Authors Note: For those who are rereading this story, and for those who are reading for the first time, around this chapter is when the direction the story was going took a different route than what I'd planned in chapter one. Also; Thank you Evertide for proofreading this chapter.

It was the last day of the trip; the entire class was to return to the train station at the afternoon to return home. So, as expected, everyone was trying to jam as much as they could into the little time remaining, which caused quite a bit of excitement and chaos.

Sayaka was still in her room, sleeping the minutes away while Homura sat in the small café across the street from the hotel nibbling on a piece of toast, anxiety filling her heart. The girl she had called out on such short notice smiled, sipping on tea but not saying a word. Instead she opted to let Homura find hers.

Quickly swallowing, Homura looked up at Mami, fingers drumming against the table nervously. "S-Sorry for calling you out here so early, T-Tomoe-san," she said, ducking her head and glancing out the window. She was scared that Sayaka would see her talking to the "enemy" and defriend her. A wild idea but one she dreaded anyways.

Though the loss of friends was part of the reason she had brought Mami out here.

"It's fine, Akemi-san," Mami assured her with another sip of her tea. She truly didn't mind Homura calling her out, and couldn't deny she was curious as to the reason.

Homura shuffled awkwardly in her seat. Everything she had planned to say was forgotten in a mess of nervousness. Another silence overtook them as Homura struggled to piece together what she wanted to say again, finally coming up with just being blunt. "I...I really don't like the tension between you and Miki-san!"

There, it was out, not as well said as she had wanted, nor as graceful, but it was out.

A third silence and Homura wondered if she had said something wrong with that one statement, before Mami broke down into little giggles, which at first confused her further.

"You're not the only one," she said, giving a small sigh, resting her cheek on her hand, "I'm not too fond of Miki-san's hostility towards me, but I can understand why she feels that way."

Homura felt excited knowing that Mami shared her dissatisfaction in their relations. This was good. That meant they could fix it, right? "Then we can fix it by letting her spend time with Kaname-san without having her pulled away by you!"

"Absolutely not."

Jolting back, Homura stared at her in surprise. "Eh?"

"Sorry," Mami apologized, shaking her head gently, "I'm being rather selfish aren't I? It's just that I can't bring myself to give Madoka-san up to Miki-san. At least not so early, though I'm sure you're familiar with the feeling when it comes to Miki-san."

Homura could only stare and offer a second confused "eh?" in response. She wasn't sure what Mami was talking about, and she had a sinking feeling that the blonde already knew what Homura had only found out herself recently.

"So innocent. Love, Akemi-san, I'm talking about love." Then, looking back and forth, Mami leaned forward across the table. "I will let you in on a secret that neither Madoka-san nor I've told anyone. You must promise not to tell anyone, especially not Miki-san, alright? You might understand my reluctance to give up time with Madoka-san knowing this." After giving Homura time to nod, Mami smiled, putting her hands together. "You see, Akemi-san...Madoka-san and I are in love."

A silence followed as Homura processed this, her face turning red. "E-Ehhh?"

"We're still early in the relationship so it's only natural to want to spend as much time together as we can though," Mami continued, looking thoughtful and ignoring Homura's surprise, "Hence my reluctance to share my adorable kohai with others. I do regret the strain on any potential friendships between me and Miki-san, I would have very much liked to be her friend, but sacrifices must be made. Though, I am sure you already know about these feelings yourself."

Even more red in the face at what Mami was implying, Homura jerked back, hands shaking and gave yet another startled "eh?!" in response. The poor girl couldn't seem to form any words besides that.

Giggling, Mami stood up, leaving some money to pay for her share of the food. "It was fun talking to you, Akemi-san," she said politely as Homura continued to struggle with remembering how to speak, "I would very much like if we could be friends in the future. Though it might be difficult, time will tell. For now, I hope you have a nice day," and she was gone before Homura could even say goodbye.

Sighing, Homura leaned forward and rested her head on her hands, trying to calm her racing heart. She couldn't tell if Mami had been teasing her, or if she had actually known of Homura's feelings for Sayaka. How, she didn't know. The ravenette had thought she had done a decent enough job in covering it up the past couple of days, acting like everything was normal and nothing was wrong. Maybe she just hadn't done it well enough to deceive the elder girl, perhaps there had been a slip up here and there that alerted her, or Mami had feelings for girls long enough to recognize the signs.

Hopefully Mami was the only one to notice. Even more hopefully was that Mami was just teasing her and didn't actually know about the crush.

Still, Mami had just told Homura something very personal. She and Madoka were together, which wasn't news one would blindly advertise, did that mean that Mami trusted her? Homura was a girl she knew for only a few days and was friends with someone who despised her. It didn't make much sense to Homura, and she knew that Sayaka would have a fit over it if she were to find out, and that was putting it mildly. That was information that could shatter her and Madoka's friendship forever.

Even if Homura wasn't completely fond of her classmate, she did want to see Sayaka and Madoka reconcile.

"I won't be telling Miki-san any of it," she mumbled out loud, face still buried in her hands.

"Any of what?"

With a startled yelp, Homura jerked back, staring wide-eyed at the girl who had slid into the seat in front of her. She felt instant relief that it wasn't Sayaka, but was still alarmed at the intrusion as the redhead took one of the uneaten rolls Mami had left behind and bit into it.

"S-Sakura-san!" Homura said as she sat up straight, body on edge. What was Kyouko doing here?

Kyouko grinned and gave her a wave, taking another bite out of the roll. "That'th m'name, don't wear it out," she said through a mouthful of food. Taking the time to swallow, she continued, "So what were you talking about, and what don'tcha want Blueberry to know about?"

With a finger pointed at her, and eyes narrowed, Homura looked away, wringing her hands together. Kyouko didn't really know the others, did she? So it wouldn't hurt if she told her about Mami and Madoka- no! She promised Mami not to tell anyone!

"I-It's nothing," she finally answered, shaking her head, "I...I promised my...friend...I wouldn't tell anyone." It felt odd actually calling Mami a friend. Was she a friend?

Kyouko just sighed, disappointed by the answer. "Fine, fine, don't tell, I didn't even care that much anyways," she grumbled. Was she really so bored that any gossip about people she didn't even know would suffice as entertainment? That was actually kind of sad.

There was a prolonged pause between them that was eventually broken up by Homura coughing into her fist. "So...what are you doing here?" Surely she had better things to do than sit with a stranger and eat another person's food. Not that Mami would have minded and Homura had bigger things to worry about.

"Huh? I saw you while passing by and since you were alone, I figured you wouldn't mind having your day made better by my awesome presence this morning."

So egotistical. But Homura couldn't say she minded a little distraction. "Why though? Not like you really know me."

"You seemed like a good enough kid back at the arcade, so I figured it wouldn't hurt," Kyouko shrugged, having finished all the breakfast rolls and now reaching for Homura's toast. The ravenette just pushed the plate closer to her, she wasn't that hungry anyways. Probably earned her a point with Kyouko by doing that. "Your class is heading back to...whatever town you came from today, right?"

"Mitakihara, and yes."

"Whatever," Kyouko said with a shrug, finishing off the toast slice and moving on to the other slice, "thought I might as well say goodbye, y'know? Not often you meet someone who's not a complete bitch or loser after all."

Homura blinked at that. "Um, thank you?" Was that a compliment? It didn't really feel like one, but Homura was going to assume that was Kyouko's version of a compliment. "I'm glad you think I'm...decent enough of a person to say goodbye to."

The toast slice was pointed at her then, along with a wide smile. "Good. You're a smart kid, Homura, so keep your nose outta trouble, got it?" The final piece of toast was finished, and Kyouko patted the confused but curious girl's head as she got up. "I've got things to do, nice talking to you, and thanks for the food." She was gone after that.

Homura wondered if she was really just here for the food...yeah, she had a gut feeling that that was the case here.

"She is one weird girl," Homura muttered, standing up herself and leaving some money on the table next to Mami's share to pay for the rest.

Sayaka didn't wake up until rather late, so Homura had plenty of time to herself until then, so she walked around Kazamino. She knew she wasn't supposed to go out alone, but it wasn't going to hurt anyone or anything. This morning had left her with some things to think about. Some quiet time to herself would be nice too.

It was quite nice out too, warm with a breeze that carried a nice fragrance on it. A group of a few of her classmates were running around, laughing and causing excitement, though fun as it might have been, she didn't join them. There was a small handful of classmates she felt comfortable talking to, and they were not among them. Actually, Homura could number them on one hand without even needing her thumb. Sayaka, of course, Hitomi, Nakazawa, and on rare occasions, Madoka, the last one more from not feeling looked down on than because she liked her.

Sighing, Homura leaned against the wall. "I really don't have that many friends, do I?" she asked herself, shaking her head. It was something she ought to fix. Maybe some other time, with Sayaka with her to offer support. That sounded like a plan.

Her attention soon turned to the store she was leaning against, head tilting in curiosity. It was one where she had been to on the first day here with Sayaka. "This is where she got me that," the girl mumbled, moving over and pushing the door open. The bell chimed and the clerk gave a greeting, recognizing her when she entered.

Nodding back to the clerk, Homura made her way to the back of the store. She paused at the aisle that had several small ornaments in it, eyes catching a copy of the one Sayaka got her. "No...something like that wouldn't work," she mumbled.

Moving on to the next aisle, Homura found herself facing a row of CD's and records. A light bulb went off in her head. "That's right, there was a CD here that she liked...but didn't have enough money on her to buy. She never did come back here for it, did she?" Homura mumbled, thumbing through the plastic holders. What was the name of the band? Homura couldn't remember, did Sayaka even say what it was called? No, she hadn't.

However, Homura paused when she realized how rapidly she was skimming through the CD's, how frantic she must have looked.

"Calm down, Homura, it's not like you're short on time," she muttered to herself as she did just that. With no way to remember what the band had been called, she would have to look at each CD carefully to find it. Thankfully, she could remember the distinctive cover: blue flames with a title in metallic colors. She would just have to look for a CD like that, and hopefully there weren't too many designs like it.

It took some time, starting from the letter A, Homura was all the way into the M rack when she finally found it.

"Only one copy, too...lucky break," she chuckled to herself, bringing the CD up to the counter and paying for it. She could give it to Sayaka when they boarded the train to head back home. Glancing at her watch, Homura gave a startled jump at seeing how late it had gotten. She had an hour to get back to the hotel, pack up and head to the train.

"I should have come here first," Homura groaned, breaking out into a run. As fast a run as she allowed herself, anyway.

Thankfully, she made it back to the hotel in time, and even more thankfully, she had already packed most of her belongings. All she had to do was put away her medicine and the few things she bought and she would be ready.

She was doing just that when a hand landed on her shoulder making her jump in fear and whirl around, nearly knocking down the intruder.

"Jumpy much?" Sayaka asked, taking a step back to avoid Homura. "Just came to see if you were ready to go."

Hand on her heart, Homura adjusted the CD she bought so it was hidden behind her. "Y-Yeah...just give me a minute," she said, still coming down from the surprise. Why were so many people intent on confronting her when she wasn't prepared? As Sayaka looked around the room, Homura slipped the CD into her bag and zipped it up.

"You didn't by chance see Madoka this morning, did you?" Sayaka asked, noting that Madoka's side of the room was empty, the pink-haired girl already gone. Homura mumbled a quick "no" as she finished packing, thinking back to this morning. No, Madoka had still been sleeping when she went and got breakfast with Mami, though chances were that was where she was right now: with Mami. Seems Sayaka knew it too.

Sayaka quietly glared at Madoka's bed, almost as if her gaze was actually looking at her "best friend," and it was her turn to jump in surprise when Homura spoke after what felt like ages of silence.

"L-Let's get going, Miki-san," she said, head tilted to the door and pushing up her glasses.

They didn't talk much during the trip to the station, and Homura was quick to notice the distant look Sayaka had. Something had happened, and there was a gut feeling there that it didn't involve Madoka this time, but something else.

At the train station, the class was there, and Homura could spot pink and yellow deep in the masses, but didn't tell her friend. Bringing them up wouldn't make things better. Hitomi joined them, and Sayaka gave a halfhearted greeting to her friend. If the sophisticated girl noticed the change in Sayaka's mood, she didn't comment on it.

During the ride, they stayed quiet. Sayaka would occasionally break it with a joke or some comment but it was clear her mind was somewhere else. Homura and Hitomi left her to think; it was important, it was personal, and it was something she would tell them if she wanted to.

She didn't even seem to notice much of the gift when Homura gave it to her, cheeks pink and stutter in place as she explained her reasoning. She gave a "thanks" and stuffed the CD into her bag with barely a glance at it.

It stung, the lack of a reaction be it happy or bad towards the gift, but Homura tried to not let it get to her.

After a long, quiet trip, they reached their station and it was time to head home.

"Miki-san, I was wondering if you would like to do something tomorrow after school?" Homura asked as the two got off the train, bags in hand. Her dear friend was still down and Homura still didn't know what she was down about.

There was a delayed reaction, as though Sayaka hadn't heard her right away, before the bluenette shook her head. "Sorry, I've got other stuff I'm going to be doing," she said, and offered her a forced smile. "How about another time though?"

"Sure, the day after then?"

"Yeah," Sayaka said, already walking in direction of her home, hand raised up in a wave goodbye to Homura without even turning to look at her.

Raising her own hand up a little in a small wave, Homura mumbled quietly, "Goodbye..."

The next day was simply being tossed from a few days of fun and relaxation back into the boring setting of school. Same old boring routine as before the trip to Kazamino. School droned on slowly, Sayaka ate her lunch with Hitomi and Homura, Madoka ditched her for Mami, and it was the same as usual.

As bitter as it was to admit, Madoka choosing Mami over her had become so common an occurrence that it was normal.

When school finished, Sayaka made her way to the hospital to visit Kyosuke. She had called him yesterday morning while packing up to see how he was doing, and she heard how depressed he sounded. It tore her heart apart to hear his despondent answers in their short talk. It had also affected her mood for the rest of the day, sadly, and she felt bad for being so lackluster the entire trip back.

Well, today she had a plan. She was going to bring Kyosuke's spirits back up and change that frown upside down. She'd gotten him a few CD's from Kazamino she thought that he might like, as well as a few candies she knew he enjoyed. Hopefully that would brighten his mood up by a bit, that's all she asked for.

"Hey, Kyosuke!" Sayaka said, peeking her head into the room, finding him lying down and staring out the window like always. He didn't respond to her, so she walked in, pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed. "What, wishing you were a bird again?" she teased lightly.

Still no response, maybe he was sleeping? No, he was awake.

"Kyosuke?" she tried again, frowning, then set about rummaging through her bag. "Look, I got you some things from Kazamino I thought you might like. A few CD's and even a little keychain that seemed to suit you." She pulled out the mentioned items and held them out to him hoping to get his attention.

The unharmed arm reached over though he never looked, and Sayaka thought he was going to take it. But instead he knocked the items out of her hands to the floor.

"Kyosuke?"

He was shaking; with anger and sorrow, he was shaking. "Why do you keep doing this to me, Sayaka?" he demanded, his voice biting back his rage. "Do you get some amusement out of it? Out of reminding me that I can't play, that I can't do what I love to?"

Sayaka reached towards him helplessly. She hadn't meant to hurt him, what did she do wrong? "Kyosuke, I..."

"I really wanted to go on that trip, Sayaka, I had been looking forward to it since before the accident. But then you all went on it, and you kept texting me, rubbing it in my face that I was here and you were there!"

"Kyosuke, I didn't mean to- I just thought...I didn't think it would upset you!"

He finally turned to look at her, eyes full of anger and pain. "That's just it, you never think! God, you're so stupid!" he spat, his hand held tight to the hospital bed, fingers digging in. "I'm sick of it, Sayaka. I'm sick of the CD's you keep giving me, all the constant reminders that I'll never be normal again! My hand is never going to heal, I'm going to be in and out of the hospital all the time for physical therapy that doesn't do anything, and you think that I'll be kept happy by hearing the music I can't even play anymore every day?!" Kyosuke swiped his injured hand through the air in his anger, knocking down a glass of water and Sayaka watched it hit the ground and shatter. He held it up for her to see the bits of glass that had cut him. "I can't even feel this."

"Kyosuke..." Sayaka began, eyes welling up with tears. He may not have felt that pain, but his actions as well as his words were hurting her.

"Just get out."

Without saying another word, Sayaka turned and ran out of the hospital room.

How could she have been so stupid as to not have noticed how much he hated what she did? How all her attempts to make him happy just made him angry? Was she really that oblivious? That selfish? Oh God, she was awful. Kyosuke probably hated her, God he was right, she was so stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Sayaka's head was swarming with a mix of emotions right now as she ran as far and as fast as she could from the hospital as though more distance put between them would make her feel better.

"Mami-san, we should...not here..."

Sayaka came to a stop when she heard Madoka speaking from an alley farther ahead. Madoka...Madoka could make her feel better. Even if she was with the upperclassman, Sayaka would forgive her. She just needed her best friend right now, she needed something to tie her back down and tell her it was alright, she needed someone to assure her that she hadn't screwed up forever with Kyosuke.

Rubbing away the tears that had run down her cheeks, she began following where she had heard Madoka speaking from. Sounded like Mami was with her too...no, that was okay. Sayaka would put away any animosity towards her for now. A white flag can be raised.

"Madoka! I'm so glad I ran into...you..."

Mami and Madoka broke away from each other, both panting for breath as they stared at Sayaka like a pair of deer in headlights. Fresh bite marks dotted Madoka's neck and there was still a thin thread of saliva connecting Mami's lips to Madoka's throat as she hastily began rebuttoning her shirt.

It didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

"S-Sayaka-chan!" Madoka squeaked, wiping at her chin and taking a step towards her, but Sayaka was already walking away as quickly as she could.

Sayaka couldn't help the harsh sting of betrayal that burned in her chest, barely realizing she had gone straight for the nearby train station as she stomped up the stairs. Could this day get any worse? Kyosuke hated her, Madoka had been abandoning her to get some from this girl she hadn't even heard of until maybe a month ago, what next? Homura was secretly Rambo and stealing weapons from the Yakuza? Was Hitomi a backstabber too? The universe was out to get her, wasn't it? She'd done something to step on God's toes.

"Sayaka-chan, wait! Please, hold on!" Madoka pleaded, running after her with Mami a few steps behind.

"Why?" Sayaka snapped back as she ascended the final stairs to the train station, turning in place and glaring harshly at the girl. "Don't you want me out of your hair so you can go back to getting into Tomoe's skirt?" How had she not noticed this before? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Madoka made it up the stairs and took a step towards Sayaka. "I wanted to tell you, I really did!" she pleaded, hand stretched out to her.

"Well, it's great then that I went and found out myself why my so-called best friend kept ditching me! Now you can go back to screwing her without pretending to think about me!" The barrier between Sayaka's brain and her mouth had been destroyed by her anger to the point where she didn't care if her words hurt Madoka or not. Actually, no, better if they did hurt her, then maybe Madoka would have some idea of what it felt like.

Mami shook her head, trying to calm the situation, unaware that anything she said would just make it worse. "That's not, Miki-san, that's not it," she tried to reason.

"Stay out of this, Tomoe," Sayaka snapped, her glare shifting to the blonde, her fists clenching. "You know what? Forget it! You two are a perfect pair! I hope you're real happy together, just stay the Hell away from me!" she spat, not bothering to let them get another word in as she angrily boarded the train. The two just stood there dumbstruck and watched it start moving.

After a minute, Sayaka brought her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms, thankful that the car she was in was empty. No one would be around to watch as she cried. In her mind she just kept chanting to herself like a self-deprecating mantra. So stupid, so stupid, so stupid!

It had started raining while she was in the train, though Sayaka didn't notice when she got out into it, her clothes becoming increasingly soaked, her slow steps not helping her. Her body was acting on its own, her mind elsewhere in the pits of despair and self loathing to pay mind to where she was going.

When Homura opened the door, she must have seen the pained expression on Sayaka's face, but she didn't say anything about it. She just led Sayaka in and guided her into her bathroom, handing her some towels and set to work taking the water out of her hair and, after politely averting her gaze, getting her into warm and dry clothes.

After that, she was led to Homura's bed, and as they sat there, Sayaka just broke down into sobs, hugging the one person she wanted to be around, scared that if she let go Homura would leave. But she never left, she just kept quiet, hugging Sayaka back and talking to her though she never heard the words.

Thunder rang through the sky like a demon's wrathful roar, and the fearful cries of several of the younger children echoed through the shelter as their parents tried to calm them. Some were able to succeed but many were unable to calm their scared children or make them believe that everything was okay and it would be over soon. The rain from the previous night never once let up, instead it only got worse and worse until an announcement was made at seven in the morning telling all residents to evacuate to the storm shelter.

A supercell was fast approaching Mitakihara.

Sayaka was still sore inside from the events of last night, but she was thankful for having Homura at her side the entire night. She wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but somewhere while she was crying, Sayaka had fallen asleep clinging to the ravenette, who had not once left her side until the announcement was made and she had to pack a bag of essentials to take to the shelter. It was mostly her medication, a few books to read while waiting for the storm to pass over and a couple of apples. Sayaka for her part had to get an earful from her mother when she checked her phone and saw all the missed calls and texts, and had to explain that she had spent the night with Homura.

The two had quickly made their way to the shelter, joining up with Sayaka's parents.

"Hopefully it doesn't last long," Mrs. Miki said quietly as they stood together, hand on her cheek as she looked at all the people still coming in. Her attention fell on Homura and she smiled, offering her hand to shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Akemi-san. Sayaka has said so much about you that I was waiting for when she'd bring you home. Though I would have rather not have our first meeting be because of a city emergency."

Giving a shy smile, Homura shook her hand. "It's a...it's a pleasure to meet you too, M-Miki-san."

Sayaka's mother gave a laugh when retracting her hand. "My, what a polite child," she said, patting Sayaka's head. "You have a great taste in friends, you know that?"

A bit of pain flared in Sayaka's heart, like pressing on a fresh bruise. I wouldn't be so sure about that, Sayaka thought, her mind going to Madoka. But she gave her mother a smile anyways.

Though, speak of the Devil and He shall appear, or at the least His messenger will appear. Kaname Junko looked worried as she approached the group, eyes scanning around the crowds. "Sayaka, have you seen Madoka?" she asked.

"No, haven't seen her since yesterday," Sayaka answered, shaking her head. "Why? She not here?"

Junko shook her head. "I was hoping she came in with you," she admitted, "she said she was spending the night with a friend, and I assumed it was you."

She had spent the night with Mami then, and Sayaka held her tongue on that fact. She was probably still with Mami, doing something stupid no doubt. Maybe she should tell Junko, rat Madoka out and get a taste of revenge. She quickly shook that idea away, no, she wanted to keep herself from being involved with Madoka as much as possible right now, even snitching on her would be the opposite of that. "Sorry," Sayaka said, shaking her head, "she wasn't with me, wish I could tell you more."

The businesswoman nodded, thanking Sayaka anyways before moving on to ask a few of their other classmates if they had seen any sight of Madoka. Sayaka felt a sharp pang of guilt for lying to Junko, but shook it off and turned her attention to Homura who had been watching the exchange.

"I hope she finds Kaname-san soon," Homura said, looking around nervously before taking a seat, "the storm's really bad, I wouldn't want anyone to be caught out in it."

With a laugh, Sayaka scooted closer to her, wrapping an arm around Homura's shoulders and pulling the ravenette to her. "Relax, there's nothing to be worried about," she assured her, giving a comforting smile, "no one's going to get trapped out there. So why don't we do something to pass the time?"

Her response was a small nod and the two began occupying themselves for the next few hours with different activities. They read a bit from one of the books Homura brought, and then Sayaka began making up her own stories of knights and princesses and other heroic deeds after being bored with Homura's. She had helped Homura sort through her medicine bag after a bit to find the right pill bottle when it was her medication time.

Eventually, after what felt like forever, the rain began to ease up and the rumbling thunder started to fade into yawns. It seemed the storm would be over soon, and the occupants in the shelter couldn't be happier to hear the good news. The storm had passed with surprisingly little destruction to the city, most of it accumulated towards the edge of Mitakihara.

The corpses of Kaname Madoka and Tomoe Mami were found among the wreckage.