Madoka was quiet on the way home that night, again. She was pale, eerily calm, not smiling or crying or… well, anything. He wasn't really sure how to react to it. Was she… angry about him transforming? Or in shock? He knew he was.

The ring glared at him from his hand, a mocking reminder of what he could not do. Dammit, it wasn't logical to be upset about some girls he'd barely met, what was wrong with him? And yet… he recognised the man whose soul was bound to Sayaka's. The others had seen it, too: these, clearly, were not just any girls.

And they had all forgotten each other. None of them had known each other – apart from Madoka and Sayaka, and that seemed debatable now – but each of them had seen the duality in each of the others.

He decided, methodically, to try and sort them out in his head. On one side, the magical girls, who seemed to remember lives that fit into this crazy Mitakihara city. Kyouko, for instance, has thought she had a background in the church.

On the other side were the… codenames. Or rather, the real people who were being recognised and represented by their codenames. Madoka had memories of being an old man, and Sayaka… well, 'Polnareff' had looked male, from the glimpses he'd managed to catch. These people seemed to be bound to the souls of the girls, with very few memories apart from what was in their subconscious. They became stronger with the use of Stands, but…

Sayaka had insisted, after her repeated memory wipes, that she had a sister, even though Madoka had mentioned her being an only child. In general, Madoka's story seemed radically different… Was that the magical girl part of her speaking or the codename part?

Speaking of which… Madoka hadn't made a wish, but Sayaka had remembered her Stand. It seemed like something that someone might think in their delirium, but Jotaro knew he'd heard of the 'Hermit' Stand before somewhere. It wasn't just a crazy coincidence, or something. Which of the memories were true? She had no soul gem, and yet she dreamed of a Stand; she didn't fit into the 'magical girl' category, but she still had a codename. Were Stands themselves affected by the memory loss?

Dammit, this was confusing. He scowled up at the ceiling of the Kaname's spare room, trying to piece the puzzle together.

Come to think of it, he didn't fit into the 'magical person' category very well either. It wasn't just that he was nearly two meters tall and bulky with it; he didn't have a history in this town, that he knew of. And he didn't feel like there were two minds in his head.

What would it feel like? Maybe he wouldn't realize it, after all. Maybe he would feel as though things had always been that way, that the clashing memories and personalities were simply dreams. Or maybe the two threads would be able to meld together somehow, taking elements from both people. Maybe he'd flick back and forth from one to the other, and never notice anything different. (But they would have said something if he did that, right? They would have noticed, right?)

Good grief. This was only going to get more complicated.


"Jotaro-kun…" She shouldered her school bag and turned towards school. "I think it's time to talk to Homura-chan."

"Hm?"

She shrugged. "Kyouko-chan… she said we should ask her about her other body, right?"

"Oh, yeah. And…" He stared at the back of her head, watching the red ribbons bounce gently in the breeze. "Maybe we need to learn more about her and her… codename."

"What do you mean by that?"

He explained, briefly, what he had been thinking about last night, trying to make it sound more interesting than "you versus the people in your heads". She listened, nodded, fiddled with her skirt.

"Then… perhaps it is possible to separate Homura and her codename, to try and gain more information." She clicked the knuckles in her left hand absent-mindedly. "Or… would that hurt them, do you think?"

"I don't know. She did – they did call themselves our enemy," he pointed out, bluntly.

Madoka shook her head. "That was after she used her magic to save us from a witch, remember. 'DIO', whoever that person is, probably regained a few memories from that – enough to change her tune significantly. I think at least part of her is on our side, and we can use that against… against the person possessing her." A small sigh. "Maybe, in another life, we could even have been friends, just as normal people…"

"Yeah." He looked up, up into the cloudy sky, and thought of a green uniform, of red spheres suspended on chains. "Maybe you were, in another life. Maybe the codename people are the same."

"Right? That's what I think. That 'Avdol' in particular. I think that person was very helpful to… the person I dream of."

"Madoka-chan…" He wasn't sure how to word what was on his mind; he grasped at the air as if he could catch an idea in his hands, and thought – apropos of nothing – that he could or should call her 'Gramps'. "Do I have a… person? A separate personality?"

"Well…"A tip of the head. "I don't know. You don't remember how you got here anyway. You've never lived in this town before you got here. You don't know anyone here and no one knows you. To me, you could say anything about what you remember, and I'd believe it, but…" A decisive, singular shake of her head, sending the pink hair flying again. "I don't think you are anything more than one person." She reached out hesitantly to touch his arm, and he allowed her hand to rest on his sleeve for a moment. "If you've forgotten or remembered something…"

"Nothing. Even though I used my goddamn magic for once, I don't remember more than what I knew last night."

She frowned. "Perhaps it requires a specific trigger?"

With a scowl, he turned away again, loosing himself from her grasp. "Or this is fucking all there is. I'll be stuck in an amnesia town for—"

(A snow globe. He remembered a snow globe, with a beautifully detailed depiction of a city. He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. It had sat there on the back shelf of an old junk shop, among all the other crap, full of slightly murky water and covered in dust. They had been looking for something else. Someone else, perhaps.)

He almost groaned aloud with frustration: a little memory, and it wasn't even goddamn helpful.

"Well, anyway, you're right," he added aloud. "We should go to Homura-chan."

She nodded, and bunched up her fists.