Puella Magi Rei ♥️ Magica: Afterglow

Chapter 17: "Derealization"

"Here you go, Tatsura.." Ami whispered, gently resting a glass of tea in her hands as she pulled up a chair, and sat down at the other end of the cafe table.

".. Thanks.." Tatsura whispered, gently taking a sip from it. ".. So me.. Gin, Hotaru, Manami, Chiaki, Miku.. Aria.. We were all..?"

".. Yep..!" Ami uncomfortably laughed, rocking back and forth in her seat lightly. ".. We were all magical girls, in another life.." She whispered, before taking a sip from her own glass of tea.

".. And.. Because we never.. You know." Tatsura waved her hand. ".. Our friend group split apart?.."

"Indeed.. Manami moved to Takarazaki and became a pretty established writer, even collaborating with Umika Misaki in Asunaro for some of her published works.. Hotaru became a mixed martial artist.. I'm not certain where Chiaki, Miku or Aria ended up though.. We stopped communicating shortly after high school."

".. How come I don't remember this anymore?.. I know I did, otherwise I wouldn't have put up so much of a fight when you tried telling me about.. Your reality.. Our reality?.." Tatsura rested her head in her hands.

"Well.. I guess it's because.. Who you are now, combined with who you were in the other timeline.. It might of.. Erased what was going on during this timeline, and filled in the blanks from the last one.."

Ami tapped her glass, before leaning in. ".. Tell me again, when did you get your memories back?.."

".. It happened when you transformed into a witch.. I don't know, something about it must have jolted something inside of me.. Unless that other witch did something.. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what's going on and.. Process it." Tatsura whispered.

"Take your time.." Ami smiled lightly. ".. I know it must be a lot for you right now.. So take some deep breaths and let it come naturally, alright?"

".. So.." Tatsura took a deep breath. ".. Where do we go from here?"

"Can I get you two anything?" A beautiful, auburn-haired girl approached, smiling brightly as she held a notepad in her hand.

"Nah Konomi, I think we're doing pretty good." Ami giggled. "Thank you though!"

"No problem! I like seeing people from school, you two should stop by more often!" Konomi laughed, before her phone buzzed. She quickly withdrew it, before smiling. ".. It's Azuma. Don't tell my manager I'm sneaking a quick text, okay?"

Ami quickly trailed her finger along her lips, signifying they were sealed as Konomi turned and walked away.

Tatsura awkwardly smiled, before turning her head towards Ami. ".. I don't remember ever going to school with that chick."

"To be frank, in my timeline you never transferred back. She might have been referring to me, and the fact that I brought you here.." Ami shrugged. "It's whatever. We'll figure that out later. Right now, I say.. We finish our tea, pay, and then head back to my apartment to chill and watch some TV. Sound cool?"

"Pssh- Yeah! Maybe I can text Hotaru and see what's up." Tatsura stated, gulping down the rest of her tea, and standing up.

"Where is Juubey. The defective one should have been here by now." Kyuubey stated.

"I don't know.. Without those Evil Nuts, we aren't going to be able to go through with the plan." Ryu stated, his eyes narrowing into a glare.