem, her own body. If she did listen, it would become more and more convincing. It would try to convince her to just give up, let her suffering come to an end, and go to a world of her own making. Her own personal utopia.
But if she did that, then she would lose the ability to protect Madoka and that is the thought that always kept her going. Then, whenever she purified her gem, the voice would disappear to the absolute extreme that she would forget that it was ever there at all. At least, until the next time she felt her resolve quavering, and her despair rising, then the voice would return. The sweet smell of the flowers would be there, and she would remember that it was always there, all along.
She pressed her SoulGem against the GriefSeed. Watched it take in her corruption, and grow darker. She watched, and listened, and when the voice of the Nutcracker Queen lowered to an inaudible whisper, she let go. The GriefSeed pulsed, and screamed; there was more to be taken, it wanted more. Homura wouldn't let it have the rest, though. Not yet. She just needed a few more hours before the plan could be set into motion.
She got down from the table, and noticed her sketchbook laying on the ground. It was open to the picture of a spider lily she had drawn earlier that day. She stared at it, feeling like she had forgotten something. It was like a half remembered dream. Earlier she said it was a scary picture. Why had she said that? She couldn't remember.
She hid the GriefSeed in the bathroom, under the sink, and brought her SoulGem back to the bedroom with her. Then she resumed time, and went to bed earlier than usual. After purifying her SoulGem, she already felt a little better, but perhaps some sleep would let the effects of the drug die down even more. Either way, she had to wait until nighttime when there would be the least number of people in the lab. Then she would feed the unborn witch the last of her grief; and let it hatch.
Homura smiled. They wanted to learn about magic, huh? The fools had no idea what their curiosity was about to unleash.
Originally I had a lot more planned for this chapter, but after getting to a certain point and still having a lot more to get to, I realized it was going to take 2 chapters. Thus, chapter 16 will now be the actual end to part one. The bright side, you guys are getting a fresh update super early!
Also, I'll take a moment to promote Axius27's spin off "Test Subject One: Ransom". If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do. It's a fanfiction of my fanfiction, and as corny as that may sound it is actually quite good and definitely worth the read!
Thanks again to readers/reviewers/followers!
-Atomyst
