Disclaimer: The works of Urobochi Gen (namely, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, among other things) belong to him. I do no claim any ownership over their characters, concept, or story, their franchise, etc. This is purely fan work.
Chapter 7:
"So explain to me again why Kaname Madoka is coming along?" Jeremy asked as they walked downtown, tapping his walking stick against the ground as they moved. "To the best of my knowledge, she's not actually a magical girl."
"I'd like to keep it that way, and I'm sure the rest of you know why by now," Homura grumbled.
"You should've told us all the truth a long time ago," Sayaka argued.
"There's no way you would've listened to me," Homura snapped back. "You disliked me from the start, remember?"
"Can we not argue right now?" Madoka pleaded the two of them stop. "We're supposed to be working together, not fighting."
Both Sayaka and Homura stopped talking after that, but the dissatisfaction in their faces were obvious.
"Originally, I brought Kaname-san and Miki-san with me to see if they'd like to risk becoming magical girls," Mami admitted. "But looking back, we sure were lacking in knowledge, weren't we? At the very least, I don't want Kaname-san to befall the same fate as us."
All the girls nodded in agreement, except Madoka, Jeremy noticed. "What does Kaname Madoka think about all this?" Jeremy asked, looking at the girl in question. However, instead of answering, Madoka hesitated for quite a while instead, fidgeting as she thought about how to answer.
"Um," Sayaka finally interrupted. "I've just been wondering, but why do you always call us all by our full names?"
Jeremy turned to face Sayaka. "To be honest?" He said, tilting his head. "To distance me from everyone here. After all, I was originally planning for the fact that I would leave after I defeat my enemy."
"But you said you would return," Mami protested. "And that you wouldn't mind being friends with us."
"That's very true," Jeremy said, giving a wry smile. "I did say that. I guess I'll have to change how I refer to you all, then, huh?"
"But why are you in such a rush to leave?" Kyoko suddenly asked. "Couldn't you hang out with us all for a bit first? I thought your goal here was just to defeat Adonis. Surely it wouldn't hurt to stick around for a bit."
"Defeating Adonis is more of a responsibility I feel that I need to deal with," Jeremy said, frowning. "If I had to say… well, I probably should tell you all anyway. What I really want to do is to return to someone's side. I've been gone for far too long. Plus I'll probably be assigned to go somewhere else anyway so I can't stay here forever even if I wanted to."
"Ooh, so you have a girlfriend?" Kyoko asked, grinning mischievously.
"Fiancé, actually," Jeremy admitted. "I want to return to her as soon as possible. That's why, after I'm done with my business with my enemy, I'll be leaving right after."
Silence fell upon the group, and Jeremy paused as he realized that all the girls were staring at him in shock.
"…What?" he asked.
"You have a fiancé?" Madoka asked out of plain curiosity.
"I don't believe it," Homura said. "You, having a fiancé? Didn't seem like the type at all."
"What's so surprising about it?" Jeremy asked again. "I'm a lot older than I look."
All the girls stared at him again. Based on appearances alone, he looked like he was in his early 20s. At the very least, he couldn't be older than 25.
Jeremy sighed. "Anyway, just believe me when I say I have a fiancé, okay?"
"So what's her name, then?" Kyoko asked, grinning. "What's she like? Is she Hot? Sexy? Cute?"
"Her name is Lenora," Jeremy said, slightly raising his head, as if looking at a memory only he could see. "I guess you could say she's a beautiful woman who is both strong and charismatic. Her skill with a spear is beyond anything I have ever seen, too."
"A spear? So just like me, eh?" Kyoko said, grinning. "Who's better, me or her?"
"I don't think I've even seen you fight properly," Jeremy deadpanned.
Kyoko just laughed merrily in response.
"Let's put Jeremy-san's love life aside," Homura said, cutting off the conversation. "More importantly is our previous conversation. Madoka isn't a magical girl, so she should stay out of this in a safe location."
"I can't just leave you all to fight while I stay in safety," Madoka protested. "There must be something that I can do, too."
"Pretty sure none of us here want you to become a magical girl," Homura interjected. "I'm sure we're all in agreement about that, after all we've learned."
As all the other girls nodded in agreement, Madoka could only stay quiet with a downcast expression upon hearing that statement.
It was then Jeremy realized. Despite all she had learned so far, it was highly possible that Madoka was still considering becoming a magical girl, but with everyone in disagreement she didn't want to voice her opinion. Did she want to become one because she had a wish? Or perhaps she didn't want to be left out? Maybe she wanted to help the other girls the only way she knew how?
Jeremy didn't know, but why did it matter? Madoka was still hesitating, so he decided to give her a chance to think about it some more.
"Alright, I have an idea," Jeremy said. "We will keep Kaname Madoka with us when we go find a witch. Kaname Madoka and I will be in plain sight of the enemy Witch. You all will need to defend us from the Witch for 20 minutes before trying to defeat it."
"No way!" Homura protested. "I'm not allowing Madoka to be in direct danger like that!"
"That's why you all will need to work together to protect her from the Witch," Jeremy said. "Of course, I will be there too, and if things go wrong then we can abort the plan, and I'll escape with Kaname Madoka."
"What can you do in your current state?" Homura protested. "You said you can't even fight right now."
"I can't fight, but I can run," Jeremy said. "I'm not exactly proud of this, but if it's running away, I won't lose to anyone. Bringing Madoka along with me will be nothing. The point is to test out your teamwork."
"Then why does Madoka need to be in danger?" Homura asked. "Why can't you just be the only target?"
"Because," Jeremy said. "I do have an idea of what Kaname Madoka can do to help, even without becoming a Magical girl. But for her to act, she will need to be somewhere where she can clearly observe what's going on, but if she's in such a position there's a chance the enemy may notice her. So she will need to be protected regardless, if worst comes to worst. It works out, right?"
"…Fine," Homura acquiesced. "But if anything happens to her, it's your head I'm having."
"Fine by me," Jeremy said, nodding. "Have you forgotten our promise? I'll make sure Kaname Madoka doesn't die when I'm around. That promise is still in effect."
It took quite a bit of wandering around and using their soul gems to find the trace of a Witch, but after that it was simple matter to the Witch itself and its labyrinth.
It started out alright.
The Witch fought with all its might right from the start, sending out familiars and attacks from all directions. The girls fought them off; with their ability to send out massive waves of attacks in all directions, the familiars stood no chance.
The problem that arose wasn't defending Madoka and Jeremy; with their extended firepower, Jeremy didn't even have to try to protect Madoka. It was their ability to work together, or rather, Homura and Sayaka's lack of ability to work together.
"Hey!" Sayaka yelled at Homura. "Watch it! You almost got me with your explosives!"
"Stop running towards them, then." Homura snapped back. "I'm not going to adjust my fighting style just to deal with your incompetence."
"I'm a melee specialist! How are Kyoko and I supposed to attack anything if your explosions keep appearing out of nowhere?"
Jeremy sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Just telling them to work together professionally the other day wasn't enough, he supposed.
"Homura-san, that's enough for now," Jeremy said. "We'll have to talk later. For now, just stick to your firearms."
Sayaka stuck out her tongue at Homura upon hearing what Jeremy had said.
"Sayaka-san, you too," Jeremy continued with an exasperated sigh. "While you're not wrong, please stop trying to antagonize each other. We're all on the same side here."
Sayaka flushed and looked away upon also being chastised by him.
After the 20 minutes were over, however, it didn't take long for the Witch to finally be defeated.
"Having to protect you two instead of trying to defeat the Witch was harder than I thought," Mami confessed.
"I suppose it's true that the best defense is a powerful offense," Kyoko agreed. "Not being able to stop the source of the attacks itself for awhile just made things really annoying."
"In any case," Jeremy said, changing the subject. "Let's talk while I purify everyone's soul gem. I'll be taking the grief seed, too."
The girls all gathered around him to do as such.
"What will you do with the grief seed?" Madoka asked.
"I'm not sure yet," Jeremy confessed. "I'll probably see if I can purify them or something. But either way, I'm sure you'll all agree that we're better off not letting Kyuubey have it, right?"
In unison, all the girls glanced at each other and nodded as one. It was pretty obvious by now that they all hated Kyuubey.
"So, about today's battle." Jeremy continued. "As expected, everyone's really powerful individually. But together, you all weren't able to make the most of your abilities because you all keep getting into each other's way."
"I was just trying to make sure none of the enemy's attacks got near Madoka," Homura said, crossing her arms. "You can't deny that I was quite effective at that."
"You're right," Jeremy said, nodding. "Your ability to stop time makes you the most suited for support, since it allows you to easily cover everyone else as well as being able to quickly reach any destination undetected. I think you should stick to doing that. Any explosives should instead be used in limited number and only when everyone else is aware of it."
"But what if she doesn't tell us about her using bombs?" Sayaka protested. "Kyoko and I don't need explosions appearing out of nowhere."
"I will talk to her about that later," Jeremy said, grimacing. The divide between Sayaka and Homura was really something that would have to be dealt with soon. "One thing I would like to say though, is what Kaname Madoka can do in battle."
"There's something I can do without becoming a magical girl?" Madoka asked, looking up at him with hope.
"Yeah," Jeremy said, nodding. "Everyone else was able to keep you safe even when you were the center of attention. So, your presence on the battlefield should be fine. As for what you can do… It's precisely because we're expecting you to be watching from a distance rather than fighting that you have the best view of the battlefield. You'd be able to tell what's going on, observe the Witch's and its familiar's movements, and so on. This means you're the best for telling the others information about the battlefield, which should easily be done via telepathy. Essentially, you'll there to monitor the field of battle, act as everyone's operator, and update everyone as different situations arise."
"That's it?" Kyoko said, sounding not very impressed. "Well, I guess I can't expect that much more from someone who can't fight."
"It's a very important role," Jeremy insisted. "Information is always key to winning, and on the battlefield, information is always changing. What will you do if you get ambushed from behind by familiars because you didn't know they were there?"
"I'll beat them, of course," Kyoko said, grinning. "I'm not that weak!"
"Well, I think it's a good idea," Mami said, nodding. "I've certainly been caught off guard before, so I'll be quite thankful if Madoka was able to warn me in time the next time such a thing happens."
"Right!" Sayaka said, nodding excitedly. "Then I'll be counting on you, Madoka!"
"But what if I'm not able to warn you in time?" Madoka fretted with a frown. "Like, if something happens faster than I can react."
"That's something you can work on during our training sessions this week," Jeremy said. "There's a lot of things I want to try to try and quickly maximize the effectiveness of you girl's teamwork."
Homura frowned as she realized something was off about Jeremy's words. "Why are you leaving yourself out of 'teamwork'?" she asked. "Aren't you also fighting with us?"
'Technically, yes and no," Jeremy said. "Most likely, both my enemy and Walpurgisnacht will appear on the same day, meaning you girls will probably have to work together to fight off Walpurgisnacht while I draw my enemy away and face him myself."
"We can't help you face Adonis?" Madoka asked, also frowning. She seemed to be unhappy that they couldn't help him, with how much he was helping them.
"Not while you girls are facing Walpurgisnacht, you aren't," Jeremy answered. "If you girls manage to beat Walpurgisnacht before I beat my enemy, then yeah, I'll appreciate the help. Likewise, if I manage to win early, then I'll help you girls out. Either way, at that point I suppose we'll all be working together, but if it's all of us working together I think we should be fine anyways. I'd like to think I'm pretty good in supporting in any way I can, even more than being in direct combat."
"Hold on a moment," Homura interjected. "Based on what you said just now… the job you're having Madoka do is something you've done yourself, haven't you?" she accused. "That would really explain a lot if that was the case."
Jeremy blinked. "Huh. I'm surprised you picked up on that. Yes, it's something I've done before," he admitted. "That's why I can confidently say that it's an important job. Our goal here isn't just to win," Jeremy continued, "but to win while minimizing our loses, which ideally means not losing anyone if possible. And so, we will need to take every advantage we can get."
"Well, if you put it that way," Kyoko said. "I'll take your word for it."
And so, for the rest of the day, they all went back to Mami's apartment to discuss things out in more detail (and drink tea and have cakes and just simply enjoy talking to one another).
Throughout it all, while he supposed this wasn't bad every once in a while, Jeremy thought that he was relaxing a bit too much for his liking.
He just couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something he absolutely had to do.
Later that night, when they were finally all heading out, Jeremy was about to call out to Homura and tell her to wait when Sayaka called out to him instead.
"Jeremy! Wait up!"
He turned to face the girl, and by then Homura had already disappeared.
Oh well. He'll just have to talk to her later.
"That reminds me," Jeremy said offhandedly as Sayaka approached him. "I probably should talk to you too, Sayaka-san."
"I just wanted to—eh? You do?"
"Yeah," He confirmed. "It was about today's battle. Didn't I ask you to try and at least work with Homura?"
Sayaka made a face. "I tried, believe me," she said. "But for some reason I just can't bring myself to trust that girl, and before I know it I'm already complaining about her."
Jeremy sighed. "You'll be fine as long as you are told where she places her bombs, right? I'll get around to talking to her about that. Let me work things out with her, but I'm asking you: Please, be patient with her. She's a good girl, she's just been through a lot of difficulties."
"It can't be that bad," She complained.
"It probably is," Jeremy countered. "She has time control as an ability, remember? The reason she knew so much about Witches and why she knew you wouldn't believe her is because of that. She's already experienced everyone's despair many times over. If anything, she's had it way harder than any of the rest of you girls."
Sayaka blinked. "Really?" she asked, frowning. "Why couldn't she just say that?"
"There you go again," Jeremy said, sighing. "While you might believe her now, the past you wouldn't have believed her. That's why she gave up on trying to tell you."
Sayaka made an uncertain expression. "Well…" she hedged. "If you say so. I guess I'll have to try harder to accept her as an ally," she said. "Anyway, enough about that. I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your talk the other day."
"It was just yesterday, you know."
"I know, I know," Sayaka said. "But it felt longer than that. So let me thank you."
"Does that mean you've already decided on what you want to do?" Jeremy asked.
"Yes," She nodded. "I'm still going to try and be a hero of justice. But this time, I'm going to go about doing so while living a life without regrets."
"Is that so?" Jeremy asked. "While I'm not so sure about you becoming a hero of justice is the best choice you could make, if you really took my words to heart and you came out better because of it, then that makes me glad that I could help someone."
She nodded. "If you approve, then I'm glad too. That's why, I've also decided."
"Decided what?"
"Decided to tell you that…that…" Sayaka hesitated as she fidgeted in place for a while. "Gah! Why is this always so hard!?"
"There's no rush, is there?" Jeremy said, trying to calm her down.
"There is, but there isn't" Sayaka said. "I want to say it now, but it's embarrassing."
Jeremy sighed, making a face. "Please don't tell me that you're going to confess or say something stupid like that, are you?"
"H-how did you know?" Sayaka jumped up in surprise, as Jeremy could only facepalm at the accuracy of his random guess. "And it's not stupid! I know you have a fiancé and all," she said quickly before he could say anything. "But it was something I really had to say. I know, you have to reject me since you have a fiancé," She continued, "I won't allow you to betray her. But I just really wanted you to know. Otherwise, I would end up regretting not saying anything."
"I'll never betray Lenora," Jeremy grumbled. "I wouldn't be trying to return to her side for this long if I wasn't. But please don't tell me you're going to confess to everyone you end up liking even if just a bit."
"T-There's no way I would do that!" Sayaka protested. "It's just, you're a really special case, you know? You're really amazing and cool and wonderful and great and and and—"
"Ok, ok, I get it," Jeremy said, holding out a hand to stop her from babbling on. "You really admire someone like me, huh?"
"Y-yeah," Sayaka stuttered. "I really do."
"Well," Jeremy hedged, "Rather than me, you like your image of me. I'm not really as great as you make me out, but if you want to idolize your image of me, what can I do?" he said, throwing his hands up into the air helplessly. "I can only hope that if your image of me gets ruined, you won't fall into despair."
"I'll be fine," Sayaka said proudly. "I don't care if you're not as good as you claim yourself to be. All that matters is that the Jeremy-san I know is a super nice and kind hero of justice that I can always look up to. And so, if I ever see you change into something else, I'll just remember the Jeremy-san that I've always known and bring you back."
Jeremy snorted. "Well, I guess you're indeed living up to your word now as someone trying to be a hero of justice," he said. "In that case, let me ask you an extremely difficult problem."
"Fire away," Sayaka said proudly. "If I can answer it, then I'll answer it to the best I can."
"I hope you will," Jeremy said. "Because while I know you will absolutely hate this problem, this is something I think you should think about before it actually happens for real."
"How can you be so sure that I will hate this problem?" Sayaka asked. "You haven't even asked me yet."
"Because this is a problem that anyone striving to be a hero of justice will hate," Jeremy said. "Even I still hate it. So let me warn you now: I'm not asking you to solve this now, but it's something I want you to think about."
"If even you hate it, then this is going to be a really tough problem, huh," Sayaka groaned.
"Yup," Jeremy nodded. "So, let's get started. "Suppose your friends and family here in Mitakihara are under attack by a powerful Witch, and you're the only one available to save them."
"Of course I will save them," Sayaka immediately answered. "I'm a hero of justice, after all."
"I'm not done yet," Jeremy chuckled, causing Sayaka to flush in embarrassment. "Now, suppose at the very same time, the entire city of say, Tokyo is under siege by another Witch and you're the only one able to defeat it. However, if you save your friends and family first, then Tokyo is doomed, and if you save Tokyo, your friends are doomed. You are unable to save them both, and of course, if you do nothing, both are doomed. What do you do?"
"I…" Sayaka paused, grimacing. "I… uh…"
"You don't have to answer me now, or even if at all," Jeremy quickly said. "This is just something you'll have to think about as someone striving to be a hero of justice, because I don't want you to hesitate just in case such a scenario actually happens, and you end up losing both due to a moment's hesitation."
"You're right," Sayaka grumbled. "I do hate this question."
"I did tell you that you would," Jeremy agreed, nodding. "You don't have to answer it now. You don't have to think about it and come up with your solution before we beat Walpurgisnacht. Heck, you don't even need to tell me your solution. You just need to come up with something that you yourself will be satisfied with, regardless of the reason. If you can do this, maybe you can really eventually become a hero of justice."
"Did you have to answer this yourself?" Sayaka asked. "What kind of answer did you come up with?"
"While it's true that I did have to face this question before," Jeremy said. "I won't tell you my solution, because I want you to think for yourself. You idolize me too much anyway, so I feel like you'd just accept what I do without question."
However, that was a lie.
Because the truth was, Jeremy truly believed that he really wasn't a hero of justice. There were times in his life where he chose to save the city, and times where he chose to save his friends; regardless of what he picked, he ended up regretting something every time.
In other words, Jeremy had no real solution that would satisfy a real hero of justice. Perhaps one could say that instead of being forced to choose one, he turned into something that would become less likely to face such a choice to begin with. But that was a rather lonely path that he didn't want anyone else to pick.
That's why, if Sayaka was able to come up with a solution on her own, then Jeremy could accept that maybe, just maybe, she could truly become a hero of justice.
"Fiiine," Sayaka groaned. "I'll think about it. If it means becoming a true hero of justice, then I'll have to deal with difficult problems like these, huh?"
"That's right," Jeremy said, nodding. "That's why I'm asking this of you now, to prepare you for when truly difficult problems are thrust into your face and you're required to act immediately or face even worse consequences. Just remember once you've decided on something, hesitating anymore on it is simply a waste of time."
"I see," Sayaka said. "Just like with how I've finally decided to become a hero of justice, right?"
"Yes," Jeremy agreed. "Although, I'm going to warn you: the path of being a hero of justice is not going to be an easy one. You're going to face many difficulties along the way. Make sure you're prepared for it, alright?"
"I will," Sayaka said nodding. "While this isn't the way I imagined this talk to go, I'm still going to thank you anyway, for continuously trying to help me out with everything. So, thank you." Sayaka said, bowing. "See you tomorrow!"
Jeremy nodded, and then he sent her off on her way.
After she disappeared, Jeremy found himself frowning, but he couldn't place why. All he knew that there was a sense of unease he just couldn't place.
Maybe it would be best for him to return himself and try to recover as quickly as possible.
A/N: Another update. Yeah, I know, these chapters are pretty short, but what can I do? I'm pushing these out fast and without much proofreading cause I'm not really expecting people to be satisfied by all this dialogue, but it turns out they're also dialogues I can't skip, so here we are. They might seem meaningless or boring to some of you, but I assure you, pretty much every bit of it is necessary. But that I do it in this lazy manner is pretty eh, huh. I'm pretty bad of a writer, aren't I.
I also happen to have plenty of time to think about and work on this story, so there's that too. Apparently none of that thought is going to chapter titles tho, so here we go again without a chapter title.
Other than that, what can I say? Sayaka sure has changed beyond even my own expectations. I barely even recognize her now.
If things go as planned, there should be one more chapter after this before the confrontation against Adonis and Walpurgisnacht. If I keep going at the current pace, it shouldn't be long before the next chapter is out. So in chapter 9, the writing style might change back to the way it was? or maybe even better? idk.
Is this lazy writing? Probably, yeah. But I kind of want to get this over with. I wonder if being sick is making me lazier than usual, though. Significant lack of wifi makes research a pain, too.
Anyway, please leave a comment or review or something, I have no idea what people think of the recent updates or what I can do to improve.
Thanks, and cya in the next update.