Mitakihara Middle School is a modern marvel - enormous, enough for every middle grade student in the crowded town, and constructed entirely of steel and glass. Classrooms come equipped with all the latest technologies, and the school has a good reputation.
Akemi Homura has been assigned to one of the homerooms on a higher floor, a large room - walled with transparent glass like all the others - already mostly full of students.
There are a lot of students.
She can see an empty desk. Maybe if she walks towards it very deliberately the teacher will forget to introduce her and nobody will say anything.
The teacher does not forget to introduce her! Would she like to tell the class her name and something about herself? (People are whispering about her.)
"My name is Akemi Homura. I am new to this school. Nice to meet you."
Is that sufficient. She doesn't know what else anyone might need to know about her.
Does she want to say anything else?
... what does that mean. What else would she say.
"I was in the hospital. But now I am not."
That's very interesting! The teacher hopes she's feeling better.
(And triggers a lot of muttering in the class.)
She can go sit down, now, if she'd like!
She would like, yes.
Homura sits down at the empty desk she saw earlier. She takes out her notebook and her three pens and sets them out very, very neatly on her desk. She is ready to execute some very thorough note-taking, which will be infinitely more enjoyable than introducing herself.
This teacher... Seems pretty easily distracted. Apparently her boyfriend broke up with her. (The two girls sitting directly behind and behind and to the left of Homura are whispering about her.)
How unprofessional. Is there at least anything interesting written on the board that Homura can take notes on?
Yes! The current lesson appears to be math, if you read the board.
Well, she likes math. She will take notes on the math on the board. If the teacher decides to say anything informative, she will take notes on that as well.
The teacher has very informative relationship advice!
She does not care about that at all! So far Homura is pretty disappointed; she was expecting Real School to be more vigorous than studying over textbooks by herself and not less.
Maybe the teacher will care more about other subjects and it will not all be like this.
She finishes taking down everything on the board and is left with nothing to do. Eventually she turns to a new page in her notebook and starts neatly transcribing as many math formulas as she can from memory, since those might be useful when the teacher remembers to actually teach them.
The teacher does not remember to do more than sporadic teaching before class changes and it's gym time.
She was not able to catch up in gym class the way she did for all her other subjects, and she is still not healthy enough to be very athletic, so Homura is not looking forward to this very much.
What do they have to do?
Today, after some warm up stretches - running! A Lot.
She keeps pushing herself for a while after she gets out of breath and her chest starts to hurt, but she still has to stop before the rest of the class.
Homura apologizes to the gym teacher; she can bring a doctor's note tomorrow.
The teacher is a bit concerned; does she want to go to the nurse?
That sounds better than sitting around in the sun being feeble for all her classmates to see.
Also the nurse will have medicine that she is technically take today. Homura was hoping she could get away with just... not. But she has been thwarted by the existence of gym class.
She does not know the way.
The gym teacher calls out to another student - apparently they have a nurse's assistant.
Other student bounces over and waves to Homura! "Hi!" she chirps. "I'm Karigane Madoka! I'm the nurse's assistant for our class."
Oh no. A pretty girl and someone she needs to interact with at the same time. Oh No.
"Hi."
"So you need to go to the nurse?"
Why is she smiling like that. Homura feels attacked, she will Look Away. "Yes."
"This way, then. Are you alright?"
"Heart problems. It is not important."
" - That sounds important?"
She hums as she leads the way. "You said you just got out of the hospital, right?"
"Mn."
"What was the hospital like? Was it more boring than school?"
"It was fine."
"Better than school, then?"
Why do you care.
"Probably not. I have not yet seen enough school to know."
Clearly that's a cue to chatter about how boring school is!
The chatter seems to contain some valid points, what with how little the teacher actually taught them this morning. Homura doesn't provide any indication that she agrees, because she's sure that school in general can't be boring. She just looks quietly ahead.
Complete lack of acknowledgement has never stopped Madoka (apparently her name, slipped somewhere in the stream) before, and it won't stop her now!
Alas, they arrive at the nurse's office eventually.
"Eh, Homura-chan, do you want me to wait here for you?"
"No need."
"I don't mind!"
Homura won't stop her. Even though Madoka probably just doesn't want to go back to class.
She finds the nurse and requests her medication.
Medication is easily gotten; the nurse would like it if she'd lay down for a bit, though.
That is probably a better idea than going back to gym class... but the nurse's assistant is waiting on her, she explains.
The nurse sighs. "That Madoka... A good chance she tries to talk you into skipping class, if you leave now anyways. She might wander off on her own, too."
Homura is very sure that she will not be convinced to skip class.
The nurse would, still, really like her to rest; if she's worried about her friend, Madoka could wait with her?
"Mn." Homura can lay down on the nurse's bed and look very disinterested, which she intends for the nurse to interpret as her not being worried about Madoka at all.
Because she isn't. She is completely indifferent on the matter of Madoka and whether or not her face is visible.
The nurse sighs and sticks her head out, informing Madoka she can come in.
Madoka definitely has opinions on whether or not Homura's face is visible! She sits in one of the chairs, the wrong way around - front facing the chair's back - and picks up chattering right where she left off. The nurse leaves them to it, busying herself elsewhere.
Nnnooooo
Homura continues not responding to any of this absurdity. This doesn't feel restful at all; how does any person have this many things to say?
"Sit properly," she snaps eventually, when Madoka pauses for breath.
"Homura-chan, I don't know what you mean! I'm sitting, and I'm proper, so I must be sitting properly," she says, grinning.
"In what way are you proper."
"Well, I'm very properly a Madoka!"
So far it seems like a Madoka is a very improper thing to be.
Homura glares at her instead of dignifying this with a response, and then goes back to staring at the ceiling. Utterly indifferent to both Madoka's face and the positioning of her legs.
"Awww, why the glum face?"
"I am supposed to rest. You are not restful."
"I'm entertaining! It's very hard to rest when you're bored."
"Untrue."
"How so?"
"Conversation is especially tiring. When nothing is happening, you can think calmly. Or clear your mind and feel peaceful."
"Are you into meditation?"
"Mn."
"Seems like it'd be your sort of thing."
It is her thing. It is presumably not Madoka's thing, but Homura hopes that perhaps if she starts meditating, Madoka will sit in silence out of respect.
She'll close her eyes and try that.
Madoka sits in silence for... Fifteen minutes!
And then she sloooooowly creeps closer to Homura.
Homura, still meditating, does not appear to notice this.
Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare. Closer and closer....
She opens her eyes.
Oh god she's so close why is she close oh god
"Hi," she whispers, grinning.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
Time to stare at the ceiling. Everything will be fine if she stares at the ceiling. "You are being inappropriate in the nurse's office."
"What's so inappropriate?"
"You should not stand so close to a stranger."
"You're not very strange, though! And we know each other's names..."
"We do not know each other at all."
"I'd like to know you better!"
Ridiculous.
She just smiles; ridiculous seems to be her specialty.
This is terrible news.
Maybe they should go back to gym class.
"Aren't you still tired?"
"You are more tiring."
"Really?" She sounds almost proud.
She should not be proud!!! Homura will deliver her a Judgemental Look.
She pouts adorably!
Okay back to the strategy of Looking Away.
"Is there anyone you like in our class, Homura-chan?"
“It is my first day. How would I know?”
"You could have some first impressions! What about outside of school? Any boyfriends?"
"No."
"Oh? A pretty girl like you?"
"Ridiculous." Her ears feel warm. She does not ask whether Madoka has any boyfriends.
Because she is completely disinterested.
"Maybe we should find you someone to date!"
Her ears are definitely pink now, she can feel how hot they are. Traitors. "I do not want a boyfriend. They are pointless."
"Really? I don't have one, but everyone seems to think they're very neat..."
"Then go get one and leave me alone."
"You're more interesting than the boys in our class, though!"
"What's with the face?"
Oh no, is she making a face. Why would she be making a face, she never does that! She tries to stop making any facial expressions at once.
"You have no reason to find me interesting. You are teasing."
"I have a lot of reasons to find you interesting! You're mysterious!"
She looks around the nurse's office for a clock. Shouldn't it be time for their next class by now?
Almost! Enough she can realistically excuse getting up to leave.
Great! Time to walk back to class, then. Preferably in comfortable silence.
It's almost like she hasn't met Madoka. She chatters companionably, about the classes and people they're passing, mostly.
She endures this quietly. Apparently telling Madoka off only makes her more powerful.
She's beginning to get a sense of things!
Alas, eventually they arrive to their classroom, and the teacher (this one more stern than their homeroom teacher) makes Madoka stop talking.
Thank god.
Maybe this teacher will also be interested in actually teaching them? Homura thinks the sternness is a good sign.
The teacher does seem mostly interested in getting history lessons through their thick skulls, yes!
Oh good. Homura is interested in learning the history lessons!
She will take very diligent and elegantly styled notes in her second notebook, color coding her headings in two different shades of blue. She is so focused on learning well that she almost manages to forget that Karigane Madoka is present.
(She does not manage this, but she tries.)
Kirigane Madoka takes no notes but does stare at Homura a lot! It's almost like she has the exact opposite strategy.
Homura ignores this.
Homura tries really really hard to ignore this.
Their teachers over the rest of the day are variably good or bad at reigning in Madoka, and also variably good or bad at teaching!
One notes they're doing a group project, and would Homura like to join one of the groups?
Homura really really would not!
But, fine.
Are any groups one person short?
Madoka's group only has three people rather than four!
Of course it does.
She joins the group and looks straight down at her notebook without saying anything.
Madoka's extremely happy Homura's joined them! She actually gets her caught up on what they've done so far, even.
This is surprisingly helpful! Homura pays close attention and thanks her formally.
"Aw! You don't need to thank me, Homura-chan! I'm just a helpful person..." (Her friend snorts.)
Homura will get to work. Working is great because it is a) the right thing to do and b) a distraction from Madoka, whose existence is even more alarming at close proximity.
Madoka is either totally oblivious or fully leaning on being alarming! It's really hard to tell. She's definitely cheerful, and thanks Homura for helping so much, though. (And also slacks and goofs off a lot.)
This is not endearing at all. Homura will not be endeared in the slightest.
Madoka's friends mostly seem to find her mildly exasperating!
That is because nobody here takes school seriously enough, apparently, except for the history teacher! Homura takes school Very Seriously and so finds Madoka the correct amount exasperating, which is Extremely.
(Madoka's friends also seem only mildly affected by Madoka's face, which is equally baffling.)
Madoka for some reason keeps putting her face in Homura's line of sight! Rude.
Madoka will be Ignored.
Is school over yet. Shouldn't school be over yet. Homura doesn't know how much longer she can take this.
School, eventually, ends.
Madoka would like to know if Homura-chan wants to hang out!
They have homework.
"We can do our homework together!"
"No." Time to walk away.
Madoka pouts!
That sounds like Madoka's problem.
Homura walks home. (She was encouraged to take the bus, but clearly her stamina requires some improvement.)
"How was school?"
She can't hear him over all this homework that she's removing from her bag.
"Did you make any friends?"
"No."
He beams. "What's her name?"
"You know you can invite people over whenever you like. It might be helpful for your schoolwork to study with a friend."
Wow look at that it's time to go do homework in her room.
(There is absolutely no way that Madoka's presence would improve her schoolwork. Homura imagines surviving an entire school day only for Madoka to follow her home afterwards, bringing her dumb face and her dumb smile and her dumb sparkling eyes directly into Homura's own bedroom: a chilling thought.
Yes. Chilling. Chilled is definitely the way Homura feels when she imagines that.)
Homura arrives at school the next day ready to Focus and Learn, although judging from yesterday the latter may be delayed until after first period.
She looks resolutely down at her desk from the moment she sits down.
Their teachers don't display any sudden changes of personality!
Neither, in fact, does Madoka.
Friendliness is slightly hampered in first period, though she manages to snag a seat beside Homura, but not at all hampered in gym! Madoka has a remarkable ability to run her legs and her mouth at the same time.
Homura is still too weak to be able to outrun her. She endures the mouth-running without ever responding.
Madoka does not take the hint. Possibly Madoka has never taken a hint in her entire life, Homura would not be surprised.
If Madoka's getting a hint it's a different one than Homura's trying to communicate.
Homura can't imagine what other hints anyone could possibly get!!!
She is very glad that the third period teacher will not let Madoka talk.
Instead she makes FACES at Homura.
OH GOD THAT'S WORSE.
Back to focusing very, very hard down at her desk and her notes and Absolutely Nothing Else.
After school, Madoka invites her to hang out again!
They still have homework.
She's heard study groups are traditional!
...is Madoka actually planning to study or will she just be as distracting as possible. Homura is Suspicious.
She'll study!!! Promise!!!
Fine.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is already proving to be a terrible idea.
Madoka's two friends beg off from their study group.
Where does Homura want to study? Madoka's house is very nice, if she wants to come over!
Acceptable.
Madoka leads the way to her house, then! It's a good size, sleek and modern, and her father's home with her baby brother; he offers to make them snacks.
That is very nice of him. She accepts politely.
And Madoka would like Homura to join her in her room! For studying.
That's perfectly fine. Homura will do this while remaining perfectly calm.
Her room has posters of martial artists, and a wooden practice sword leaning against one wall, and is generally in a disarray. She pushes aside some notebooks so Homura can sit on her bed.
That's Fine She'll Just Stand, Thanks.
"Isn't studying while standing hard? I can also clear off the desk chair..." (It currently contains a laundry basket.)
"I would use the chair."
She clears off her chair!
She sits down and starts taking her notebooks out from her backpack.
Madoka... Actually maybe even intends to work on school stuff? She at least arranges some school-looking books and notebooks around her on the bed.
Good. Then they can both get started.
And then Madoka keeps asking questions about the material.
Homura finds this gratifying, because she Values Education.
It's genuinely pretty nice for Madoka to be saying things that Homura actually knows how to respond to.
"You're really smart, Homura-chan..." she comments at one point.
Oh no.
It feels like her ears have been set on fire but hopefully Madoka won't notice anything. Oh no.
"Mm."
She is, fortunately, completely oblivious!
She goes back to chattering about schoolwork.
This is a surprisingly bearable use of her afternoon.
Eventually she should probably go home for dinner.
She could eat with Madoka's family! Meet her mom, even.
Homura told her brother she would be home before dinner. The idea of going home later than she's supposed to is pretty horrifying.
"You know you can break rules sometimes, Homura-chan? And we even have a phone! You could call him."
Breaking a rule sounds terrible and Homura intends to never do it.
"He will already be preparing food for three people. Next time."
"Alright! Next time, then."
Homura thanks Madoka's father for his hospitality, formulaic and polite, and then she leaves.
Madoka waves at her until she's out of sight.
The next day Homura does, in fact, stay over for dinner. (Brother was way too enthusiastic about this when she asked for permission. What Does He Know.)
Everyone in the Karigane household is super happy about this! Madoka's mom asks Homura a lot of slightly personal questions; Madoka keeps interrupting her mother's questions with chatter.
Homura reluctantly appreciates this. She can't tell if Madoka is doing it on purpose; chattering is, after all, her default state. Dinner tires her out a lot, but despite that it feels surprisingly comfortable. (Except for the moments where Madoka smiles directly at her, those moments are not comfortable at all.)
She thanks Madoka's parents for the meal and thanks Madoka for the productive study session.
"No problem at all, Homura-chan! We should do these every day!"
"Mn." She doesn't mind as much as she should. She should really mind a lot; she has no idea how to have friends and Madoka is certainly terrifying enough as a not-friend.
But maybe she's overthinking it. Madoka clearly isn't her friend; they just happen to study well together. Madoka is bubbly and friendly and beautiful at everyone she interacts with, even complete strangers. Definitely does not indicate that any sort of Relationship might actually transpire. There is nothing to worry about.
Madoka is, fortunately for Homura's sanity, oblivious to her internal narration!
She seems really distracted at school the next day, though. Shaken, possibly, and not chattery at all.
This is a relief. Now finally Homura can have a day of peace.
She doesn't feel very peaceful. She feels kind of concerned. Homura doesn't say anything about it, of course, but she watches Madoka closely and wonders what might be the matter.
After school she waits on the sidewalk in the direction of Madoka's house, looking very indifferent as she waits for Madoka to invite her over.
"...Uh, Homura-chan - I. Can't. Today," she says, having also very insistently blown off her two usual friends' concerns (which she's spent the entire day doing).
She's an idiot.
Homura turns and walks away very quickly without another word.
She droops and walks off, sadly.
Homura walks home.
She is angry at Madoka. Less so for not inviting her over and more so for making Homura want her to. Madoka decided on a friendship with Homura in seconds, it only makes sense for her to move on to a more exciting challenge just as quickly.
Not that they had a friendship. It has been less than a week, Homura isn't stupid enough to think that that makes a friendship. Homura shouldn't be that stupid.
Having any feelings about this at all is irrational and terrible and she is disappointed in herself.
When she gets home, she heads directly for her room.
"Homura?" her brother calls from the kitchen. "Is that you? I thought you wouldn't be home until later."
"Here," she affirms, and then shuts herself in her room.
She buries herself in homework as thoroughly as she possibly can. This is all she was going to do at Madoka's house anyway, and she works better when it's quiet.
The next day, she goes back to staring at her desk and ignoring Madoka's existence to the best of her ability. This is clearly the most rational strategy for being around Madoka.
Madoka seems even more subdued. Tries to get Homura's attention, though.
Sometimes she succeeds, but Homura doesn't say anything to her.
(She's still concerned, despite her best efforts. Something is clearly wrong - but just as clearly, Madoka doesn't want to tell her about it. Madoka does not want or need Homura to care. Homura tries very hard not to care.)
When school ends, she walks away as quickly as she possibly can.
She isn't sulking at all. She hasn't been rejected today, so there's nothing to sulk about.
Except that she tried having a friend for the very first time and it didn't work. She probably did it wrong, somehow. She doesn't know how, which means that if she ever tries to have a friend again she will make the same mistake.
The world around her's kind of hazy. Odd. Like she's wearing dirty glasses.
...that's very strange. She dislikes this.
Is she having a cardiac event? No, there's no pain. No dizziness, the way there normally is when her vision goes hazy. M...aybe the air quality is just very poor today?
Homura rubs her eyes and keeps walking.
It gets dark. There's no people around, and there's an odd music in the air. Laughter, maybe?
This is very alarming. She must be hallucinating.
Can she still see the nearest buildings? She should go inside one and ask someone to call Brother, or at least tell anyone that she is hallucinating.
She can see the nearest building! Opening the door leads into a dark... Aquarium, maybe?
- good enough, she'll try going inside.
It feels like stepping into water, almost, except she can still breathe - and there's fish swimming around her, no glass in the tanks.
She is probably hallucinating too badly to actually locate any buildings or people, she should - figure out some other plan -
Homura has ever had hallucinations before, going on certain medications. They were not very much like this at all.
She will leave the building, then, and try the next one, and - eventually someone will have to find her -
More aquariums, leading to different a Spooky Underwater Locale! This one contains a sunken pirate ship and a weird shark made of rotted wood and gold that starts swimming for her.
Aaaaaaaaa what
She reminds herself that the weird shark cannot actually be real, because that would not make sense, and the only real danger here is her fumbling around and crashing into a wall or a car in the real world - it really doesn't seem like there is any explanation for this that makes sense-
Homura dashes back out of the building - no more buildings until this is over, buildings are a bad idea - and away from the shark and hopefully doesn't run into any cars -
Shark follows her out of the building! And then crashes to the floor, thrashing around angrily.
AAAAA okay good the ground is a great place for the shark to be, it should stay there, she stops running but walks away from it as quickly as she can.
Shark is wriggling towards her! And there's Weird Things moving in the shadows.
Is there any direction she could run in where there isn’t something alarming?
Maybe, over there... Nah... What about there... Nope! There is alarming Everywhere. The sky is also getting in on this alarming business, with the buildings warping weirdly, and the sky apparently turning into an ocean at some point.
A a a a a a a it’s getting worse why is it getting worse?
This seems to suggest that the air around her might at any point also become an ocean, which would be bad - how is the shark doing, are any of the wriggling shadowy things getting closer -
Shark is very ineffective at ambulating but the weird shadows are, in fact, drawing closer.
She can’t do anything about this, which is terrible. She tries to move away from the closest ones and not panic - her chest is starting to hurt, which could potentially be a bad sign.
A shadow jellyfish drifts over to her, lashing at her with wispy tendrils.
She jumps back, and her heart flutters - she trips and falls -
And then there's someone between her and the jellyfish, back to Homura - dressed in a black dress with red accents, black hair pulled up in a flowing ponytail with red ribbons dangling from it -
She has a flute, apparently - she plays, and the creatures shatter.
Homura stares and scrambles backward, gasping for breath.
The girl spins, and - it's Madoka.
"Homura-chan! Are you okay? Did any of the familiars get you - "
She steps closer. "Homura-chan?"
"What..."
Deep breath. Her eyes dart to the side - she throws her hand out, throwing something dark at a familiar jumping at them.
She leaps forward, scooping Homura up. "Sorry Homura-chan!" she says, running off with Homura in a bridal carry.
AAAAAAAA
This is objectively better than being attacked by a shark and yet it makes thinking so much more difficult than the shark attack did, what is happening.
Homura's face is way too close to Madoka's neck right now she is going to die -- Madoka's hair smells really nice (her neck smells nice too oh NO). ---There are ribbons in Madoka's hair and it looks great Homura hates it -
And Madoka is carrying her somehow? Which is alarmingly comfortable (oh no she's so strong how is she this strong Oh No) and Homura is being held against Madoka's chest aaAAAaaa???
And also reality is fracturing, Homura is still upset about that too. She peeks out from Madoka's arms to see if they are being chased by shadow jellyfish.
They are, though the shadow jellyfish - and other sea creatures - are farther away than they were.
Homura will wait until they are even further away than this before she starts trying to figure out what the hell is happening.
And then Madoka breaks out into reality - normal reality - bright lights and city sounds. They're in an alley, out of sight of the road. Madoka stops, glancing around, still holding onto Homura.
Homura is staring up at her and definitely not blushing at all.
She lowers Homura to the ground, letting her get her feet under her, but not letting go quite yet. "Are you okay Homura-chan?" she asks, sounding flustered.
How is she supposed to be able to answer that while Madoka is still holding her in any capacity?
She blinks several times. "What... was that? You are dressed..."
"That was a witch. They're - magic monsters. Most people can't see them. I'm a magical girl, so I fight witches - I need to go get that one before it runs off and hurts people, okay? Will you be okay here?"
"Yes," she eventually manages. "You can... will it hurt you?"
She briefly looks super sad.
Then smiles. "Don't worry, Homura-chan! I'll be okay!"
WOW THAT WASN'T REASSURING AT ALL
She wants to go with Madoka. Obviously she will only be a hindrance if she does, but - letting her go back inside that place alone feels very wrong.
"You have a lot of homework to do for our project. So come back safely."
Her smile turns more genuine. "I promise. I'll always come back to you, safe and sound."
And then she turns, opens a strange portal, and is gone.
She's just going to
sit down for a little bit. Right here.
She hasn't seemed to suffer any heart failure, so. That's good. And her backpack hasn't sustained any water damage from being in a scary magic ocean.
Homura pulls her notebooks out of her backpack and starts studying right there on the alleyway ground, waiting for Madoka to return.
Madoka, fortunately, isn't gone long, though she apparently didn't return in the alley - she jumps down from the roof above.
Homura probably doesn't look as relieved as she feels, which is extremely.
"Is it destroyed?"
"Yeah. Blasted it to bits."
"I made you a copy of the textbook notes." She holds it out.
She beams and takes the notes. "You're such a good friend, Homura-chan!"
She bows. "Thank you for saving my life, Karigane-chan."
She waves her hands, suddenly apparently flustered - "Ah! No need! I - Just - "
"...Didn't want to lose you."
Her face feels hot. "Mn."
"How are you a magical girl?"
"Ah - the day after you started attending our school, I met this weird little animal that can speak in people's minds. We made a contract - I'd be a magical girl and would fight witches, and he'd grant a wish of mine!"
"What did you wish?"
"Oh - I didn't really know what to wish for, so I wished to be a magical girl... It was really silly, probably, but - I wanted to be cool, and to be able to protect people..."
Maybe she is not safe from heart failure yet after all.
Homura tries to come up with a response to that but instead just sort of stares.
"You okay?"
"Yes.
Do you get to go home now?"
"Yeah. You're welcome over, still."
"Mn." She feels a little warm all over. It's probably the adrenaline of a near-death experience.
Is Madoka going to wear this outfit on the way home?
Apparently not - a sparkly red shimmer surrounds her, and her outfit turns back into her normal school uniform.
She still looks really pretty in the normal school uniform.
Anyway. Homura will follow Madoka to her house now. "How many people have you saved?"
"Directly - just you... But I've killed a few witches, and those kill people..."
This makes her feel Special, which it definitely shouldn't. "You have probably saved many."
She ducks her head a bit, grinning. "I mean - it hasn't been long..."
"You were sad yesterday. Is this..."
"It was - kinda related, yeah... Well. Really related." She sighs. "I'll tell you once we're at my place, okay? - Oh, my parents don't know. They - can't."
"Understood." She has nothing to say for the rest of the walk, but she has many things to think about.
Madoka greets her father cheerfully enough - he seems relieved to see Homura - then leads the way to her room, flopping with a sigh on her bed.
"So..." she starts, staring at the ceiling. "Being a magical girl's - tough, apparently..."
"Were you hurt?"
"...No. Someone else was."
"It is very dangerous, then."
"Yeah. And - her name was Mami. She'd been - teaching me how to be a magical girl... She'd been a magical girl for a while."
Oh no. "How many others are there?"
"Magical girls? I - don't actually know. I'd have to ask Kyubey..."
"Are you alone?"
"I've got Kyubey? And my - normal friends, like you."
"Does Kyubey protect you?"
"He can give me information, which's really helpful, but he can't actually fight."
"What's wrong?"
"You are doing something very unsafe all by yourself. You will get hurt."
"It's important, though."
"Where do you find Kyubey?"
"I can call for him - mentally, sort of? And he'll show up sooner or later."
"Hm."
" - You probably have potential, since you could see the witch," she blurts out.
“Then I will join you.”
" - You shouldn't. It's - a big problem, and you could die, and - I regret not thinking my wish through more, and not saving it - wishes can do anything you feel strongly enough about, and I - keep thinking if I'd waited - if I hadn't been dumb and reckless - I could've wished Mami back alive."
"Can you wish for people to stay alive?"
"Dunno. That sounds - harder, I guess..."
"Hm."
"Are you thinking of a wish?" Maybe she's got a really sick family member. She was in the hospital, after all... Might not've been just her... Or maybe she wants immortality?
"Mm."
"Is it possible to kill witches without becoming a magical girl?"
"I think it's possible for me to enchant weapons for you, yeah, and I think normal weapons do anything against them?"
"I want to."
"It'd be really risky."
Sigh.
She's glad they're in agreement. Now they can go back to homework while Homura contemplates weapon options.
Her expression says she's really unlikely to drop this argument long term, but she does, in fact, do some of her homework. And chatter at Homura.
Good. Homura manages to only be mildly distracted by Madoka's chattering today.
Mostly because she is busy being distracted by how strong she now knows Madoka to be. Madoka sure did just... pick her up... and carry her around...
This is jealousy, probably, because Homura's own physical strength is so unimpressive. She is simply Very Jealous of Madoka's ability to theoretically grab her at any moment and throw her around. Like. Onto Madoka's bed, as a random example.
Madoka even perks up over the course of the conversation, relaxing around Homura.
Homura is not very relaxed, but it’s still a nice study session.
Eventually she should go home now.
"Okay. Want me to walk you home?"
"Okay."
She smiles, cheered. "Great!" She hums and chatters some on the walk back, asking about where Homura lives, if she likes her house...
Homura answers as curtly as usual. She likes her house. Once they get there, Madoka will be able to see that her house is quite nice. It's the penthouse of a very expensive looking apartment building, sleek and white with balconies and tall, glittering windows.
"Here."
"Eh, you have such a nice place, Homura-chan... Do you live here all alone?"
"No. My older brother and my uncle."
"Can I meet them?"
"No."
Pout. "Awwww...... Homura-chan please?" Puppy dog eyes!
TERRIBLE AND UNFAIR
Homura looks away. She honestly doesn't know whether Madoka meeting Brother or Uncle meeting Madoka would be worse.
"Promise I'll behave, Homura-chan!"
"You will not."
"Awwww, why don't you believe me?"
"I have never seen you behave."
"Really? Not once?"
"Never."
She considers that, raising a finger - "Okay, you got me there..."
"Mn." She jerks her head to indicate that Madoka can Leave Now, Please.
No she can't!!!
A boy bursts out of the front doors of the apartment and jogs up to them, looking only slightly out of breath. He looks a lot like Homura, maybe a few years older. "Hello! You must be Karigane-chan!"
Huh. "Yeah, I am! Are you Homura-chan's brother? I'm sorry, I didn't get your name..."
He bows, smiling broadly. "Yes, my name is Akemi Haru. It is very nice to meet you! Would you like to come in?"
"I'd love to, Haru-kun!" She bows back. "It's so great to meet you!"
"I am very glad you decided to come over!" He cheerfully leads them all back inside the apartment building and across a lobby to the elevators. "So, how did you and Homura meet at school? You must be in the same class?"
"Yeah! We're in class together - I'm the nurse's assistant, so when she was having trouble in gym, I showed her the way to the nurse's office, then sat with her."
"Thank you for your assistance, Karigane-chan. What sort of trouble? Did the nurse take care of everything?" Homura never tells them these things. It's like she thinks Haru will be less worried if she hospitalizes herself without the slightest bit of warning.
"The nurse was very good! Homura-chan seemed tired?"
"There was not any trouble."
"Mm. Well, thank you very much for taking her there. Have your study sessions together been going well? Homura seems satisfied with them." Which says a lot, given Homura's academic standards. It's adorable.
"They've been a lot of fun!"
The elevator ride up to the top floor is reasonably long. On the one hand, this is terrible. On the other hand, things are not going to be at all improved by Madoka and Uncle being in the same room.
Haru is happily asking Madoka about her family.
Madoka is quite willing to chatter about her mom (and her mom's makeup company) and her dad (he makes the best food) and her baby brother!
That's all really wonderful!
Homura's apartment is quite nice, airy and spacious. Haru gives Madoka a very brief tour of the communal spaces. He should go back to cooking now; would Madoka like to stay for dinner? He'd be happy to call her parents!
"Yeah! I'd love to!!!"
Great! He goes to do that, then.
She beams at Homura.
"You need to behave."
"Awww... But your brother seems so lovely. Surely he won't mind me."
"Not him."
"Oh? Who?"
"Uncle will not like you."
"...Why not?"
"Aw, but I'm delightful!"
Hhhh.
"My room." Homura leads Madoka there; she can at least get some more work done in the midst of this nightmare.
"Alright."
She follows, looking around for a place to sit.
Homura's room is pristine and designed like it belongs in a home catalogue; all light blue and white and cream, glowing in the natural light from the tall window. Her bed is perfectly made. Her desk, white and sleek and modern, is entirely clear except for the orderly stack of blue notebooks on one corner.
There's a fuzzy wool carpet beneath their feet, sky blue. A violin case rests against the foot of her bed. There is only one chair behind the desk.
"I can retrieve a second chair."
"Oh, no, I'm okay!" she says, flopping on Homura's bed.
AAAAA.
She sits very swiftly at her desk, facing AWAY.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes.
Do your work."
Sigh. And: homework! And wriggling around a bit on Homura's bed whenever she's feeling dramatic.
AAAAA
Madoka needs to stop wriggling around on Homura’s bed, it is very bad for Homura’s concentration! She is going to fail school and also die!
Sadly, Madoka doesn't seem privy to Homura's inner thoughts.
Perhaps fortunately, actually.
At this point it's a relief when they're finally called to dinner.
Homura rises from her chair and squints at Madoka, considers telling her to behave again. It would probably be useless.
She's looking perfectly innocent right now! She straightens her school uniform a bit, beams at Homura, and says, "I'm excited about dinner!"
"Mm." Homura is not excited about dinner, but she leads Madoka to the dining room anyway.
Homura's brother and uncle are already seated. Haru smiles.
Madoka smiles back!
Their uncle is unsmiling, but neither does he look unfriendly. "You may sit."
"Thank you, Uncle." She sits at the table.
She sits! Technically. Not very properly.
What's for dinner?
Haru made hiyamugi! He serves some to his uncle and then to their guest. Uncle is eyeing Madoka's posture Suspiciously.
Maybe if Homura glares at her enough Madoka will sit properly?
Nope not in the slightest.
The hiyamugi looks really good!
It turns out to indeed be quite good!
Homura and her brother eat quietly. Their uncle frowns at Madoka.
He is glad that Homura is settling in to her new school, but surely there were classmates to pick as friends who understood the concept of posture? He refuses to believe that all students sit like this these days.
He clears his throat. So. Madoka is a friend from school. What does she think of their classes?
She has opinions on their teachers, mostly - this one doesn't really teach, just talks about her boyfriend, which is silly... The gym teacher is really competitive...
Mmm. This is more information than he's gotten from Homura so far, which is good. He wonders if he should write a letter of complaint to the teacher who talks about her boyfriend, but decides it probably isn't needed. Homura is very skilled at self-study.
What does Madoka do outside of school?
She has a few hobbies! She likes exploring the city and going on runs.
That sounds potentially constructive. Is she on the school running team?
She's considering it, but she'd have a lot of trouble leaving the city for any competitions. Parents need help at home and all. (Homura can pretty easily catch this as a lie.)
Homura is stressed.
Mmm. Well, supporting parents at home is a worthy priority. Does she play any instruments?
She plays the flute!
That’s an acceptable instrument. What orchestra does she play in?
Oh, she doesn't really think she's good enough for an orchestra yet...
He doesn't say anything to that, but his face says that maybe she should practice more, then.
Anyway, how was school today?
She's rather happy to chatter about that! School sounds mostly kinda tedious, except drama assorted teenagers are having.
Haru listens to all of this with great interest.
Homura tells Madoka to sit up properly when there's a break in the chatter.
She does not sit up properly! She does, however, lean a bit closer to Homura.
"Eh, Homura-chan, why?"
PANIC
W h y would Madoka do this to her in front of her family, Homura feels so visible. "To be proper during the meal."
" - You okay, Homura-chan?"
"Fine."
She shrugs.
She doesn't bother trying to correct Madoka's posture for the rest of the meal. It goes... okay. Nothing explodes. Uncle doesn't seem impressed but he doesn't seem overtly irritated either, which is a relief.
Eventually the meal ends, Uncle dismissing them and retreating to his office. Homura clears the table. She'll take Madoka's plate too.
"Can I help clean up at all?"
She is proud of Madoka for being polite. "In the kitchen."
"Okay!" She hums as she helps, smiling often at Homura.
......cute. Homura takes longer to put away dishes than usual because she is occupied by very Subtly watching Madoka.
(AWWWW.)
Once they finish... it's probably time for Madoka to go home, now?
(Homura isn't sad about that at all. That would be ridiculous. She hadn't even wanted Madoka to stay for dinner.)
Probably. Even if Madoka's a bit reluctant to go herself... Still, she'll see Homura tomorrow in class?
Yes.
Madoka shouldn't die between now and then, it would be very irresponsible. Is she done with witch-hunting for the day?
"Yes, probably! It's sweet that you care..."
Blushblush. It's tempting to deny that Homura is motivated by anything more than the success of their group project, here, but... Madoka has been risking her life all this week. She risked her life for Homura. If knowing that people care might make Madoka more careful, then Madoka should know that people care.
Homura walks her to the door so that Madoka won't see her blushing. Hopefully.
"Goodnight, Karigane-chan."
She beams.
"Goodnight, Homura-chan!!!"
Madoka leaves. And Homura is - glad, of course. Peace and quiet have been restored.
Okay there's no need to be SMUG.
Homura retreats to her room before Haru can say something self congratulatory or worse, something Sincere.
She has strange, muddled dreams that involve flying or being underwater or both, and sharks and flutes and shadows -
- and Madoka's black and red dress and the way the skirts fluttered up around her knees, and Madoka cradling Homura against her chest and the strength of Madoka's arms holding her in place -
But mostly the dream is just about sharks. Obviously.
Homura goes to school, eager to confirm that Madoka is still alive.
Still alive and in class! She's hanging out with one of her friends; her mood seems better than it's been the last little bit.
Oh good. Homura is relieved to see Madoka act like herself again. She is not jealous of Madoka's friend even a little bit.
Homura watches Madoka's hands move about as she talks and thinks about how strong she is waits for class to start.
Madoka pairs off with Homura during gym class.
"How're you doing?"
She dips her head. Fine. "I have contemplated how I might join you and be useful. I do not know how to fight. Are there places to train?"
Frown. "Yeah, I guess..."
"Are particular weapons more effective than others?"
"I can only do the one thing. It's - my magic weapon. I think normal weapons aren't really effective at all..."
"If I tried to blow up that shark, nothing would happen?"
"Haven't run tests, but I think it'd be 'significantly less than what you're expecting, maybe nothing'..."
"...I could maybe alter a weapon so it's magical..."
She relaxes slightly. "You should attempt it."
"Okay. I'd need a weapon, but a baseball bat's easy to get..."
"That will do for now. I will search for something better."
"Okay. Thanks."
Homura puts in lots of effort in gym class today. She might not actually manage to be helpful on Madoka's witch-hunting excursions, but she would at least like to avoid slowing her down.
(...unless that would make Madoka inclined to pick her up and carry her everywhere. Things To Consider.)
Madoka keeps an eye on Homura's health, but is also content to just chatter about non-witch stuff all class.
Sometimes Homura even acknowledges the chatter.
That delights Madoka!
After school ends, Homura looks levelly at Madoka and waits for her to indicate what she plans to do.
"I guess we should go do - magic tests or something?"
"Mn. Do you know a place?"
"There's an old train yard..."
Nod. "Let us go."
"Okay. Do you wanna call your brother first or something? - I'll need to let my parents know I'm staying late..."
"Mm. I told him I would return late today. Do you want to borrow the teacher's phone?"
"Eh, my house isn't really out of the way too much, I don't think..." Shrug. "But the teacher's phone works too."
"- I did not mean you shouldn't see your family first, if you wish. That is fine."
"Cool!" And onward to tell her dad they're going to walk around the city some!
Homura can make some conversation about their school project while they walk. She keeps an eye out for terrifying magical sharks.
No sharks! But there is a bouncy cheery Madoka.
That's much better.
They get to the train yard without any problems.
How is Madoka going to try to en-magic a baseball bat? Will it involve playing her flute again. Will it involve changing back into that red and black outfit.
She does, in fact, need to change back into that outfit! Though the only magic this involves is waving her hand over the bat, which turns into a gothic and somewhat demonic version of itself, with red and black swirls on it and little thorns.
That's - astonishing, and very impressive, and very attractive.
Homura reaches out a hand for it.
She hands it over, with a "Tada!"
"Impressive." She lifts it up and down, getting the feel of its weight. It isn't heavy.
Hmm.
There are some large cylindric containers lying around the train yard. Homura isn't sure if whatever magic the bat now possesses will affect random objects the way it hopefully will a witch, but it's worth trying. She walks up to the nearest empty can and takes a swing at it.
It crumples around the bat in a way it really, really shouldn't have with her strength.
!!!
Homura wasn't actually prepared for that to be so effective! It's a little exhilarating. She recovers from the surprise and looks back at Madoka. "Satisfactory."
She laughs. "I'd say!"
"It will be enough to damage a witch?"
"I think so?"
Hm. Well, they'll find out.
She should obviously practice more first, but it's difficult to know how. "If you throw something, I will try to hit it correctly," she suggests, testing the swing of the bat again.
"Okay..." She looks around, finding an old can, and tosses it Homura's way.
Homura swings at it and misses by about an inch.
This is SO EMBARRASSING and she is VERY DISPLEASED, but Homura at least avoids looking visibly upset. She grits her teeth and jerks her head to indicate that Madoka should try again.
She throws a bigger can, a bit closer to where Homura's swinging.
This time she whacks it across the side, hard, and then stumbles back a few paces from the impact.
"That was a good hit!" she says, as the can flies off, disintegrating mid flight.
"It was acceptable."
"Wanna keep practicing, then?"
She does.
They can practice Homura's aiming at airborne objects for about forty minutes before she wears herself out and needs to stop. (Frustrating. And embarrassing. But at this point Homura knows better than to push herself until she literally collapses or suffers a heart attack. That wouldn't be useful to Madoka at all.)
She sets the tip of her bat down against the pavement and dips her head. "I should conserve the rest of my energy for accompanying you."
"Back home?"
"You are not going to search for witches today?"
"I wasn't thinking of it... I don't need to every night, really?"
Oh. "Mn."
She definitely wants to walk Madoka home. She definitely does not want to say that out loud.
"So walk me home?"
She dips her head in assent. "Mm."
She beams and drops out of her magical girl costume, swirling back to her normal school clothes.
Homura is completely neutral about this wardrobe change and any amount of swirling that it entails.
"Should I leave the bat here?" She doesn't think it will fit in her backpack.
She hums. "It'd be nice for you to have a weapon... But we can get it again tomorrow, maybe bring something to carry it in better..."
She nods, and places the bat down very carefully on the dirty ground. "Stay there," she tells it.
Now they can go.
She stays next to Homura as they walk home, hands tantalizingly close, chattering the whole way.
Homura is stressed.
She does not take Madoka's hand, because why would she ever do that. She will stare straight ahead in Complete Indifference instead.
Until they reach Madoka's house. Then she will gaze over at Madoka a little wistfully.
She grins at Homura. "Do you wanna stay for a bit?"
"For homework."
"Sure."
She'll follow Madoka inside.
Madoka's really happy about this! Her family doesn't disturb them from going up to Madoka's room.
Following Madoka into her room makes Homura light-headed.
From all her exertion today finally catching up to her, one assumes.
She puts down her bag and unpacks her books rapidly, so that she has something to look at instead of Madoka's bed as soon as possible.
"You okay, Homura-chan?"
"Yes." Of course she's okay. Does she not look okay? She's very okay. Madoka's bed has enough space for both of them to lay down on it at once, and their feet or hands would probably touch if they tried, and Homura is completely fine with that.
"...You sure?"
"Do your work."
She nods, slowly. "Okay."
Good, because that's what Homura is going to be over here doing as well.
Definitely doing her work and thinking about her work. And not staring at Madoka's arms or neck or lips in any capacity.
It's so hot in here. Maybe she should offer Madoka's parents some money to fix their thermostat.
Madoka glances at Homura a lot while working.
Homura does not notice any glancing, because she is SUPER FOCUSED on her homework and not distracted at all.
Eventually she should really go home. But they can... do this again tomorrow? Or go on an actual hunt again? Homura is confident that she will continue to improve.
Tomorrow again sounds fun! Madoka might be up for a hunt, too - she'll need to see how her soul gem's doing. (A small one.)
Whatever Madoka's soul gem needs, they should do. Homura is determined not to be a hazard if they do in fact go hunting.
She bids Madoka farewell for the evening.
"See you tomorrow, Homura-chan."
Class, presumably, goes as normal...
Classes are perfectly normal! Homura sits out during gym. She hates it, but better embarrass herself now than later, when collapsing from exhaustion might get her killed.
She joins Madoka when school is over, prepared and determined. Homura has brought a silky blue ribbon to tie back her hair with.
Madoka's waiting at the gate, leaning against the fence. Still, she straightens when she sees Homura. "Hi!" she calls.
Homura reaches her. "Ready?"
Smile. "Yeah, if you are."
She is, look, she has her hair tied back and everything. They can start walking away from school.
"I think I'm up for a hunt," Madoka says, pulling out her soul gem.
"Do you have a sense of where we should go?"
She hums, turning with her soul gem a bit, before pointing off away from the school - "That way seems closest."
Homura nods. "I brought a larger backpack to carry my bat in, this time."
"Alright. I can enchant your bat before we head off."
Here's a bat, produced from a nice and spacious bat-backpack.
She smiles and waves her hand over it.
...Well that is certainly an aesthetic the bat has just developed. It now coordinates very nicely with Madoka's meguca outfit.
Oh no... pretty...
Homura keeps her face expressionless as she takes the bedazzled bat back. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Then, teasingly: "Do you like it, Homura-chan?"
What does that mean. Why would you think that.
"It is adequate," she grunts, face warm. "Let's go."
She laughs. "Alright."
Now they are all ready to go get Madoka some soul gem health.
...are they going to walk? Or is Madoka going to fly and carry her again haha just kidding unless
Proper flying can be kind of really magic demanding? So it's okay if she's got a lot of extra grief seeds that're about to go stale, or if there's a fight flying briefly would help with, or if there's an emergency...
She doesn't care she was just asking!!!!
Which way are they going Homura will walk in that direction very quickly immediately!
"...Something wrong, Homura-chan?" She follows!
"No," she says shortly, not looking back. Embarrassment curls in her stomach.
"Okay..."
She'll call out any direction changes as needed, eying Homura with quite a lot of concern. "If your emotions are turbulent, it can be really bad against witches," she says after a little bit. "They encourage and feed on despair..."
"My emotions are not turbulent."
"Or if they're - like, if you're unhappy? Or just not joyful."
"I do not know how to fix that."
"It can be really hard, but - I'm not low on grief seeds right now, so we can spend some time on that?"
"Is it really necessary?"
"...Yes."
"Magical girls who fight witches when they aren't feeling happy die. And - my magic can be a buffer against witches for me, but they're still horrible despair monsters you beat up mostly by not being in despair."
"By having hope."
"I can have hope."
"Do you feel hopeful right now?"