There was a comment asking why I had written Madoka feeling deja vu related to her mother when saying "Don't say that Hitomi! It hurts to hear you say things as if you don't matter anymore, as if there aren't people here who would be upset if you were gone!" I have since edited out the deja vu part, because the connection was too tenuous and looking at the relevant line from the anime no longer felt appropriate for the story. The line was meant to be based off of some of the things said between Madoka and her mother after the slap when Madoka is trying to leave the shelter. In the subbed movie it was "You don't live your life just for yourself. Did you even think about how much we would worry if you went off..." In the subbed show it was "You're being selfish! Do you even know how much the people around you..." In the dubbed show and movie it was, "You can't just go off and do what you want. Don't you know how much we'd worry about you if you just went out there without saying anything to..." After each of these Madoka interrupts saying how she knows and loves them too and stuff like that.
Looking at it now, my attempt to borrow from the scene could have been better and that's my bad, so oops. It's possible that when I had written my line I had recently seen a translation from the japanese that was different from what we get in the sub and dub (possibly something generated by Youtube's closed captions?) I don't know. Either that, or I just really badly misremembered and then overdramatized an already dramatic scene. I honestly have no idea, but I hope that clarifies what I was trying to refer to. If anyone can find the exact origin of this mix up, I'd be very grateful!
For now, I have edited the conversation between Hitomi and Madoka to not include that Deja Vu moment, because looking back on it, it just does not work very well for what I am trying to do with the scene.
Chapter 3 The Power In My Left Arm Controls My Destiny
Sayaka held her breath as Madoka stepped out onto the rooftop, a low thrum of pain coming from the bandaged bite on her left arm, just below her wrist. The bandages wrapped from her elbow to her palm. The bandages on Sayaka's arm vaguely reminded her of Kyosuke.
Sayaka heard Madoka say, "Looks like this fell out of your bag." Yeah, fell, that is totally what happened. Sayaka was actually relieved to see Hitomi get angry about something. The girl was always keeping everything bottled up inside and that could not be healthy. "Do you mind if I eat lunch with you up here." Was Sayaka going to be stuck eavesdropping for the entirety of the lunch period. She hoped not.
"Not at all," said Hitomi. Looks like she was stuck here. Maybe she could wait a few minutes and then make her dramatic entrance being all like 'I finally found you girls. What are you doing up here?'
"Is that full of soup?" Asked Madoka. Now they were talking about lunch. Great. Sayaka was starting to feel a little peckish now herself. "Do you want some of my food then?" Sayaka had a lunch in her bag, but neither her lunch nor Madoka's felt very appetizing right now. Sayaka knew Madoka's dad was a great chef, but right now she was in the mood for… some kind of meat probably. She was not sure what. "There's enough here for both of us and you don't seem to have a lunch."
Sayaka had trouble making out what Hitomi said next. Hitomi usually spoke quietly compared to Madoka whose volume could fluctuate between very loud to as quiet as a mouse. "Are you on a liquid diet?" asked Madoka.
Sayaka could faintly make out Hitomi's response. "That would not be an inaccurate statement."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." said Madoka. Sayaka felt the same. Right now, the idea of being stuck on a liquid diet seemed unthinkable to her. She just felt this… need… for protein.
Sayaka still not daring to breath, shook off the terrifying thoughts of being on a liquid diet and tuned back into the conversation to hear Hitomi say, "I broke the rules." Ah right those stupid rules.
"The ones where if you break them you'd become some sort of monster." Sayaka had to fight not to laugh. Hitomi's parents were kind of stupid using the equivalent of the monster under the bed to scare their child into behaving according to their outdated values. Well, Sayaka wanted to call them stupid, but apparently Hitomi believed all that bullcrap about turning into a monster if she ever kissed a girl, so was it stupid if it worked?
"I'm sorry Madoka. I…I don't think we should be friends anymore." Wait, does that mean Hitomi has a crush on Madoka? Madoka was very cute, but she could be a bit more outspoken. Sayaka honestly wanted someone who could stand up to her if she was being stupid and Madoka did not always have that.
"Because you broke some silly rule?" asked Madoka. Well, Madoka was now standing up to one of her friends for being stupid. Good choice Hitomi!
"They are not silly, but… yes." They are absolutely silly. You will think that too Hitomi. One day, you will look back on these events and laugh.
"No, I'm not going to stop being your friend, just because you broke some rule against something like kissing a girl." You tell her Madoka!
"The rule I broke was much worse than that one." said Hitomi. Oh! Did Hitomi do something like that? Did Hitomi think she was going to go blind, get pregnant, or get a disease over something stupid? Some parents could really be something else with the whole scare mongering.
"I'm sure you had a very good reason for breaking it."
"I did." Okay, now Sayaka, still holding her breath, was curious what constituted a good reason. Was Hitomi going to say something cheesy like the power of love or something. "Oh God, I did something terrible Madoka!" Sayaka wished she could tell Hitomi that what she did was just a normal part of growing up and nothing to be ashamed about, but that would mean revealing that she had been listening in on a very private conversation.
"I can't let you be near me Madoka. What if I do it again?! What if I do it to you?!" Yeah, Sayaka was going with the Hitomi trying to make herself blind theory here. She could probably just link the girl to some blogs on what consent means and what is and is not consent and problem solved.
"Hitomi, we'll get through this together." Madoka, that might be a very poor word choice given the situation!
The two spoke quietly back and forth before Hitomi said, "Something bad has already happened. I might as well be dead already." Wow, Hitomi's parents were being real jerks!
"Don't say that Hitomi! It hurts to hear you say things as if you don't matter anymore, as if there aren't people here who would be upset if you were gone!" Poor Hitomi! Words really can hurt worse than sticks and stones if Hitomi is feeling this… this worthless! Sayaka was starting to really really hate Hitomi's parents right now.
"You don't understand." said Hitomi.
"Then help me understand." begged Madoka.
"You want to understand why you should be scared?" Oh dear, were they about to do something freaky out there?! She really hoped not.
Sayaka was ready to charge in, or she thought she was. What would she do though? She wanted to move, but she was scared. She would have to reveal that she had been listening in. She did not dare to move. She did not dare to breathe.
"Hitomi, what's going on?" Sayaka prepared to rush out onto the roof. If she hesitated any longer…
"Your friend is dead Madoka! I'm the monster that killed her. The Hitomi Shizuki you know is gone and left in her place is nothing but a killer." Oh thank god it is just Hitomi being more melodramatic than usual, though who knew Hitomi had such a chuuni side to her… unless this was all part of some freaky role play! Sayaka felt as if her heart would stop any moment, or maybe it already had...
"I don't think that's enough to make you a killer." Thank you sweet innocent Madoka for making whatever freaky role play thing she is trying to do not happen by simply not playing along… probably.
Hitomi said in a low voice, almost a growl. Sayaka only caught the words "last night, Madoka…", "I enjoyed it.", and "You should be scared." Sayaka steeled her nerves to rush out onto the roof.
"I don't believe that you could do something like that."
"I did not believe I was capable of something like that either, but now do you believe me? Are you scared now?" Okay, what the hell was Hitomi into? Just what freaky thing had Hitomi done last night?!
Sayaka could not catch the next few words other than Madoka saying, "I'm not leaving you." and "Yes. I'm not leaving." Madoka said the words with absolute conviction, but there was something kind of funny about how Madoka said the words as if she was choking or something. Had HItomi been choking Madoka?! Sayaka did not want to imagine it, but Hitomi was showing a whole new side of herself today. At least Madoka seemed fine with it, but was Madoka really fine with it or just trying to make Hitomi feel better? Sayaka would have to have a word with Madoka about being too kind to others. Some things just are not good for healthy relationships or your own mental health!
Hitomi said something and Madoka said… Madoka said, "Do it!" Should Sayaka be hearing this?!
"I will!" said Hitomi with a growl.
"I'm ready." Madoka knew Sayaka was listening and Madoka was…she was…
Madoka squeaked and started making… noises while Sayaka felt like the worst person in the world. She did not dare draw breath. Her heart had stopped some time ago. Sayaka was the worst and worst of all is that a part of her… a part of her felt a kind of awful thrill at this, the danger, the risk of getting caught, the fact that Madoka… that Madoka knew! Sayaka liked it!
Sayaka scrunched up her eyes. She hated it! She hated herself! Part of her… part of her even hated Madoka for doing this to her. How could Madoka do such a thing!
The answer was obvious. Madoka did not understand anymore than Hitomi understood. They were just acting on the feelings they had for each other, Hitomi coming from an environment that was too repressed, and Madoka coming from an environment that might need to be more repressed or at least an environment where Madoka's mother really needed some kind of filter. The two did not understand and Hitomi did not even know that Sayaka was here.
This meant that Sayaka, willingly, knowingly listening in was the true crime, because she understood that what she was doing was wrong, but she still chose to listen rather than gently letting the door close the rest of the way.
Sayaka heard Madoka let out a groan and then say in a husky, desperate voice "Why'd you stop?"
There was a sound of bodies moving, "Ma… Madoka?" No, what was Madoka about to do to Hitomi? Sayaka briefly considered that maybe she should find other friends if her friends were going to be… like this…
Where was her loyalty though? Sayaka remembered the times when the three would swear undying friendship to each other. Was she really going to run away and abandon them just because they were freaky? Madoka only got freaky today because Hitomi was filled with so much self doubt and self hatred, a collection of feelings that Sayaka could very much relate to right now. Madoka did the terrible thing she did to Sayaka in order to help Hitomi. A very evil part of Sayaka wondered if Madoka would comfort her the same way. Sayaka was definitely feeling her share of self hatred right now.
"Look." said Madoka and then proceeded to give a pep talk to the other girl about something, but Sayaka could not really tell what. She heard her name and words like "See", "Sayaka", and "Friend." Sayaka really hoped she was not about to be dragged into this.
"Madoka…" Hitomi sounded as breathless as Sayaka felt. Sayaka realized she had been holding her breath for a long time, but she dare not make any noise that might give her away. She felt she could hold her breath for a few more minutes.
"So here's what's going to happen." said Madoka. "You and I are going to gather our things and then we are going to head down to the cafeteria to eat lunch with our friend."
Oh crap! They were about to come down the stairs. Sayaka started carefully creeping away from the door.
She could just make out the words, "But those girls…" Oh right, Hitomi was being bullied earlier. Sayaka completely forgot about that in the wake of all the… stuff the two had been doing.
And then Sayaka was away and heard no more.
As soon as she finished creeping down the stairs she started running as quietly as she could and then started running without a care for the noise she was making. Some part of her mind was dimly aware that in spite of her frantic movements and her terrifying, but thrilling ordeal, her heart was not racing. It was almost like her heart had completely stopped.
O . O . O . O . O
Her arm pulsing with pain, Sayaka moved as if in a dream as she found a place to sit in a corner of the cafeteria. She saw the two girls whose words had started all of this, watching her from across the cafeteria. She glared and they turned away.
She zipped up her bag seeing that some of her belongings, papers, pencils, and her history notebook were missing, probably lying along the path to the rooftop or maybe even back in the classroom. She supposed it was just her luck lately, perhaps the universe was punishing her for her treacherous thoughts earlier?
She took in a deep breath, more out of reflex than anything. Something was very wrong with her body. She did not need to breath. Her heart had stopped. She was… dead.
She could not tell her friends. How could she tell them that she was…that their friend was only a walking corpse.
Were they even her friends? The treacherous voice was back. She did not like that voice, but she could not deny what Madoka and Hitomi had done had made her very uncomfortable.
Hitomi had not known though. Hitomi thought herself a monster just because she was kinky and gay or at least bi. Hitomi freaked herself out so bad that she tried to drive Madoka away out of fear of hurting the girl, because Hitomi was so scared of the things that she felt.
Newsflash for Hitomi, straight girls and guys are friends all the time without jumping each other's bones. They can even be attracted to each other and still not act on their impulses. Of course, Hitomi was prone to overreaction. Sayaka knew that. She now also fully understood why the girl overreacted so often. Her parents really screwed up the girl's perception of the world and of herself.
Sayaka definitely did not like what Madoka did, but Madoka only acted to help Hitomi accept herself, to realize that she had not turned into a literal monster that would be abandoned by everyone she held dear.
And Sayaka had considered abandoning both girls, too…
Sayaka was the monster. She deserved whatever disease or something that was now ripping its way through her. She put her hand on her arm. Madoka had bandaged it earlier that day.
She had never heard of a real world disease that could stop a heart, but leave the host alive. Was there now some strange power that had taken over her left arm?
If whatever strangeness was inside her arm could stop her treacherous heart, because she stopped acting like a true friend, was it trying to guide her or force her to fulfill some… some purpose?
Were these bandages she now wore a pitiful attempt to contain the power that was even now guiding her destiny?
Had she been watching too much anime? Probably. Surely she just was not able to sense her heart beat past the low but constant pain.
She felt for her pulse on her right wrist. There was nothing. The fingers on her left hand probably were not sensitive enough with the constant pulses of pain from just below her wrist.
She felt for her pulse on her neck using her right index and middle finger. There was nothing.
She put her right hand under her shirt. She could see the two girls watching and sent them another glare. Still nothing.
Sayaka pulled out her phone and looked at her face with the camera. Her face looked pale, perhaps a little green even.
She shuddered.
She unwrapped the bandages around her wrist slowly revealing the skin underneath. In her peripheral vision she could see the two girls laughing, but she did not care. The darkened veins had spread since that morning in the nurse's office. They were slowly creeping up towards her hand though maybe their pace would slow down or even stop without her heart to pump the blood further.
Perhaps she should have gone to the hospital after all, maybe she would even get a room right next to Kyosuke, that would make visiting him easier, but that would have meant explaining to the doctors and nurses there about the… about the woman that she might have… probably killed.
Sayaka wiped at her eyes. Somehow she could still cry.
She might have killed someone.
She chose to pick up that fire extinguisher and hit the poor drugged up woman with it. Yes it was self defense, but she still chose to do it rather than something less lethal.
And that woman had been bleeding from her head afterwards…
Sayaka knew she should have called for an ambulance…
She was so scared. She did not want to go to jail. She did not want to know if the woman was dead. She wanted to pretend the woman was alright. She wanted to be able to face her friends and say she was a good person, a protector,... a hero.
Her parents had told her not to go out late at night. All of this for a cup of ramen that she did not even get a chance to eat.
Her stupid choices caused this. Whatever unnatural infection that came with this bite on her arm was surely punishment for her poor choices… and it seemed it would continue to punish her each time she chose or even just thought to do something wrong.
She now had low, but constant pain, a reflection of her injuring or even killing that woman whose only crime was taking a very experimental drug. She lost most of her appetite while remaining perpetually hungry as punishment for going out to get that ramen. Now her heart was not beating, because she had hardened her heart to her friend's struggles.
Hitomi was going through a crisis of identity while also wrestling with parental rejection and bullying or at least bullying. Sayaka assumed Hitomi's parents were also rejecting her. Was that why Hitomi had been put on a liquid diet? Was this some new thing to do to kids to make them stop being gay, along with plenty of prayers and maybe even a trip to a conversion camp?
Sayaka had been worrying about Madoka's little PDA with Hitomi while Hitomi was dealing with real problems and Madoka was doing her best to help, and from the evidence, even succeeding. Madoka was showing Hitomi that what the other girl felt was alright to feel without any regard for what Madoka herself might want. Sayaka wished she could be as selfless as her pink haired friend.
Perhaps Sayaka could do something like Madoka did, but for Kyosuke, show him that there was still light in this world. For some reason the idea made her want to throw up a little. She knew she was bi rather than just being gay, but she just could not force herself to kiss him to say nothing of anything further. She just was not ready for that yet.
She just could not understand how Madoka could just kiss Hitomi or whatever the two did as if it was nothing, except somehow have it not be nothing. Madoka did everything with such passion and love and kindness, so kissing Madoka would probably be beyond amazing. Madoka was just something else, and Sayaka was just Sayaka.
Or at least she had been Sayaka. Now she was something less, somewhere between living and dead and it was all her fault for not listening to her parents, for avoiding the hospital when she was injured, for abandoning that woman, and for wanting to abandon Hitomi and Madoka. There was no way something as wretched as her could ever make Kyosuke happy. She saw how upset he was these last few visits and that was before she became what she was now.
She was so weak, so stupid.
"Sayaka, are you alright?" asked Madoka, taking a seat beside her. Sayaka could see so much love and concern on her friend's face. How could she have ever thought of abandoning this girl?
"Yeah… I'm fine. I'm just thinking about Kyosuke."
"I know what you mean, Sayaka," said Hitomi, "But if it makes you feel any better, this morning he sent me a text saying that he fully expected his next surgery to fix his hand. He did not elaborate on why he expected this, only that he was extremely confident that it would."
"He texted you?" asked Sayaka, feeling some jealousy rising up. Maybe this was why her skin was turning green. She had to clamp down on these feelings of jealousy or else she would complete her transformation into some kind of freaky green envy monster!
"Oh yes," said Hitomi, not seeming to notice anything amiss. Had Hitomi's eyes always had that little bit of red in the pupil? It looked kind of cool and mysterious.
Sayaka checked her phone for any texts from Kyosuke. There were none. She would have seen a text from him anyway when she went to look at her changed appearance in the camera.
"Madoka, has Kyosuke sent you any texts about his condition?" asked Sayaka.
Madoka shook her head with a concerned expression on her face. Sayaka had to suppress her feelings of relief at that. At least she probably would not be the last person to be told… hopefully. But why had Kyosuke not texted her about this? Sayaka had been visiting Kyosuke every other day since the accident. Sometimes it was every single day. Maybe he was just waiting to tell her in person. That had to be it, though that did not explain why he texted Hitomi about it.
Maybe he was just trying to cheer Hitomi up with white lies, but was willing to tell Sayaka the truth. She knew how… how hopeless he had looked these past few visits. That would explain why he would text Hitomi the good news and then would probably be the same as he was before when she went to visit.
"My mom gave me this last night!" said Madoka with what almost sounded like forced cheeriness, breaking Sayaka from her thoughts. Sayaka also noticed Madoka had been watching her face for the last few seconds for some reason.
The frown on Sayaka's face turned to confusion as she watched Madoka set a paper towel wrapped object onto the table.
"What is it?" asked Hitomi.
"I bet it's something incredible, maybe something to make you popular with the boys?" said Sayaka trying to sound like her usual cheerful teasing self. "Or girls?" she added with a glance at Hitomi.
Madoka gave Sayaka a very tender smile. "Ta Da!" she said, revealing… a rock. Sayaka guessed it was a nice rock. It was mostly gray but just a little shiny, it was skinny and long, about 12cm, perfect to fit into her hand with a little bit sticking out, and had a sharp point at one end.
"Wow, did she really bring some filthy rock in here?" Sayaka heard a painfully familiar voice and turned to see the two girls from earlier watching them from beside the trash and recycling bins in the center of the cafeteria. The magenta haired girl had spoken.
"Don't mind them." said Sayaka, "It's… a nice rock?" Madoka looked a little lost. Good going Sayaka you big idiot!
In a quiet voice Madoka said, "It's a meteorite."
"That does sound interesting." said Hitomi. Sayaka could not tell if Hitomi was genuinely interested or just being polite. Sometimes it was very hard to tell, but Hitomi's words seemed to have helped Madoka. Sayaka really was useless. Hitomi and Madoka could take care of each other while she was just making everything worse.
"It is interesting! It could easily be billions of years old."
"When you put it like that, it does sound pretty cool and mysterious." Sayaka said, "Can it do anything special though?"
"Not really, but it is nice to imagine something ancient being out there, maybe watching over the Earth until one day it comes down to visit." said Madoka sounding strangely nostalgic. "I can only imagine what it must feel like to be up there, among the solar winds and stardust until descending to Earth and becoming a part of people's lives."
"Could it be from one of those meteors that wiped out a bunch of animals? You know like the one that killed the dinosaurs?" asked Sayaka, now that sounded really cool.
"I don't like the thought of wiping out a lot of the life on Earth." said Madoka holding herself like she felt a chill, "It feels a little too personal."
"Wouldn't such a thing be the epitome of impersonal though?" asked Hitomi, "A meteor wiping out all life on earth isn't out to get anyone, it doesn't judge people for factors outside their control or feel like it has some sort of grudge to settle." Hitomi got a look on her masked face usually reserved for thoughts of romance, "Ah, the thought almost feels liberating, the idea that you didn't do anything wrong and no one is blaming you for anything. The rock just existed and now you don't anymore."
Sayaka stared at Hitomi, her mouth hanging open slightly. That was a little dark and edgy. Sayaka would ask who hurt Hitomi, but she already had her answer, or rather answers. She shot another glare at the two bullies who were still standing by the trash, where they belonged. They glared back. They were watching the trio.
"It's personal if you are the rock." said Madoka, "I don't like the idea of being something that can't help but end so many beautiful things. It is just so sad. It doesn't have to be personal for each and every one of the people who disappear to be a beautiful person in their own right, a person with a story to tell who deserves hope and a chance to see another day. I don't think the rock is evil, just sad, you know."
Sayaka nodded. She guessed that was sad even if she felt there were people who may not deserve to see another day.
"So, is this meteorite from a mass extinction event?" asked Hitomi.
"No. The original meteorite just fell last night and landed in the park by the mall."
"It's kind of funny how many things happened last night." said Sayaka. "Maybe it's destiny!"
"I have trouble seeing how such a comparatively ordinary natural phenomenon could be tied to destiny," said Hitomi. Apparently she had never read a fantasy novel, heard a myth, or watched enough anime…not that she had many opportunities outside her tutoring unless she was over at either Sayaka's or Madoka's house.
"Meteorites totally are tied to destiny! They are literally Heaven giving you a sign! Just look at books and tv! Like, they come up in fantasy and mythology all the time. You're supposed to make magic swords from them like Excalibur that mark you as destined to lead entire kingdoms or kill a dragon!" said Sayaka. Sayaka did not actually believe Madoka was about to be king of England or something, but assuming there were somehow supernatural forces in the world, like her arm, then Madoka's rock must be important somehow right?
She could hear muttering from the two girls. Were they coming closer? She chose to ignore them just this once as she had a Hitomi to educate. Sayaka continued, "Sometimes meteorites come up in sci fi, too, but usually in horror or super hero stories, but that's usually because there's like an alien or disease in them or something, and if it's an alien that looks like a human then they are destined to become a superhero." Sayaka turned towards Madoka with a teasing grin on her face, "Your mom didn't come home with a new pet for your family did she? Or maybe a weird new baby brother who will turn out to have strange powers or something?" It would be really cool if Madoka and Tatsuya had a new sibling, but she figured Madoka would have led with that if that were the case.
"No, my mom just came home slightly drunk with a piece of meteorite," said Madoka.
Hitomi made a face and Sayaka suppressed a laugh. Hitomi turned back to the rock, "You talk about magic swords, but I doubt that a meteorite would actually offer any kind of protection or advantage against the supernatural the way magic swords are supposed to." Hitomi actually knows things about magic swords? Did she somehow manage to watch an anime when her parents were not looking or did her tutors just let her read a fantasy novel? "Meteorites are for the most part made of the same elements as found here on earth and I doubt larger concentrations of elements like iridium and platinum would change that." Hitomi reached out to touch the rock at a point just below the tip, "The myths about magic meteorite swords are probably just due to meteorites being a readily available source of iron before…OUCH!"
Hitomi pulled her hand back. Sayaka could have sworn Hitomi had not touched the sharp looking tip, but she guessed Hitomi's hand must have slipped. "You okay?" she asked as Madoka was already pulling HItomi's hand towards her.
"I'll be fine." said Hitomi, "I just need to…uh… make sure I'm getting enough…nutrition."
Huh? Hitomi was never at a loss for words before today. She probably just did not want to worry them, especially after earlier. Hitomi turned away, looking at the wall, unscrewed her thermos, pulled down her mask, spent a few seconds loudly drinking, and then put her mask back on. She turned back to the two of them and Sayaka could see a red droplet fall from the other girl's chin.
"I'm not sure tomato juice will fix pricking your finger."
"It's fine," said Hitomi.
Sayaka turned to Madoka wondering if they should take Hitomi to the nurse. Sayaka had recent personal experience with ignoring injuries and then regretting it later. Madoka shook her head. Sayaka shrugged, willing to defer to the nurse's aid on this matter. If Madoka thought the injury was mild enough then who was she to argue. Madoka gave her a reassuring smile probably to let her know Hitomi would be fine.
"You two really are so close." said Hitomi, sounding sad again, "You can have an entire discussion just by looking at each other."
"They aren't the only two growing close though are they?" asked the brunette with so much venom that Hitomi and Madoka started leaning away from the girl. The two bullies had snuck up behind Sayaka while she was paying attention to her friends, another mistake she had made.
"What do you mean?" asked Hitomi in a tone of forced politeness which was almost indistinguishable from her normally polite tone.
"This is what I mean!" cried the girl pointing at Madoka's neck. There was something red there though it was mostly covered by Madoka's shirt. Madoka shifted her shoulders trying to hide the mark, but the brunette's cry had drawn the attention of half of the cafeteria. "Yes, hide the hickey. We all saw you run out of class after Shizuki unless you are saying someone else gave you that."
There were whispers from the students around them.
Sayaka was looking at Madoka's neck with a little shock. Hitomi and Madoka really were quite bold! She thought they had just been kissing. Well, kissing and maybe some freakiness involving Hitomi trying to choke and scare Madoka. Hitomi was freaky, but Sayaka guessed a lot of normally quiet shy people had a hidden side to them.
Sayaka wondered if she should add a few more links to the list she was going to send to Hitomi. Sayaka had read online about using foundation to cover up hickeys just in case she ever got one from Kyosuke or gave him one herself.
Apparently her look of shock was misinterpreted by the brunette, "That's right Sayaka, Miss Perfect here stole your girlfriend and even gave her hickey. Doesn't that just piss you off?"
"Language." muttered Hitomi, but her words were very quiet. She was watching Sayaka with some mixture of fear and regret.
Sayaka had to think fast before this spiraled even further out of control. Hitomi was scared of what Sayaka thought of the girl's new relationship or something with Madoka. Sayaka had to reassure the girl and maybe also shut down any further lines of assault from the brunette. She wanted to stop the other girl. She even wanted to hurt the brunette which for some reason made Sayaka hungry, but she could settle for taking the wind out of the other girl's sails.
"Don't you feel it? That love turned to betrayal and rage?" the brunette was grinning like a cartoon villain, "Come on and let your anger out. Let the hate flow through you." Sayaka kind of wanted to bite this girl that was trying to rile her up against her friends. That would let the hate flow through her!
Some part of Sayaka was dimly aware that she did not normally get the desire to bite people, but she ignored that in favor of more important matters.
Sayaka's arm tingled in time with the growing hunger, but the pain felt good, a reminder that she was not completely dead yet. Her heart may have stopped, but she could still give her unbeating heart to her friends! Maybe the pain in her arm feeling less bad was a confirmation that she was on the right track with her thinking about how to deal with the brunette?
Sayaka grinned standing up and throwing an arm around Madoka, "I don't see the problem. Madoka here has enough love for both me and Hitomi! Isn't that right Madoka?"
Madoka squeaked something that might have been anything. It did not matter what Madoka was trying to say, because the brunette's face looked a little lost and confused as if she could not imagine someone reacting the way Sayaka was to the revelation. The girl obviously did not know that Sayaka and Madoka were not actually dating and that she had no feelings like that towards Madoka, but Sayaka was not about to disabuse her of that notion. Now if Hitomi had done something with Kyosuke behind Sayaka's back, then they might be having words, but Sayaka doubted that would ever happen.
"See!" Sayaka leaned in to whisper in Madoka's ear, "play along." and she shot a wink towards Hitomi to let the other girl know she was not being serious. For some reason Madoka shivered when Sayaka whispered in the girl's ear and Hitomi might have blushed at the wink, visible even with her mask, but that could also be the tomato juice the girl had drunk. Weird.
Sayaka turned to fully face Madoka putting her hand under Madoka's chin. Madoka appeared to shiver again and her face was turning really red. "That spot on your neck looks a little lonely. Want me to give you a matching mark on the other side of your neck?"
Madoka started tilting her head to the side. Wait! It was a joke! Madoka breathed something that might have been a "Yes." before shaking her head, "I mean, no! It was an accident. We didn't know what we were doing!"
Sayaka had to force her grin to stay in place. Sayaka was not ready for this! "It's okay Madoka. I can show you what to do later." Never! Sayaka turned back to the brunette and her magenta haired friend who had hung back a little, "See. I don't see a problem here. Do you?"
"Yes, I see a problem!" said the girl stomping her foot, "But I guess you just don't care about things like loyalty and commitment do you Miki?"
Sayaka was ready to start biting the girl. And, the brunette honestly did look so much tastier than the lunch Sayaka had been ignoring. Sayaka took a step forward.
"Enough!" said Nakuzawa, stepping between the two groups. Nakuzawa was a normally quiet silver haired boy who sat at the front of the class. Every time that their teacher was feeling upset about her failed relationships, she would pick on the poor boy. He was the last person Sayaka expected to get involved in a confrontation. She did not think the poor boy had any backbone left after just the first month with Saotome Sensei.
"But Nakuzawa!" said the brunette.
"But nothing, Ijiwaru. Don't you see Sayaka isn't upset about whatever weird thing they have going on?"
"It doesn't matter if she isn't upset! I'm sick and tired of Shizuki trampling on people's feelings and never giving a damn about how it makes the rest of us feel. She is a heartless bitch!"
Hitomi shrank back, "I would never do such a thing!"
"Never do such a thing, my ass!" Hitomi flinched, either at the language or the tone. Ijiwaru pushed past Nakuzawa trying to get in Hitomi's face. Sayaka stepped in between the two. Ijiwaru looked over Sayaka's shoulder and hissed out, "I saw what you did to Nakuzawa's love letter!" Nakuzawa flinched, "You threw it in the trash!"
There was silence throughout the cafeteria. Nobody dared to breathe.
Nakuzawa moved so that he was in between Ijiwaru and Hitomi again, now standing beside and slightly behind Sayaka, "I don't care. I don't mind."
"I watched as you poured your heart into that letter!" said Ijiwaru, apparently getting upset on Nakazawa's behalf. Was the brunette crying?
"It was months ago! I've moved on. If I got upset about something like that, the way you are, I would be no better than the men in Miss Saotome's stories!"
"Nakuzawa, I'm so sorry." said Hitomi looking utterly distraught. The normally calm and collected girl looked so lost.
"It's fine Hitomi." Nakuzawa said, "It probably would have hurt a little if I saw you do that months ago, but I really have moved on. I figured you didn't return my feelings when there was no response after a week, and now I know why." He smiled and it was a genuine smile. Sayaka was in awe, "I'm happy for you, for you and Madoka both. She is a wonderful young woman and I hope you can make each other happy!" Wow, he sounded like he meant every word of it and he looked so serious.
Madoka hid her face in her hands and moved to hide behind Hitomi.
"How can you be so… so…?!" Ijiwaru was speechless, but her face was turning red and the vein on her forehead looked like it would explode. 'I thought I knew you Nakuzawa! How can you take their side?"
"I thought I knew you, too, Ijiwaru. I think you should go."
"Fine!" said Ijiwaru and stormed away with the magenta haired girl following behind her.
O . O . O . O . O
Homura sat on the subway staring at her left arm, at the spot that would normally hold her shield. That arm and more specifically that shield had controlled her destiny for so many years and now she was returned to the monotonous routine of gathering resources in a desperate attempt to avert her precious Madoka's destiny.
Homura heard a voice from the men sitting behind her..
"Dumb bitch kept mouthing off to me."
"I can't see you taking that from nobody. What'd you do?"
"What'd you think I did? I smacked the bitch with the book."
"Seriously man? With the book?"
Homura was on the train after robbing a Yakuza den just outside of Mitakihara and killing a witch in that area. Two men that she could not see were having a conversation behind her. The voices did not match the two men that Sayaka usually killed when she was at her lowest point. Homura briefly considered pulling a Sayaka, before reminding herself to never do what Sayaka would do. It would be a waste of resources needed for protecting Madoka.
"With the book. That shut her up real fast!" The man was laughing. He sounded like an older man.
"Then what happened?" asked the second man.
"She threw up all over me." Homura briefly considered finding this man's information and directing Sayaka to him after Sayaka fell into despair, but that would not help Madoka. "That shit ruined my nice cassock!"
Why was the man wearing a cassock of all things? Homura had been raised in a Christian orphanage and knew that a cassock was something priests wore. Kyoko's outfit was a mix of a magical girl's frilly dress, a cassock, and a formal robe often used in chinese opera called a pi, specifically one that would be worn by a female warrior, a wudan role, as evidenced by Kyoko being the wudan witch. All of these parts came together to tell the story of a magical girl warrior putting on a kind of stage production for a church congregation.
Homura turned and saw the two men who were talking. They were both middle aged. One was dressed like a priest with close cropped dark blue hair while the other man was covered in scars with long messy silver hair and wore a heavy dark brown trench coat and wide brimmed hat with numerous cross necklaces almost like a gangster and a bandelier of oddly enough wooden stakes. Homura had of course seen the two men at least a dozen times before, but this was the first time she had overheard their conversation. The seat she had taken on previous trips in past timelines was occupied by a little white haired girl that Homura recognized from the hospital. The girl was talking to her backpack for some reason which appeared to be larger than Homura remembered. Homura guessed there was a stuffed animal or a literal animal inside and decided to ignore the girl.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, man! Sounds like you need to get into a different field, you know?"
"Yeah, I might."
"So after you smacked her good with the good book and she threw up all over you, then what happened?"
"Well I finished the ritual and was all 'Power of Christ Compels You' and the bitch was sent back to hell where she belonged."
"And the kid?"
"Oh the kid was alright. Little scamp was laughing about it. Her parents were so relieved that their kid was no longer possessed, but the little munchkin just thought the entire thing was a fun way to get out of going to school." Ah, possession and exorcism. They probably did not realize the child was just under the influence of a witch's kiss and whatever blunt force trauma came from being hit with a bible knocked the child out of the witch's control. Homura felt bad for the child, but at least the little girl was saved from being eaten by a witch or forced to commit suicide not that the two were mutually exclusive.
The man continued, "I gave the little girl a piece of candy and stern warning about not trying out creepy demon summoning rituals you find on the internet, even if they get you out of school. Education is important, you know, man?" Homura supposed the two men would not be meeting a despairing Sayaka any night soon. Less work for Homura meaning more time she could devote to saving Madoka!
"Don't I know it, Father Lorenzo, but man if that don't sound like one of the worst jobs in our line of work."
"Damn straight, Fritz, but the messy cases have never been the reason I've sometimes thought of changing jobs."
"Nah, that'd be the false alarm cases wouldn't it?"
"Oh, it's not just the false alarm cases! It's the parents in the false alarm cases! You would not believe how many times I get called in with the whole 'my son's gay, he must be possessed by the devil'."
"I bet you give them a stern talking to!" Maybe she was too quick to judge them as being decent people?
"A stern talking to doesn't even begin to describe what I say to them. Some people just shouldn't be parents. Don't know how to love their kid for being their own special self. I swear! It's like they don't get the whole love part of love thy neighbor." Guess not. Homura supposed these men were pretty alright, not that she knew what job this Fritz did. By the scars he had, it must be pretty dangerous.
"I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that." said Fritz, "So why do you stay then, if you have so many bad days?"
"It's for the kids, you know!"
"I get that. Still, if you ever decide to trade in your Lesser Keys of Solomon and your Malleus Maleficarum for a good honest piece of wood, my group would be happy to have you."
"Yeah, but you and your girls and boys haven't had a proper job in the area in more than a year!"
"We thought that as well, but right after I got on the train today, I got a text about one of our guys, Haru, who had gone undercover to check some local rich people out, and get this, he didn't check in any of the times when he was supposed to. We think the dude might be dead!"
"That's terrible, but at least it means you might have some rich bastards to put down."
"Yeah, I really don't know if I should be sad or excited right now! It's been way too long since we had a good hunt. We were honestly thinking of joining the hunt for that rumored red haired bitch up in Kazamino, you know that Lone Wolf one." Homura's attention was perked. Had these men considered getting involved in some kind of bounty hunting thing to go after Kyoko Sakura?
"To think things used to be pretty calm in these parts, back before Sakura got himself excommunicated." They were!
"Ah, but I heard he kept in the business even afterwards."
"Really Fritz? Talk about being seriously committed to volunteer work. I need the hazard pay I get from this gig."
"But Father, don't you just spend it all on helping the families that get really badly hurt by possessions."
"Well, yeah, but Sakura had a family to feed didn't he? I reckon that was the whole reason he got into the business in the first place."
"He did and it was, but you see, I heard his family became the problem."
"Oh? But I met the girls once. They were all so nice."
"It's always the quiet ones!"
"So which one was it? My guess is that Momo girl. There was always something just a little off about her."
"Nah, it was that Kyoko of his."
"Really! But she was so sweet!"
"I know right! Turns out, she was actually a witch." These men did not know the true horror of a witch, but there was no use telling them that.
"No way!"
"Yes way! Burned the whole church down with her family inside to boot."
"That's awful!"
"I know right. And get this, they have never found her body! Well, granted they only ever found the parents' bodies, but still."
"How do you know she was responsible then?" Homura wanted to know that as well since she knew Kyoko was the victim of her father's insane massacre.
"Well, you see, he gave one of my buddies a call. He did it right before confronting the girl, and just after he learned that she had put some kind of spell on his whole congregation! He said that's the reason all of them were even there."
"I always thought there was something fishy about an excommunicated priest like him getting a big congregation like that out of nowhere."
"Turns out, Sakura had his suspicions from the start about the congregation and he knew there was something up with the girl, like she was staying out late and was hanging out with a strange woman, you know, but he didn't know for sure what was going on until he saw her do her magic with his own eyes. That was the final nail in the coffin."
"Again with you and coffins, Fritz! I swear!"
Homura was now feeling a little concerned. These men may not be a threat in this timeline thanks to something about rich people and a missing person, but in future timelines, they could potentially be on the hunt for a rumored red haired girl in Kazamino who was called a lone wolf or in other words Kyoko Sakura, a girl that they seemed to believe to be a witch and murderer. Homura hoped Kyoko was doing alright for herself right now and for the most part staying out of trouble. That girl was sadly one of the more dependable potential allies of her many iterations through time.
O . O . O . O . O
Throughout the day, the young magical girl Yuma Chitose had watched in worry as her new friend and protector, Kyoko had run around in a panic trying to fix her magic gem which seemed to be broken. Kyubey, the magic white bunny cat who had given them their gems and powers had no ideas on what had gone wrong and was now watching from the windowsill.
Ever since Kyoko had been bitten on her shoulder the night before by that giant dog that was actually a naked red haired woman, Kyoko's soul gem had been acting funny. It was darkening like when they used magic, but Kyoko was not using magic, and the darkness inside of the gem seemed to have taken on a life of its own. Yuma could have sworn the darkness took the shape of a dog, but Kyoko did not believe her.
Kyoko had instead tried using every grief seed she had to get the darkness to go away, but the grief seeds did not seem to work anymore. Kyoko had run off and hunted a witch for another grief seed even though Kyubey told her that what she was doing was irrational. Kyoko did not care. She did not want to die. Yuma did not want Kyoko to die either, but she did not know what to do.
Kyoko at last gave up. She tried to hide it from Yuma, but the girl could tell that the fight had left the older girl. Kyoko had told Yuma what she should do when Kyoko died, that there was a magical girl in Mitakihara named Mami who would take her in and protect her.
Throughout the day, Kyoko's mood had also steadily worsened. Yuma had been scared at first, but she quickly realized Kyoko would not let her despair harm the younger girl. Yuma had seen other people who were upset lash out, especially her parents. One such incident of lashing out was the reason Yuma had run away and then been trapped in a labyrinth before meeting Kyoko. Kyoko had lashed out at Kyubey, but kept being kind to Yuma. She could tell Kyoko not just did not want to hurt her, but refused to hurt her, no matter how much Kyoko herself might be hurting.
Now, the two were in a hotel room they had broken into sitting curled up together on the couch, watching and waiting for Kyoko's soul gem which they had set on a table to finish darkening. The lights were off to keep their break in a secret, and in the darkness, Yuma swore she saw a shape moving inside of the gem. Kyoko was not looking at her gem anymore. Now she just held Yuma while muttering what sounded like a prayer of some sort.
Yuma did not mind being held like this. It was nice to be loved and cherished, to be treated the way she understood family ought to treat other family. The family she had had was not like that and she often wished she was an orphan like Kyoko. She may not have known Kyoko for very long, but she felt Kyoko was her family now and by the way Kyoko had been treating her these last few days, she felt that Kyoko felt the same way.
At last the gem finished darkening. Through the window Yuma could see the moon in all its glory. The moon which had been full last night might as well have been full this night as well. Slowly as the clouds moved and the moon rose, light drifted in from the window spreading across the table until it touched the edge of the soul gem.
The soul gem cracked.
Kyoko clutched her chest and began ripping at her clothes. "Can't… can't…"
Yuma, now released from the other girl's arms, backed away.
Kyoko threw her head back and howled in pain scratching at her skin as she fell onto her side, her legs kicking out and knocking over the table.
She scrambled for her fallen soul gem and held it against her chest and Yuma saw the darkness inside the soul gem leap out and into the girl leaving the soul gem clean as if it was brand new, its shining crimson light filling the room as if Kyoko was transforming, and just like during a transformation, Kyoko's clothes, an oversized hoodie and set of ripped denim shorts, seemed to be consumed by magical light before disappearing.
Kyoko was transforming, but not into a magical girl.
Her fingers snapped and cracked, the joints elongating as the girl screamed. She fell over her hands catching herself on the floor, but her soul gem remained stuck to her chest somehow.
The girl looked like she was stretching, but her stretching just made her body longer. Blood trickled from the scratches on her chest. Yuma wanted to go to Kyoko, to help her, to heal her, but she could not bring herself to move.
Yuma could not turn away, watching tears falling from Kyoko's eyes as the bones in the girl's legs seemed to break and reform. She looked so fragile, so different from the invincible warrior who had saved Yuma from the witch. Now those strong eyes held only pain.
Something pushed out of Kyoko's backside, like a tail. It was a tail. Kyoko scratched at the sides of her head leaving long bloody trails where her nails, now more like claws, easily pierced her skin. Her head was changing. Her ears were being pulled upwards. It did not look pleasant at all.
Kyoko banged her head into the floor again and again. Each time she lifted her head, Yuma could see Kyoko's face was changing too. Her mouth and nose were coming together into a kind of dog-like snout, but Kyoko made a very funny looking dog since she had no fur unless you count her long mane of red hair. Yuma supposed Kyoko should be happy she had red hair since it hit the blood stains so well.
The Kyoko dog thing spread her limbs wide and trembled. The eyes that were now looking at Yuma looked so big and sad. Then the trembling intensified. Kyoko scratched all over her body. Yuma wanted to stop her, but she was so scared.
Blood seemed to suddenly coat every inch of Kyoko, but then Yuma realized that some of the red in the faint light of the moon looked almost like hair. Kyoko was growing hair all over her body and it did not look like a painless experience.
At last, the Kyoko dog collapsed to the ground, whimpering. The blood red light vanished. The transformation was complete.
Yuma ran up to the Kyoko dog. She was not afraid of Kyoko. Kyoko would not hurt her and dogs were nice. Some of her only happy memories were of petting other people's dogs. The only exception to dogs being nice was the weird woman from the night before, but that was really a woman and not a dog.
Yuma could see Kyubey still watching from the window, his red eyes glowing faintly in the dark as Yuma Chitose wrapped her arms around the big Kyoko dog. As she started to use her magic to heal the injuries from Kyoko scratching, she saw Kyoko turn her now bigger doggy head towards her.
There was something wrong with the dog creature's eyes.
O . O . O . O . O
KAMIHAMA FASHION DISASTER! 3 DEAD, 1 MISSING written by Foni Balowni
Residents of Kamihama's Shinsei Ward were shocked yesterday morning to find the bodies of three popular models horrifically dismembered in a manner too gruesome to bear (pictures on page 5 and 6) The cause of death (before the dismemberment) appears to have been a garrote made from the ribbons, frills, and chains of an avant garde magical girl themed dress (picture on page 6) worn by the late Kanashii Ichika, another runway model who is believed to have taken her own life a month ago after making repeated (and spurious) allegations of mistreatment against her fellow models. Investigators doubt there is any connection between the murders and the suicide, because it is not like anyone actually liked Kanashii Ichika. The murderer who has been nicknamed The Catwalk Killer is believed to either hate trendy fashion or to be from a rival modeling agency, and is believed to have chosen to use the ribbon garrote either because it was convenient or because they just really liked magical girls. There has been no sign of Yachiyo Nanami, a model who is presumed to have been abducted and investigators believe that bits of the young woman will likely be found scattered across…
Excerpt from the newspaper Most Marvelous Magical Morning Mitakihara (5Ms)
Hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts! I intend to start including scenes from other plotlines and povs and when appropriate a short news article at the end of most chapters just because this is looking like it will be a bit of a big story. We'll probably have one or two more chapters of set up before Homura transfers in and we can dive into the main course! Coming soon we will get a peak at what will happen with Kyoko and Yuma, what is happening in Kamihama, what is happening in Hitomi's head, and other answers to questions we should not ask, but want to ask anyway.