It's a dream… this has to… be a...
She was on her back, laying on something soft. There was a sound; a quick repetitive squeaking sound... Wheels?
There were voices around her, mostly male, but one female… Her head felt dizzy and she couldn't make out their words… It was rushed, though…
....This situation… It reminded her of something... something from a different life… Before witches, before Magical Girls… before Madoka… Back when she didn't have magic to cure her weak heart, or her bad eyesight… and before she had something to fight for...
Her head shifted slightly, and the voices around her became hushed.
"She just moved." She distinctly heard one say.
"It's alright, probably just a muscle spasm." Said another, "We gave her enough anesthetic to keep her out at least until morning."
Movement... She was being moved, she realized, and when the squeaking of wheels slowed to a stop, she understood that she was on a stretcher.
She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. If she concentrated very hard she could just move the tips of her fingers… she thought she could, anyway.
My fingers…
That's when the nightmare started to come back to her. The twisted, mocking face. That soulless expression, completely indifferent to the horrors it caused her, and even worse, almost seeming amused.
That couldn't have been real, though. Those haunting blue lips, that paper white skin. It had to be a dream…
Even before that... everything she had been through... Being trapped in such a horrible place… Kyoko going undercover as a psychologist… being drugged… unleashing the witch and fighting alongside a normal human… no... it had to be fake… all of it...
She just needed to open her eyes… and verify that this had all been a really bad dream… but she couldn't even do that.
She felt something sharp jam in her right arm, right at the underside of her elbow joint. It made her want to scream, but she was trapped in this motionless hell. She could hear those voices around her. Something about blood loss... and she clearly heard one say, "She shouldn't even be alive."
What is this? Please let me out! Someone please help me!
She felt needles going into her. A buzzing sound. Chatter about broken bones. Something being pumped into the incision under her right elbow. Another peculiar feeling around her left arm…
My left arm…
She wanted to move, she wanted to do anything to resist this.
My left arm is gone…
No, that was just a nightmare, she reminded herself. This situation too. Those voices.
The coherency faded in and out. Like reality came through on radio waves, and she was currently tuned to a station with bad reception. There were bits and pieces of the program she wanted to listen to, but it was inconsistent, and sounds from other stations bled through as well. Unlike a radio, however, it wasn't just sounds. It was also feelings. Thoughts. Memories.
"Aer yuo gvinig up?"
Her consciousness shifted.
"Lte me desotry tehm… KLIL TEHM!"
What was that? It wasn't one of the voices around her… she could still hear those voices, but this new one overpowered them, and made them less present… and contrary to the physical voices around her, she actually recognised this one. She couldn't place it, but she knew she had heard it before.
"Gvie me cntorol… Hmorua..."
Homura listened closely… the words made no sense, but somehow she thought she knew what the owner of the voice wanted. This wasn't the first time, after all... it had asked before. She just wasn't always able to remember.
"Gierf… So mcuh… girevnig… let me… LET ME!"
"Get away!" Homura thought back at it, "Leave me alone!"
"Hwo mcuh lnoegr msut I wiat? Iev waited wtiead so lnog! LET ME!"
"I CAN'T!" Homura screamed the thought, and suddenly felt her heart raise in her chest. A feeling of vertigo surrounded her, as if she were falling. Or maybe it was as if a strong gust of wind had blown her off of the stretcher, and now carried her high into the air.
Everything was black before, but now her vision came back. First, a flash of blinding redness that made her want to shield her eyes, but when she tried to do so, nothing happened. It only lasted a moment, and then she was falling. Everything around her was mostly black, but below her she saw a single purple square. It was tiny, but as she continued to fall it got bigger and bigger until it was easier to make out what it was.
It was a window, rounded on top, with wooden cross on either side of its shutters. As Homura continued her descent, she feared that she would crash right into it, but before that happened, it opened. She fell through this window, and then another and another with less then a second between each threshold. There had to be at least twenty of them. She found herself screaming, with her senses overflowing, her instincts constantly telling her she was about to crash through one of the windows, but they always opened just before that would have happened.
Then, there was a red window with stained glass which depicted the image of spiderlilies on either side of it. This one was further away, and when it opened she was blinded by that same red light. She felt something pushing against her, a heavy wind which interrupted her downward momentum and slowed her. When the light disappeared, she saw solid ground. Still endless red. It was a field she had seen before. A field of flowers.
Her knees hit first, then her right hand. She tried to put down her left hand as well, but there was nothing there. Her shoulder and the side of her face hit the ground hard enough to create a ringing in her ears.
Her vision blurred for a moment, and slowly her senses came back to her. Her anxiety subsided, and she felt a calmness taking over her. It was the flowers.
She was surrounded by them. That sweet fragrant smell. Her eyes stared ahead at the stems of the flower bed and thought, 'It's beautiful.' Her head lifted and her eyes fell upon the tops of their red petals. She tried to use her left arm to push herself up, but just ended up hitting her head against the dirt floor again.
Her anxiety had subsided, and she had mistaken it for calm. It was something else, though. It was emptiness.
My arm…
She sat up, and felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she examined the forearm which ended in a smooth, unsleeved stump. She was broken. A piece of her had been taken away, and it wasn't just a dream. It was real! "Please…" She whispered to herself, her vision blurring from the tears which dampened her eyelashes. "This… can't…"
Then she heard a snap, and her head shot up. She glanced around fearfully, expecting that the monster who had done this to her was coming back to taunt her more. That monster was nowhere to be seen. But she saw a new one.
Long black hair spilled over the back of a chair, puffy shoulders and a laced gown. The girl sat in her chair with her back facing Homura. Her hand was outstretched with her fingers still in position from snapping. She just sat there, staring out over the endless red horizon. "I've been waiting for you." She said, "I was wondering when you would finally come, and here you are. They call me good-for-nothing, worthless. They blame it on me."
"B-blame?" Homura asked, somehow the tears had stopped flowing from her eyes, and she just stared at the back of the black haired girl's head. "For what?"
"Everything. Anything. They are resentful that I am their master, that's why they nicknamed me good-for-nothing. I suppose it's a fitting enough name for a worthless creature like me."
Homura didn't understand, but she knew this voice. She knew it very well. It was her own voice.
"You don't understand. That's because you only see the present. My flaw is that I only see the future. Neither of us remembers the past… But, I wonder if they do? They don't talk to me about such things."
"W-what?" Homura asked, and shook her head. Her remaining arm crossed over her chest and her hand held tight to the opposite shoulder. "Who?"
The fingers that had snapped, now raised up, and they pointed. Far in the distance, where the red field raised into a slope; a hill was covered with the same flowers. On it, Homura could see movement. She had to squint her eyes, but even then it was so far away she could only vaguely make out the shapes. She eventually recognised it as at least a dozen people: half were in the center of the group, carrying what looked like a black box, the others kept in pace, marching at a uniformed distance on every side.
"You'll have to forgive them." The girl said, "They have grown quite impatient, and are eager to get this over with. Those insolent servants of mine were never very courteous in the first place. Still, I think we have some time before they reach us."
"You're not explaining anything!" Homura shouted. Her hand gripped tighter to her shoulder. "Who are they? Eager for what?"
The girl's head turned, and slowly a white cheek revealed itself from behind the veil of hair. There was something wrong about the way that head turned. The shoulders remained completely motionless, and the arm was still held in the air with it's finger pointing. Homura's
mouth dropped open as the creature's head continued to turn.
It's wooden chin eventually hovered over the motionless shoulder. The head continued to turn, until it was completely backwards, and Homura was looking at a replica of her own face. Except, buttons were stitched over the eyes, and red paint was added to the cheeks for blush. This creature's skin looked to be porcelan, from it's forehead, down to it's nose. However, it's mouth was clearly made of wood.
The wooden mouth started opening and closing, revealing it's straight white wooden teeth each time, and clicking as it closed. Homura heard the creature's voice, but the voice was completely out of sync with the slow moving jaw, as if it were being moved by an extremely unexperienced puppeteer. "They are the claras." The wooden mouth explained, with its button eyes unseeing. "They are carrying your coffin. They are eager for your funeral to begin."
"F-funeral?" Homura quickly got back to her feet and started backing away from this cheap replica of herself. "What are you talking about? I'm not dead!" She almost screamed the words.
The jaw started moving up and down at a quicker pace, and a cackling sounds came from somewhere back in the creature's throat. "No, not dead. Homura." Even though it was speaking, the cackling continued, as if it could speak and laugh at the same time, but Homura soon realize the sound was actually the squeaking of the wooden hinges which moved its jaw. "Death is no fitting end for us. This is the day I waited so long for. This is the day you and I finally will walk as one. You're not going to die, Homura. It's just the opposite. We are about to be born."
"No!" Homura screamed, still backing away and shaking her head. "Never! I can't become a witch! I-if that happens..." Tears were rolling from her eyes once again, further wetting her already damp cheeks. "Everything I fought for… It'll all…"
"Be for nothing?" The witch asked. The jaw suddenly snapped shut. The crimson threads which ran through the center of her button eyes began to loosen, the buttons tilted downward, no longer held tight to her face, and the loose ends of the threads hung past her porcelain nose. "Homura, you should realize it was always going to end this way. This is the fate of all Magical Girls. When they see this cruel evil life for what it is, despair is the only answer."
The witch raised to her feet. Her face, even with the broken buttons, still stared at Homura as it's legs moved and walked around the chair, until it's head once again lined up with it's body. "Don't fear it Homura. There is no more need for fear." She reached her hand out to Homura.
"No… I don't want to be a witch! Please just leave me alone."
It's wooden jaw stopped moving, but Homura could still hear it speaking, as if directly into her mind. "Don't you understand? Your soul is in turmoil, your power has been stripped from you. There is no hope. The false hope has been destroyed." The witch's head tilted to the side. "That's your power. The gift your wish has granted you. The power of false hope. You should understand better than anyone, the true nature of fate."
The witch's hand raised into the sky, and she flicked her wrist. With the movement of her wrist, the clouds above them parted and made a circular opening that allowed them to see the pitch black sky that laid behind, dotted with thousands of stars.
With another flick of her wrist, the stars brightened, turning the black canvas that surrounded them a deep shade of purple, and then with a flash of white they disappeared, leaving the opening completely black again, without one single star dotting it anymore.
"This is the future." The witch explained, "The light of those stars could have been suns: bringing life to millions of creatures. They could have been planets. They will all despair. From the smallest life form, to the brightest star... all things end in despair. It is the same for you. Your false hope doesn't allow you to see this."
Homura fell down to her knees, her hand still squeezing her shoulder, and her head was shaking. "No… there could have been a happy ending. I was so close this time. I was finally there." Her tears rolls off her cheeks and landed on the red petals of the spider lilies that surrounded her. "One more time… that's all I need!" Her teeth gritted together. "Just one more repeat and I can finally do it!"
The witch walked over to her, and kneeled down beside her. Homura just stared at the flowers, not wanting to look directly at her porcelain replica. "I told you. Your flaw is that you only see the present. It strengthens your false hope, because you are unable to see the eventual despair of all that is around you. Even given the perfect outcome with all your conditions met, it won't change what's at the end of the road... you can only lengthen the distance to that end."
"Shut up… just stop it. If things are as you say, then what would be the point of living in the first place? What would be the point of anything?"
"There is none. When at the end of every road lies despair, all hope is false."
Homura shook her head. "There's no way, I can't accept that. There's just no way I can accept something like that!"
The witch's hand reached down, and plucked one of the flowers out of the ground. It held the flower out to Homura, staring at her with it's broken button eyes. Homura refused to look back at her.
"Why does the false hope blind you so? You always think it will be better next time. It never is."
"This time was different." Homura said.
Homura saw that the witch's hand was changing. It's skin became tighter against it's bone, then gradually started to melt away and drip like candle wax. A skeletal hand held onto the red spiderlily, and it's red petals began to wither up and turn brown.
"Then show me."
"Sounds like things are going well with Kuzuko-Sensei's new boyfriend." Madoka comment as she and Sayaka walked down the street together after school. Sayaka had her school bag slung over her shoulder, and Madoka carried hers with both hands folded in front of her.
"I'll give it a week." Sayaka said with a grin, "Just wait, by this time next week she is going to ask Nakizawa some kind of loaded question about proper dinner etiquette or something…" Sayaka sighed, "I kind of feel sorry for the guy."
Madoka laughed, "It does seem that she tends to pick on him when it comes to those types of situations, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, sure does." Sayaka said, returning the laughter. "And I mean, don't get me wrong, I hope things work out. But Sensei doesn't exactly have the best track record as far as relationships go, you know?"
"Well I guess that's true… Oh! Look!" Madoka suddenly started running ahead. Sayaka raised an eyebrow in confusion, and saw Madoka set her bag down then bend over to pick something up.
"What is it?" Sayaka asked, catching up to her.
Madoka turned around, holding a black cat under its arms. She held it up and showed it to Sayaka. "It's Amy!"
"Amy?" Sayaka thought back, "Oh yeah, so this is the cat you were telling me about?"
"Yup!" Madoka said with a smile, "Whenever I'm on my way to meet up with you and Hitomi before school, I usually see Amy and give her a little part of my lunch." Madoka hugged the cat close to her face, and Amy responded with a small headbutt against Madoka's cheek. "Isn't she the cutest thing in the world?" Madoka asked as she set Amy back down on the sidewalk.
Sayaka kneeled down and held her hand out to pet the cat. Amy started pacing back and forth under her hand and purring. "Well she's certainly very sociable." Sayaka laughed, petting her. "Especially for a stray, they are usually a bit more skittish about being picked up like that."
"I don't know, I guess it's possible she has a home somewhere around here." Madoka said. Amy rounded back over to her and rubbed against her leg. "That's why mama won't let me adopt her, she says I can't unless I know for sure she doesn't already belong to someone else."
"Oh yeah, that's a good point. Guess her fur is pretty well kept, so it's possible she isn't a stray after all."
"Yeah and it doesn't look like she is starving or anything, so I guess it's alright. Personally, I think she is just a professional moocher." Madoka laughed, "Honestly, who could say no to that adorable little face?" Madoka kneeled her head down lower, and Amy rose up onto her hind legs to headbutt Madoka under her chin, then returned to all fours and continued pacing around.
"Oh man! That's too cute!" Sayaka said, "Hang on, I gotta get a picture. See if you can get her to do it again." Then she started digging around in her school bag, searching for her phone.
Just as the phone was coming out of her schoolbag, Amy's head shot up. She stopped pacing around, and her ears twitched.
"Huh?" Madoka's own head went up, and she started listening for something. It didn't take long for Sayaka to hear it as well. There was the repetitive drone of a base line gradually getting louder and louder.
Sayaka's eyebrows suddenly furrowed down into an annoyed expression. "Ah, it's those punks again." She said, as she stood all the way up with her phone in her hand. "They drive right by my house all the time blasting that damn music, not to mention going way over the speed limit in a neighborhood with little kids running around! Don't they realize how unsafe that is? On top of that, it's just plain inconsiderate!"
Madoka frowned as she stood as well, and looked down the street. Amy stayed still, just staring up at the sky with wide anticipating eyes, and her little ears twitching. They could see the car in question slow as it approached a stop sign at the end of the street, then it turned and started heading down the street right towards them.
Sayaka's frown deepened for a moment, but then her eyes widened mischievously. A grin hit her face as she glanced down to the phone that was in her hand, and said "Oh… I got em' now!" Then she quickly started sliding her finger around on the screen of her phone. "I'm going to get a video of them speeding and send it right to the police! Along with their license plate number."
Madoka didn't seem as enthused. She respected Sayaka's morality, and her eagerness to do the right thing. At the same time though, Madoka often found it a little concerning that she often put her own well being in jeopardy for the sake of others. This wasn't exactly one of those cases, but Sayaka's level of enthusiasm still somehow seemed a tad alarming to Madoka. It's something she had trouble talking to Sayaka about, because she wasn't specifically doing anything wrong which Madoka could point a finger at. It was more like an abstract feeling she got when Sayaka was like this, which was difficult to put into words.
"Yeah, I got these jerks now." Sayaka said under her breath. She was watching their car through the screen of her phone, but holding it at an angle so it would just look like she was writing a text message. As they got closer, their music felt like it was getting louder and louder, and Madoka could practically feel the bass thumping her heart.
All of a sudden, when a particularly high bass note was hit, Amy flinched and ran away as if trying to escape an attacker. Madoka glanced down, and her eyes widened in horror as she saw the little black animal dart out into the street — right in the path of the car!
"Oh no!" Sayaka shouted, losing the careful focus she had with her camera as she extended her hand.
"AMY!" Madoka screamed. It was clear that Amy would be hit by the car, the driver was glancing to the back seat, saying something to one of his friends, and Amy slowed her pace as her small head turned to see the oncoming monstrosity. Suddenly, she was like a deer in headlights, she was going to be hit, and there was nothing either of them could do!
However, they hadn't noticed before, but there must have been someone walking along the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street who saw what was happening. She was already in a full tilted sprint when Madoka noticed her incredibly long black hair trailing behind her like a superheros cape. She dove out into the street and almost seemed to fall on top of Amy as she rolled onto her shoulder. For a moment, Madoka thought she was about to witness something even more horrible than a poor innocent cat getting hit by a car, but it only lasted a very brief moment because the girl finished her maneuver and rolled out of the way so quickly, it must have been less than a second.
The car zipped by, and the girl was left crouching down on the street with her arms hugged tightly against her chest. Her black hair fell forward and completely veiled her face. "OH! Are you alright?" Madoka said, quickly running to her side.
Sayaka ran after the car. "HEY!" She yelled, "That was a hit and run!" She started waving her phone in the air at them, "I've got it all on video!" The driver of the car didn't seem to care, in fact, the engine roared even louder as the car took off down the street. Sayaka couldn't believe what she had just witnessed... but more importantly… She turned and quickly ran back to the girl. "Is she alright?" And was prepared to dial one-one-nine for an ambulance.
The girls head lifted up, and one hand came up to brush her hair away from her face. She looked up at Madoka with the cat safely tucked into her arms, and smiled.
Her skin looked so soft and smooth. It was pale, making it a rather sharp contrast with her black hair, but this added a certain mysterious quality to the girl. Then Madoka looked into her eyes, and felt a strange fluttering feeling in her heart. There was strength in those eyes, yet at the same time, the curve of her lips gave her a compassionate aura.
Madoka blushed, and couldn't help one foot taking a step back. "A-are you ok?" Madoka asked, clasping her hands at her chest.
"Yes. I'm fine." The girl said, as she rose back to a full stand with Amy still held securely against her chest. Her voice matched Madoka's impression of her. Soft and caring, yet powerful with a level of hidden strength. Amy's little head popped up and her eyes glanced around anxiously. "Looks like this little one will be ok as well. She's just a little frightened." She smiled down at the cat one more time, then held it out to the blushing girl. "Here."
"Thanks…" Madoka said, her voice a tad absent as she accepted the cat back into her arms. Then when she saw the girls lip raise into a smirk, Madoka's blush deepened and she quickly shook herself out of it. "I-I mean," She bowed her head down slightly, "Thank you so much!"
"Yeah, nice move." Sayaka said. "That was kind of totally crazy, and I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad it worked out."
"Yes…" The girl said slowly, "I just happened to be walking by, and when I saw what was about to happen I just reacted."
"Do you live around here?" Madoka asked. "I don't think I've seen you around before."
"Well… not really, I was just… out for a walk."
Sayaka raised an eyebrow at the vague response, but Madoka didn't seem to notice. Madoka, still holding Amy with one arm, said. "Well, I'm Madoka Kaname!"
Sayaka followed suite, "Um, Sayaka Miki."
"Homura Akemi. It's nice to meet both of you." She looked Madoka up and down for a moment, making Madoka blush a little more, and said, "That uniform. Is it for Mitakihara Middle School?"
"Uh-um… Yes!" Madoka laughed nervously, tilting her head to the side slightly and smiling. Sayaka noticed this, looking back and forth between the two of them, then tried to hide the sudden grin on her face.
"I see…" Homura's eyes sank to the left for a moment as she thought something over. Then she returned her gaze on Madoka with that same cool expression, "I'm actually transferring to that school on monday… It would be nice if we ended up in the same class together."
"Yes, that would be great!" Madoka laughed.
"Well… I actually need to get going now." Homura said, "There's something…" Her eyes shifted around as she seemed to think over something, "Something important I need to go do."
"Oh… well, ok." Madoka said with a smile, although there was a touch of disappointment in her voice.
"Hey, ok. Guess we'll be seeing you around then. Right, transfer student?" Sayaka had a bit of a teasing smile but it earned her a blank expression from the tall ravenette and forced the grin away from her face.
"Yes…" Homura quickly put her smile back on and bowed her head to each of the two girls, "Goodbye Miki-san, Kaname-san…" Then she reached her hand out to the cat that was cradled in Madoka's arms and scratched her behind the ears. "and Amy."
Sayaka suddenly took a step back, and glanced down at her phone. She got a strange feeling all of a sudden, but couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Amy let out a small meow, as if she were also trying to give a farewell.
After parting ways, Madoka glanced back down the street a few times to get a last look at the girl who would be transferring into their school soon. "Well… she was cool." Madoka ventured, breaking the brief silence that came between them.
"Huh? Oh… yeah." Sayaka responded, suddenly being pulled out of a deep thought.
"Are you ok, Sayaka?" Madoka asked. "You seem a little distant all of a sudden."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sayaka said, laughing it off. "It's just… How did she know the cat's name was Amy?"
"What?" Madoka looked at her with a confused expression. "One of us must have said it, right?"
"Yeah… right." Sayaka forced a smile back on her face but it was clear she was still thinking about something. "Anyway, when I get home I'll see how much of that I got on camera… I kind of lost focus once Amy jumped out in the street, but maybe I have enough to help the police with an investigation on those jerks."
The classroom filled with chatter as the last of the students filled in, just a few minutes left before class would begin. Sayaka sat backwards in her chair, with one leg folded under herself so she could talk with Madoka and Hitomi who sat behind her. "Anyway, turns out the video I tried to take was useless." Sayaka explained with a sigh. "It's way out of focus, you can't see I thing… Guess I really dropped the ball on that one, huh?" She laughed it off, but seemed troubled.
"That's not true Sayaka." Madoka said, "You tried at least." She also thought to point out that she should take it easier on herself, because it wasn't exactly her responsibility to deal with this in the first place.
"I know… It's just what those punks are doing is dangerous. What if they end up hurting someone? We almost witnessed something like that the other day."
"I'm kind of having a hard time imagining it, though." Hitomi said, "I mean, the girl who grabbed the cat out of the way. Something like that is like something you would see on TV, but it's hard to believe someone would jump infront of a car like that in real life."
Sayaka grinned, "What? You think we're lying to you?"
"No, of course not." Hitomi said with a slight tilt of her head, "The way you two put it, it just sounds really impressive is all."
"Yeah, it was totally crazy. I got a little bit of it on video, but like I said it's way out of focus so you can't really tell what's going on. I can show it to you after class."
"Sure." Hitomi said, "I'd like to see it."
The chattering in the class petered into silence when Kuzuko-Sensei cleared her throat. Sayaka turned around and sat in her chair properly, and all the remaining students took their seats as well.
"Ok, class! Listen up because this is important!" Kuzuko practically shouted as she addressed the class. She sliced her pointer through the air as she spoke, making a sharp whooshing sound. "What is the proper way to fry an egg? Sunnyside up or down? NAKIZAWA!" She jabbed her pointer in the direction of the boy who was sitting in the front row of the class.
"Uh-uh-um… well…" Nakizawa stuttered, quickly thinking it through. "Well, I mean… either way is fine… right?" He ducked down into his shoulders, tensing up and praying that was an acceptable answer.
Further back in the class, Sayaka turned to Madoka with a grin and whispered, "Called it."
"Heh, yeah I guess so." Madoka agreed, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the side with a slight smile.
"THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!" Kuzuko shouted, waving her pointer around violently. "Therefore, girls, you should never get involved with a shallow man who complains about how his eggs are prepared. And boys! If you find yourselves with a strong opinion on it one way or another…" Her rage reached it's peak as she snapped her pointer in half and shouted, "I SUGGEST YOU KEEP IT TO YOURSELF!"
If there had been any chattering left in the classroom, it was now completely silenced. A rather uncomfortable atmosphere filled the air as Kuzuko stood at the front of the class with her head down and a dark aura forming around her. Then, she suddenly straightened her posture, clapped her hands together, and spoke in a cheery voice which was the polar opposite of the one she was just using. "Now that we've got that out of the way! We have a new student transferring into our class today!" She turned to the doorway and called out into the hall. "You can come in now!"
With that, the class erupted into a wave of hushed chattering. It had been a long time since their school had a transfer student, so naturally everyone was pretty excited. A few other students were questioning why this didn't come before her rant about frying eggs.
Madoka and Sayaka glanced towards each other. "Transfer student?" Sayaka asked.
"Do you think it could be her?" Madoka said, then they both looked forward as that mysterious black haired girl from the other day entered the classroom. Sayaka and Madoka looked at each other. Madoka smiled, and Sayaka gave her a thumbs up.
"Hey." Hitomi said, leaning forward to address her two friends. "Is that the girl you were telling me about?"
"Sure is!" Sayaka answered. Then they all returned their focus to the front of the room and the class quieted down so Kuzuko-Sensei could introduce the new girl.
"This is Homura Akemi." She explained as she wrote the name out in hiragana on the whiteboard. "She has just recently been released from the hospital, and therefore has been out of school for a while, so be sure to help her out if she needs it. Now then, Homura, is there anything you would like to say to the class?"
Homura, without a word, turned to the whiteboard and used the back of her hand to erase her name. She then picked up a spare stylus and rewrote her name using the Kanji for 'flame'. She turned back to the class, her facial expression remaining completely neutral. The majority of the students seemed rather impressed, and started talking amongst themselves once again.
Sayaka leaned back in her chair and put her hands behind her head, "Eh, showoff."
Hitomi laughed, "She does seem a tad eccentric doesn't she?"
"Yeah she does." Sayaka said, "What do you think Madoka?" She didn't get a response right away, so she looked over to the pinkette who was staring at the new girl with an expression that showed she was quite obviously lost in thought. "Eh… Madoka?"
"Huh?" Madoka asked, suddenly snapping out of it. "Um, yeah sure!" She said with a smile; It was clear that she didn't actually hear the question.
The class quieted down again as Homura bowed before them and spoke. "Thank you all for welcoming me. I hope we have a good year together."
When she raised back up, Kuzuko asked her to find an empty seat. Homura looked around, and her eyes set over in Madoka and Sayaka's direction. Madoka put a hand up and waved, and Sayaka put up the peace sign with a grin. Homura returned the gestures with a smile and a nod. There were no empty seats near them, however, so she had to choose one near the front of the class, a few rows down from the two girls who were already acquainted with her.
The class went on normally after that, with nothing notable happening until about thirty minutes into the class when Homura was asked solve a math problem. She walked to the front with a stoic expression on her face, she picked the stylus up right away without even taking a minute to think it over, and then she started working out the solution. Her hand didn't stop once, until the answer was written underneath the solution and underlined. She brushed her hair back, turned on her heels, and returned to her seat without a word.
Once again, the class had been taken by the new girl and a soft wave of impressed whispering brushed throughout. Kuzuko adjusted her glasses as she looked over what Homura had written, also barely able to believe how quickly she had done it.
"Wow…" Madoka said under her breath as she watched the tall girl return to her seat.
Sayaka seemed less impressed, with folded arms and a slight frown, she muttered "Wasn't she suppose to have been out of school for a while?"
"Maybe she was home schooled in the hospital?" Hitomi offered.
"Yeah… must have been…" Sayaka said.
After class, there was a free period. Madoka shifted in her seat, glanced over to Sayaka quickly and then back over to Homura, wanting to get up and go talk to her. However, before she could even get up from her desk she saw that Homura was getting swarmed by a group of girls who wanted to talk to her. Madoka frowned, and started rearranging some papers on her desk.
At the front of the class, Homura answered the questions the girls were throwing at her with a calm tone and not much expression on her face.
"So, what school did you go to before this?" Said the first girl.
"A catholic school in Tokyo." Homura answered.
"Are you going to join any clubs?" Asked another.
"You're hair looks so great!" Said a third girl, "What kind of shampoo do you-"
"Sorry," Homura said, cutting her off in mid sentence. "I'm actually not feeling so well all of a sudden. I should go to the nurse's office."
"Oh…" The girls looked amongst each other uncertainly, until one said. "Sorry, um… would you like us to take you there?"
"No, that won't be necessary." Homura said in her stoic tone as she stood. She glanced toward the back of the room, looking right through the wall of girls who were standing around her. Two of them shuffled out of the way, clearing a path so that Homura could set her eyes on Madoka. Madoka made eye contact with her from across the room, and when she saw Homura's lips raise into a smile she started to blush. "I'll just ask the nurses aid to take me." She explained to the girls. Then she started walking over to Madoka, leaving the girls to look uncertainly amongst each other and wonder if they had offended her.
"Hey! Transfer student!" Sayaka said with a grin as Homura approached.
"Hello." Homura said, slightly bowing her head to the group. "It's good to see the two of you again. I'm glad we ended up in the same class."
"Yeah, me too!" Madoka said with a laugh.
"Oh, and this is our friend Hitomi." Sayaka said, nodding back to the green haired girl.
"It's good to meet you." Homura said, with her characteristically emotionless voice.
"Yes, you too." Hitomi said with a smile, "They told me about how you saved that cat the other day. It sounded quite impressive."
Homura nodded, then looked over to Madoka. "Madoka Kaname. You are the nurses aid for this class, correct?"
"Yes, I am." Madoka said with a smile.
"That's good, I was hoping you could escort me to the nurse's office."
"Oh, you mean right now?"
Homura nodded, "If it's not too much trouble."
"Sure, it's no problem!" She said as she stood up, then blushed when she realized she had been just tad too enthusiastic about it. When she glanced back to her friends and noticed Sayaka's smirk and Hitomi's pondering expression, her blush deepened. "Um, I-I'll be right back." She said to them, quickly trying to brush it off. Then she followed Homura who was already walking toward the front of the classroom.
Madoka followed Homura out in the hall, and noted with only half a mind that Homura started walking in the correct direction without needing to wait for her lead. Madoka walked a few paces behind the tall girl, and when her hands started fidgeting together she quickly straightened her arms to stop herself from doing it. Why did she suddenly feel so nervous?
More importantly, she was suppose to be leading Homura to the nurse's office, so she sped up her pace a little until she was walking alongside her, "So, the nurse is just up this hall and…"
"I know where it is." Homura said, in her cool controlled way.
Madoka glanced over to the tall ravenette, "Huh?" Homura's eyes moved to look down at the shorter girl, and the corner of her mouth raised into a smile. "Um…" Homura's smile somehow put the blush back on Madoka's face, and she couldn't help glancing down again. "Then... why would you ask me to take you?"
"I didn't want to risk those other girls insisting on escorting me there."
"Oh, I see…" Madoka said under her breath, "So that's the reason."
"Hm?" Homura asked, having not caught what Madoka just said.
"Oh, nothing." Madoka laughed and brushed it off. "And sorry about those girls, they're really harmless I assure you. We just don't get too many transfer students here, so I guess you can see why they were pretty excited."
"That makes sense."
"Besides, you're just so… well… um…" Madoka once again caught herself fumbling over her words, and felt herself becoming increasingly anxious as she tried to think her way out of it.
"You know…" Homura said slowly, letting Madoka of the hook and ignoring her untactful demeanor. "There's... actually another reason I wanted you to take me." Homura suddenly stopped walking, and looked out the window to her right. The sunlight's yellow rays reflected off her dark hair, creating a subtle aura of light around the girl. Madoka watched her, suddenly feeling a certain level of anticipation. There was something in the tone of Homura's voice. "Well… you see… I also wanted a chance to spend some time with you."
Homura looked away from the window, and back to Madoka, and her usually stoic face now held it's own shade of blush. The corner of her mouth fidgeted slightly; she was trying to smile, but it was coming off quite awkwardly.
Madoka suddenly realized why she had been so nervous herself, and seeing this new expression on Homura's face suddenly washed all of that away. Homura's strong controlled demeanor was admirable, but at the same time it made her somewhat intimidating. This new expression humanized her, and aside from that; there was the thing she actually said.
"You wanted to spend time with me?" Madoka asked, somewhat surprised by the words.
"Yes. You seemed like an interesting person, so..."
Like an interesting person? It was such a strange thing to say, and when Madoka saw Homura's eyes shift to the side, she could tell Homura felt embarrassed about the way she put it. This girl certainly was complex; from a distance she seemed so controlled and unshakable. Up close in personal, however, the complete opposite side was showing. Or maybe its that the cool controlled demeanor acted as a kind of mask, and if that were the case why was she taking it off now? Under the mask this other side of her was actually kind of… cute.
"Eh, I mean… nothing…" Homura said. And suddenly, the mask was back up.
Madoka saw Homura's uncertainty, and she quickly stepped forward and grabbed onto her hand "I'm glad you said so!" She said with a big smile, "Actually… ever since the other day I was hoping to get to know you as well. When you saved Amy, that was so amazing."
"Well, that was nothing, really." Homura looked down at Madoka's hand around hers, trying to hold onto her controlled posture, but any chance of her hiding the blush on her face was now gone. The fact that she was trying to hide it in the first place made her even cuter. "Like I said, I just saw what was going to happen, and I reacted."
"It was still great though." Madoka said with a laugh, and finally let go of her hand and let her off the hook. "You are really good at math too. Everyone in class was impressed by how well you solved that problem. Were you in the advanced classes in your last school?"
"Well… I'm just familiar with that type of equation, is all. I… Actually hadn't been to school in a while... but, my grades were always ordinary."
"I see…" Madoka remembered that Kuzuko-Sensei mentioned Homura had been in the hospital for a while. Madoka wondered how much time she had to spend in the hospital, and what her condition was. Looking at her, she looked strong and healthy. Actually, she looked to be in GREAT shape, and Madoka got a small hint of her athleticism when she saved Amy. She figured it might be rude to ask her personal questions about her health though, so she thought of something else to say. "So who do you live with? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"No…" Homura said in her characteristically dull tone, "Actually, I live alone. I don't really have any family."
"Oh…" Homura's expression was hard to read, it usually was. Aside from when Madoka grabbed her hand, and her emotions ended up being painted all over her face, Homura never seemed to drop her poker face. "That's… kind of sad." Madoka said with a low tone, not really thinking it over.
"No. It's fine, really. I'm pretty much use to it." Then when Homura looked over to her and put on that cool smile, Madoka felt incredibly sorry for her. There was a lot of loneliness behind that smile, and all of a sudden the complete picture of who this girl was became clear.
"Hey, um…" Madoka thought for a moment. "Me, Sayaka, and Hitomi were going to go to a nearby cafe after school. They make really great milkshakes there - that's what I usually get - Um…" Madoka looked up at her and smiled, "Would you like to come too?"
"Well… I…" Homura's eyes shifted to the side as she thought about it, and Madoka could tell she was trying to come up with a reason to turn down the offer.
"It'll be a lot of fun." Madoka added, and gave her the sweetest smile she could to push her along.
"Well, alright. I'd love to come." Homura finally said.
"Great! Let's meet up after class and then we can all walk there together!"
They both stopped as they reached the nurse's office, and turned to each other. They held eye contact for a while, each just taking in the others expression. Madoka felt her heart fluttering in her chest, but the nervousness she felt around Homura was completely gone now. She just felt this intense happiness to know she was getting along with her. She wasn't sure what it was, but she never quite felt like this for anyone else before, and she hoped that Homura felt the same way.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you then." Homura said, with a real true smile on her face.
"Yup! Can't wait!" Madoka said, and they parted ways as Homura entered the nurse's office.
Throughout the rest of the day, Homura continued to be the center of attention in every class. Madoka didn't end up seated next to her in any of their classes, to her disappointment, but hoped to get a chance to hang out with her during gym. That ended up not happening either, since Homura displayed incredible athleticism and found herself swarmed by both admirers and club leaders trying to recruit her. While Madoka was off to the side with Sayaka doing their stretches, she overheard the teacher say, "She crushed every school record." under his breath.
As soon as the bell rang at the end of the last class of the day, Madoka got up and walked right over to Homura's desk before anyone else had a chance to. "So, are we still on?" She asked, with a cheery smile. There was something in Homura's body language as she gathered her papers into her bag that hinted she may answer in the negative, and it caused Madoka's smile to fade somewhat.
"Actually… I'm very sorry but I forgot there is an errand I had to run after school."
Madoka frowned, "Oh… is that right?"
"Yes..." Homura said as she finished cleaning off her desk and lifted the strap of her bag up over her shoulder. "Maybe we can do it some other time?"
"Oh, of course." Madoka did feel a little disappointed but she put her smile back on anyway. "We are classmates now after all, so it's not like we won't be seeing each other around."
"I… do feel bad about this."
"Oh no, don't. It's fine, really!" Madoka assured her, "You can't help it if you are busy."
"Well, which cafe was it anyway?" Homura asked.
"Starside Cafe, it's inside of that big shopping mall that's close to here. If you enter through the south side of building you'd see it right away."
"Hm..." Homura paused as she seemed to be thinking something over. "Actually, my errand won't take me too long, and it should bring me right by there. Maybe I could just meet you there?"
"That'd be great!" Madoka said, becoming cheery again.
"Well, I can't guarantee I'll make it… I have to see how things go." Homura thought it over for a moment then asked, "Here, how about you give me your phone number so I can text you?"
"Sure." Madoka said, then looked confused when Homura didn't pull out her phone or something to write with.
"I've got a good memory." Homura said with a smile as she pointed to the side of her head.
Madoka laughed, liking to see Homura's subtly humorous side, and then gave her the number.
She regrouped with Sayaka and Hitomi, and they started walking to the mall together, as was their ritual to do at least once a week after school.
"So, the transfer student bailed on us?" Sayaka joked as they were leaving the school grounds.
"Well, she said she had something to do right after school, but she might be catching up with us later." Madoka said.
"Ah, ok then." Sayaka said, "Ah Hitomi, I almost forgot, you still need to see the video." Then she pulled her phone out of her bag and started sliding her finger around on the screen. "Like I said, I kind of lost focus, but you'll get the gist of it."
"Oh alright." Hitomi said. She had heard her friends talking about the event all day and was curious to see it for herself. She took the phone and watched the video as she continued to walk with the group.
It was only a little over a minute long, and ended shortly after Sayaka shouted: 'Hey! That's a hit and run!'
"Wow." Hitomi said, as she handed the phone back to Sayaka. "It's hard to see everything, but that did look pretty close."
"Heh yeah, I told you that chicks like totally nuts." Sayaka said with a laugh, "I'm glad she did it though, and at least she didn't end up getting hurt or anything."
"Although…" Hitomi spoke carefully, as if she were unsure about what she was about to say. "It did kind of seemed like she just appeared out of nowhere…"
"Yeah, your telling me." Sayaka laughed, "Talk about right place at the right time? Right Madoka?"
"Yes, it sure was lucky. I didn't even notice her until she was already sprinting into the road." Madoka said, and returned the laugh.
"No… I mean…" Hitomi looked troubled, "It's like she just... appeared."
Sayaka raised an eyebrow skeptically and let her shoulders hunch down. "Ok… what the heck are you talking about Hitomi?"
Although she could come up with some pretty wild idea's on occasion, Hitomi was typically the more rational of the three of them, and her current attitude seemed a bit out of character. "Here, watch the video again… It's probably related to the poor quality from the camera moving around so much, but I did notice something rather strange."
All three of them stopped on a street corner and huddled around the phone as Sayaka played the video again.
The camera stayed in perfect focus as it followed the car down the street, they could even hear the sound of it's music playing through the small cellphone speakers. "Watch closely." Hitomi said, right after they heard Madoka yell 'Amy!' through the phone.
Then the camera became unfocused, and swayed left and right. During its sway, it caught Homura sprinting out into the road. "Huh." Sayaka said, then backed the video up by ten seconds so they could rewatch Homura's appearance.
"Um…" Madoka looked up at her two friends once the scene played through again. "It... sure looks like she just appeared out of nowhere, huh? I-I mean, the camera isn't very well focused, but…"
Hitomi shrugged, "A couple frames were probably lost, plus she was moving fast. It all probably just so happened to get timed just right to make it look like she's just appearing there."
"Yeah, but the camera pans all along the sidewalk a few seconds beforehand, and she's nowhere to be…" Sayaka trailed off and let a grin hit her face. "Heh, yeah this is totally stupid. What? Are we saying she just magically appeared somehow? Come on, let's hurry up and get to the cafe." They all laughed and put the phone away, then crossed the street together and continued their walk to the mall.
On the way there, Hitomi started to go off on relaying a certain psychology lesson to her friends about how the human mind tends to try to sort things out when it sees something it doesn't understand. She explained this by telling them about an experiment involving a rorschach test. The experiment would be to take black spots that look like a bird then put a bunch of extra spots to cover it up. The idea would be to show the test subject the altered version and then take away the extra spots to make the bird more obvious, and see how the subject answers.
Sayaka didn't totally understand the point of the experiment but it reminded her of something. "Oh hey, on the biology test today, what did you guys answer for number seven? It was the one that had something about regulating muscle activity, or something."
"Cerebellum." Hitomi said.
"Ah, right!" Sayaka said, "I knew that, just couldn't quite remember the word. You know?"
When they arrived at the mall, there was a good sized crowd scattered throughout, and echoing chatter filled the air. They usually only came here on weekdays, because on weekends the mall tended to be totally packed to the point it was hard to get anywhere without having to push through a crowd, or wait in line forever whenever you wanted to buy something. Today was a good deal more crowded than a typical monday afternoon, probably because it was late in March and the weather was just starting to get nice again.
They rode the escalator up to the second floor, and then entered the cafe and took a table near the center of the room. When the waiter greeted them, Sayaka and Hitomi ordered smoothies for drinks, and Madoka got a black and white milkshake.
They spent the next half hour talking about school and gossiping about different things. When the subject of Kuzuko-Sensei's love life came up, Madoka had a lot to say. Her mom happened to be good friends with Kuzuko and therefore her teacher ended up being a common topic of conversation between them.
"Mama says the third month is the most critical point in a relationship. If it's not the real thing that's usually where it falls apart." Madoka explained. "If it gets past the third month it's usually ok for at least another year, though."
"What happens after a year?" Hitomi asked.
"Hm…" Madoka thought it over. "I'm not sure, mom didn't say."
"Well, Sensei still needs to clear the three month barrier, so I don't think she is going to have to worry about that." Sayaka said with a grin, and they all shared a laugh which was interrupted when Madoka's phone played a quick jingle, signaling she received a text message.
She flipped open her phone, and subconsciously let a smile hit her lips when she saw it was from Homura.
'Hey, I'm right down the street from the mall. Are you still there?'
Madoka texted her back right away. 'Yup! We're still in the cafe I told you about. Just enter through the south entrance and you can't miss it.'
'Ok I'll be there soon.'
Although she didn't have anything else to say, Madoka found herself rereading the three short messages over and over again, until Sayaka pulled her back into reality. "Eh… Madoka?"
"Hm?" Madoka asked, looking up from her phone. "What is it?"
Sayaka laughed, "Heh, nothing. You were just kind of in your own world for a second there. So what's up?"
"Oh… I was just talking to Homura. She is going to meet us here in a few minutes."
"Oh, cool." Sayaka said.
"Hm…" Hitomi suddenly got her pondering expression on her face. "You just called her by her first name. That was pretty quick, wasn't it?"
Sayaka, glanced over to Hitomi and saw a slight sparkle in her eye. 'Heh, alright I gotcha.' Sayaka thought, 'I'll play along.'
"Yeah, and come to think of it…" Sayaka said, putting on her interrogation face and leaning forward toward Madoka. "Ever since you met Homura the other day you've been even more of a space cadet than usual."
"Huh? Th-that's not true." Madoka said.
"This kind of closeness right off the bat… You must have been soulmates from another life!" Sayaka teased.
"C-come on, you're being weird!" Madoka said back.
Madoka's face went bright red as Hitomi and Sayaka continued to laugh, and she found herself at a loss for words. Then, she saw the dark haired girl she had been waiting for come through the doorway, and start looking around. Madoka sat up in her chair, put her hand up and waved to catch Homura's attention. Sayaka and Hitomi glanced back, and stopped the fooling around to give a wave as well and invite her over.
"Hello." Homura said as she approached the group.
"Hey, how's it going?" Sayaka said.
"I'm glad you could make it! Here, take a seat." Madoka said, scooting down to make room for Homura to sit next to her.
"Thanks." Homura said, as she took note of their drinks and saw that the three of them were almost finished. "Sorry… looks, like I'm a little late."
"Don't worry about it," Madoka replied, "If you wanted to get anything we'll wait for you."
"Actually, I hate to be rude." Hitomi said, "But I'll have to leave soon myself."
"What is it this time?" Sayaka asked, "Singing or dance recital?"
"Tea ceremony." Hitomi said.
"Heh, stuff like that makes me glad I wasn't born a rich girl." Sayaka said with a laugh, then looked over to Homura across the table. "Hitomi here's usually the smart-girl of our group. But based on todays math lessons, it looks like you'll be giving her some competition. Right, transfer student?"
"Maybe just for this semester." Homura said, "I may be a little ahead of the rest of the class right now, but I don't think my math skills are anything out of the ordinary."
"Well, anyway." Hitomi said as she gathered her bag and stood up, "I really should be going now. See you all at school tomorrow."
"Goodbye Hitomi." Madoka said.
"Yup, see you later." Said Sayaka. Once Hitomi left, Sayaka addressed the other girls, "So, I wanted to head to the music store after this. You guys ok with that?"
"Sure, I'd like to go." Madoka said, then looked to Homura to confer with her.
"I don't have anything else to do for the rest of the day, so I'm fine with anything."
Then the waiter, a man with a thin goatee who looked to be in his early twenties, came back to the table. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you come in." He said to Homura. "Is there anything I can get for you?"
"Just an iced coffee to go, please." Homura said to him.
"Ok, coming right up." He said, then went back to fill the order.
"Sayaka, were you planning to get something for Kyouske?" Madoka asked.
"Yup." She said, "Whenever we are done I was going to go visit him. He had some kind of specialist come take a look at him today, so I wanted to see how that went."
"Kyosuke is Sayaka's friend who was involved in a pretty bad accident about half a year ago." Madoka explained to Homura, with a slight frown. "He lost mobility through most of his body, and no one is able to pinpoint exactly why that is."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Homura said, trying to sound compassionate but her words came off a bit dry.
"You recently got released from the hospital yourself, didn't you?" Sayaka asked.
"Yes. That's correct." The tone of her voice indicated she didn't want to talk much about it, so Sayaka and Madoka both left the topic alone. Although, since bringing it up, Homura seemed deeper in thought and even less sociable than she usually is. Madoka and Sayaka ended up chatting back and forth to each other while Homura sat there silently. Madoka tried to pull her back into the conversation, but didn't have much luck.
Once she received her iced coffee they all paid for their drinks and were ready to leave.
"Sayaka." Homura said, just before they were all getting ready to stand up, finally breaking her extended period of silence.
"Huh? What's up?" Sayaka asked.
Homura played with the lid of her coffee while she thought it over for a moment. "Fate can sometimes seem cruel, but things have a way of happening as they are suppose to."
"Um…" Sayaka raised an eyebrow at her then glanced over to Madoka, who seemed equally at a loss for how to take that. "Eh, sorry but... what exactly are you talking about now?"
"I'm referring to your friend. It can be tempting to want to change what life has handed you, but it's best to accept things as they are and simply do your best to deal with them using your own strength"
"I think what Homura's trying to say." Madoka started, "Is to make the best of a bad situation?"
"Hm…" Sayaka eyed Homura for a moment, her lips tightened together in some strange motion that wasn't sure if it wanted to form a smile or a frown. "Now I'm pretty curious about your story. So what is your deal anyway?"
"Let's just say I can relate to what you must be going through."
Sayaka finally decided on a smile, and gave Homura a nod. "Heh, ok transfer student. I think I get what your saying… and thanks.."
"Anyway, we were going to go to the music store?" Homura asked as she stood, her voice became less ominous and returned to a more normal tone. Or, as normal of a tone as she could manage.
"Yup!" Madoka said, smiling. "Let's go!"
Once they were at the music store, Sayaka couldn't help but take notice of how clingy Madoka was being to Homura. Sayaka was browsing the CD section and peaked over the shelf to see both Madoka and Homura on the other side of the store, listening to music with each of them using one earbud from the same set of headphones. Sayaka and Hitomi had been picking on Madoka earlier just for fun, but she was starting to realise there may have been more reality to their jokes than they thought. She doubted that Hitomi realised this herself, however.
She could see they were talking to each other, but couldn't hear their words. Madoka had her usual bubbly demeanor as she explained something to the taller girl. Homura's eyes rolled around and a soft grin touched her face as she said something. Madoka paused, and stomped her foot as she shouted something back, which warranted a smile from the ravenette. Sayaka couldn't help smiling herself as she watched the scene. She didn't know Homura very well, but from what she could tell, Madoka was probably the only person who could create that kind of expression on that girl's otherwise emotionless face.
That's just the kind of girl Madoka was, though. It really wasn't possible to stay in a bad mood around the small pinkette. Sayaka didn't even need to watch Homura's interactions with her to know that; she knew from personal experience of Madoka's overwhelming powers of sweetness.
She still wasn't a hundred percent sure what to make of Homura. On one hand there had been nothing but positive things she could say about Homura, on the other however… there was just something off about her. It wasn't something Sayaka could quite put a finger on, but her sudden closeness to Madoka after only a couple days struck her as odd.
Then there was her personality. All her words were nice, and she seemed polite… but there was a certain hollowness behind everything she did, almost as if she had been rehearsing parts in a play. Madoka didn't see it… Sayaka could, but that's only because the play wasn't being put on for her… it was being put on for her best friend.
You better be good to her, Sayaka thought as she watched Madoka and Homura start to laugh, resolving whatever minor dispute they had with each other a moment ago. Otherwise you'll have to answer to me.
She grinned to herself and shook her head, realising it was possible she was just being overprotective. Homura was strange all right, but that didn't automatically mean it was in a bad way. There was some obvious lack of social skills, like when she tried to talk about Kyousuke earlier, but Sayaka thought the intentions behind her odd choice of words were pure.
After perusing the classical section a while longer, she finally managed to choose a CD. It was by a french composer whose work dated back to the early 1900's. Sayaka recognised the name from Kyosuke mentioning him before, and decided to go with that one, because she was pretty sure Kyousuke didn't actually own any of that particular composer's work.
With her purchase decided on, she went to rejoin her friends. She approached just as Madoka was saying, "Are you sure you don't have to be anywhere Homura? You keep checking the time."
Homura quickly returned the phone to her bag and glanced around. "No, I don't have to be anywhere…" Then she noticed Sayaka approaching and made her best attempt at a smile. Apparently her natural smiles were reserved only for Madoka. "Hey, is Madoka always this strange?" Homura said, "She kept thinking something was calling her name."
"Hey, don't laugh!" Madoka shouted at Homura. "I know how it sounds, but I'm serious!"
"Careful." Sayaka warned Homura, "She looks cute, but trust me, you don't want to end up incurring the wrath of MADoka."
"Heh, I'll keep that in mind." There it was again, that rehearsed way of speaking that Homura had. Once Sayaka started looking for it, it was so clearly there. Well, maybe it was just a result of her trying to overcome some kind of social awkwardness problem? The only problem with that theory, is nothing else about Homura's character fit the profile of someone with an issue like that.
"Aside from that, you'll have me to deal with if you do cause problems for her." Sayaka meant to say it as a joke, but she realised it came off a bit more serious than she intended and quickly laughed to cover it up.
"I'll keep that in mind as well." Homura said pleasantly, but once again her words and the tone of her voice just seemed so fake. Something about it sent a chill running up Sayaka's spin, and the fact that she couldn't quite explain why that was made it even worse.
In the brief silence that followed, Homura glanced to the left, towards a large clock that was stationed on a wall.
"What about you?" Madoka said to Homura, maintaining a joking tone to her voice, completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere between her two friends. "You've been obsessively checking the time ever since we entered this store, yet insist you don't have anywhere to be."
"Sorry…" Homura said, "I guess it's just that…" her eyes shifted and she laughed, "It's nothing. Are we ready to go?"
"Sure, just give me a minute to pay for this." Sayaka said.
She turned to head for the cashier on the other side of the store, but then something happened.
Upon taking a step, she felt her knee buckle, and she almost stumbled. Her initial thought was that she put her foot down improperly, and accidentally sprained her ankle, but then she realised her whole body was shaking. It wasn't just her body that was shaking, though; there was a scream, and she realised it was the whole store. "Wah, what the!?" She stumbled and caught herself on the wall. Was it an earthquake?
Then a loud bang erupted which rung her eardrums. She put her hands to her ears and screamed. When her hearing returned a moment later, screams were erupting through the store behind the layer of high pitched ringing that remained in her hearing. As she looked around, she saw people fleeing for the door, abandoning their bags on the ground and knocking over shelves in the process.
"Sayaka-chan!" She heard Madoka scream, as Homura and Madoka ran back over to her.
"I-is it an earthquake?" Sayaka said, as she glanced all around and the three schoolgirls huddled together.
"More like a bomb." Homura said, "Quickly, we'd better get out of here."
Sayaka and Homura started moving in pace with each other. Homura grabbed Madoka by the wrist and pulled the pinkette along. Apparently she was in shock from the situation, and wasn't reacting quite as quickly as her two friends.
"A-a bomb?" Madoka asked, "But w-why? And who?"
"Terrorism, that's that only explanation." Homura explained, "I've heard when they do things like this they usually coordinate multiple attacks at once. That's why we need to get out of here!"
"But why here?" Madoka said, but her friends ignored her and continued with trying to escape.
The front of the store soon became impassible over the wall of people who tried to funnel through the doorway. Homura and Sayaka both glanced around, until Sayaka pointed to the other side of the store. "The window!" She shouted.
Homura nodded, and the three started running in that direction. The window in question was big enough it nearly covered the whole wall, and looked out into the mall hallways where more people could be seen running for their lives. Inside the store, a few other customers caught wind of the school girl's plan and started moving toward the window with them.
A middle aged man came up behind their group. "We'll need something to break it." He said to them.
Homura slowed and pointed to a circular rack which held boxes of headphones. "Over there." She said.
Sayaka and the middle aged man, as well as a couple other customers went over to the rack and hoisted it up.
"On three!" The middle aged man shouted, and the four rocked it back and forth in sequence with each other as he counted down. With each movement, the headphones that were stored on the rack would fall off of their hooks. "ONE! TWO! THREE!"
The rack hit cleanly, and there was a loud crash as the window shattered and glass hit the floor. There were still some jagged edges clinging to the sides, so the middle aged man took off his overshirt and wrapped it around his hand for a glove and started punching away an opening. "You girls first." He said, and stayed close so he could help everyone through and also hopefully maintain order if another funneling situation started to occur.
Madoka, with Homura's help, was the first to go out. Then Homura herself, and Sayaka followed close behind. After that, they all started running for the entrance of the mall. They were up on the second floor and would need to find a way down to the first.
"Not the escalator." Homura said, "The situation is probably just as crowded there as inside the store. How else can we get downstairs?" They couldn't see the escalator from where they stood, but based on the number of people running in that direction it was clear she was right.
"The fire exits." Madoka said plainly, as if it should have been obvious.
"Of course." Homura said, "Let's go."
Before Sayaka followed them, she turned back to the middle aged man who was shouting at the group gathering around the window and helping people through one at a time. He wasn't very tall, but he had broad shoulders and a gruff beard. "I'm a cop!" He shouted at a particularly unruly customer, "Detective Ishida Tashikowara, so calm down and lets get everyone through here one at a time!"
"Hey mister!" Sayaka shouted at him, "Remind people to go for the fire exits!"
He gave her a nod as he helped a mother and her child over the window, then Sayaka turned and ran to follow after Madoka and Homura.
They all gathered in an empty area of the parking lot right outside of the mall, and watch as a cloud of smoke billowed out from over the rooftop. Things had calmed down now, and there were a good number of customers still hanging around the parking lot and watching from a distance, quietly whispering amongst each other and trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
Sayaka was on her phone, looking around the internet for an explanation but finding nothing. "I don't see anything about any other public places getting hit." She said. It was Homura's suggestion to look that up, as she explained that she heard from a documentary that terrorists usually coordinate multiple attacks to happen at once. "So far, there haven't been any reported casualties or even any injuries, though." Sayaka said, "So at least that's some good news."
"I-I…" Madoka shook her head, she was clearly very upset. "I don't understand why a place like this would get attacked though. We are not exactly a small city but there are much bigger ones than this… and why the mall?"
Homura shrugged, she seemed to be the least affected out of the three girls. "It could be anything. It could have been something as simple as a disgruntled employee… Or maybe someone lost their store from the mall's competition, and decided to bomb the place for revenge? Well, I'm sure the investigators will get to the bottom of this, at least we are all ok."
"Yeah…" Sayaka said. She was still in a bit of a daze herself. "Well… I dropped the CD I was going to get for Kyousuke, but I still want to go see him."
Madoka nodded, "I better call my mom. She knows we come here a lot, so I don't want her to worry when she sees this on the news. Homura, do you need a ride home? My mom will probably come get me and she can drop you off too."
"No, that's alright." Homura said, "I don't live far from here… But I'll wait with you until your mom arrives."
Madoka nodded, "Ok." Then she stepped away from the group so she could call home.
Before Sayaka took her leave, she turned back to Homura. "Crazy few days." She said, and let a grin come over her face. "It's starting to seem like trouble has a way of following you."
"I could say the same to you." Homura said.
A cold wind blew, and their skirts ruffled in the breeze as they stared each other down. Even after the bizarre situation they found themselves in a moment ago, she still felt as though she couldn't completely trust this girl. Based on the expression on Homura's face, the feeling was probably mutual. Although, it wasn't that they were exactly hostile with each other either. It was more like a silent acknowledgment of the others rivalry.
Sayaka put her hand up, and Homura did the same, and they gave eachother a high five. "Alright, guess I'll be seeing you around." Sayaka let a mocking smile come over her face, "Transfer student."
"Yes. I'll be seeing you." And with that, they parted ways.
Before Sayaka left the mall grounds, she looked back toward the burning building and all the emergency vehicles that surrounded it. She looked up towards the roof to watch the smoke for a moment, and she saw something. There was someone standing up there, wearing all yellow. Sayaka squinted her eyes to try and see it better; it was far away, but she thought it was a girl.
Without thinking about why, Sayaka glanced back to Homura, and saw that Homura was looking at the mysterious figure on the roof as well. Madoka finished her phone call and ran back over to Homura. Homura looked away, oblivious to the fact that Sayaka had been watching her this whole time.
Something else she found strange… when they were in the music store, as Madoka said, Homura had been obsessively checking the time every few minutes. After they made it to the parking lot, they watched the fire for almost an hour and Homura didn't check her phone once.
Sayaka looked back toward the roof of the mall, and the figure that had been standing there was now gone.
She shrugged her shoulders, and continued her walk to the hospital.
Sorry this chapter took a little while to come out. There were a few things that slowed me down, including getting pretty sick for a while, but I don't think the next chapter will take as long.
I was thinking about responding to some of the reviews from last chapter here, but I really prefer to let the story speak for itself, and the review by 'Axius27's Ghost' already said most of what I might have said anyway. All I will say, is to those who are worried about the stories future: it is far from over. In fact, I kind of feel like it's just beginning.
It's been a little over a year since I started writing on FFN, and I'm pretty happy with what I've accomplished. I managed to write 300,000 words over the last year, and my goal is to do that again this year. If I can accomplish it, then both Perfect Crime and Test Subject One will either be complete, or pretty close to being so in a year's time. Of course, I tend to be a bit optimistic sometimes, but we'll see how things go. Ultimately, I don't want to drag this out for years on end and hopefully give readers a satisfying conclusion to each story some time in the not too distant future.
Also, sorry if there is any disappointment about the level of plot progression in this chapter. There will probably be a couple more chapters like this, but a lot more should happen in the next one.
Updated 6/24 *To add to this last part. I understand some readers may be frustrated with the pacing of these last two chapters. I didn't plan on taking two months to get this last chapter out, but like I said some things got in the way. If it seems like this story isn't going anywhere, then worry not. Like I said before, it's only about half way done and I have the rest of the story pretty well plotted out in my head. I didn't write myself into a corner or anything like that, and the story absolutely will continue.
I'm also thinking I may stagger out the flashbacks, but I'll see how things go. Plot points are always pretty clear in my head, but actual chapter lengths usually are not, so I'll have to play it by year with the pacing.*
As always, thanks for reading!
-Atomyst
