Aftermath (A PMMM fanfic)

Route 6:I

*One Last Chance

I arrange for Sayaka and Kyōko to meet at a café the next day. Kyōko looks excited, and I find it rather difficult to tell her that Sayaka doesn't know she is also a magical girl. Even so, I manage to inform her about it. Kyōko reassures me that she'll do the explaining this time and tells me to bring Sayaka since it is located in Kazamino. She gives me the required directions as well.

Kyōko decides the time and I relay the info. Sayaka is accompanied by me when we reach the place. She asks for my company till Kyōko arrives. We talk about 'current affairs' for some time.

Kyōko enters and looks around. I leave the table to bring her. When she is seated, I try to leave, but Sayaka forces me to stay for a while. Kyōko reintroduces herself to her, a little less cocky today.

Maybe it's the fact she isn't armed with food at the moment, maybe it's something else. The conversation begins a bit slowly at first, then they get familiar to the point where I'm practically absent, so I get up to leave again. It would've been successful, except that a waiter interrupts.  Sayaka tells him that they're still undecided and to come a bit later.

I take my chance to run away. At the same time, Madoka and Mami are likely at home having a similar discussion, what with Madoka nearly transforming again leading me to give her the lecture after. Obviously, preparations had to be made like me conveniently keeping a bunch of written info and instructions where Mami's sight would follow. Not to mention that a couple pictures from 'Magica' are sent to her phone recently.

I walk out of the café, then hide myself out in the nearby bushes. The café is conveniently located next to a mini-forest with trees big enough to be invisible behind. Unbeknownst to them, Sayaka has a tiny chip she's carrying on her so that I could spy on them, mainly to make sure she's okay and to know how any plans are going afoot. They keep talking and leave me bored, thus I give up on the idea.

Someone tries to grab my bag. I give it a jerk, bringing the culprit to the ground. Then, I turn around to find Homura of all the people. She takes me out of the area to interrogate me.

"Well well, what may you be doing?"

I reply, with a straight face.

"Trying to get my friend another friend."

"Really? Why would you be looking from here though?"

"Because I don't wanna be a third wheel."

"And you'd expect me to believe you..."

"I actually do. Come to think about it, why are you here?"

She doesn't answer that. I shrug and we leave the area. Homura takes me to the park. We watch children playing, people feeding ducks and various other typical park scenes. It is nothing like the field it turns into at night.

"Could you do me a favour? It's quite urgent and unavoidable."

"Tell me."

I wait for her to tell me what she wants me to do. The girl unlocks her phone and makes me read something. I feign mild shock on reading the matter.

"You write? I'd like to read some of your works."

"It's an autobiography. I don't know if it'll get completed, but it needs a reader regardless."

"Interesting. If that's the case, does that mean you're really a mind reader and manipulator on top of everything else?"

Homura hits me on the forehead. She shakes her head in disbelief.

"I can't glean anything. Why doesn't it work on you?"

"You've never met me before anything crazy happened?"

"Point taken. What worries me is that I can tell if anyone else thinks strongly of me, even a total stranger. There's nothing coming from you though. The only others whose thoughts are invisible to me are those of the Incubators."

"And you think I'm with them? Or one of them?"

"No. There's a different vibe I get. Tell me, what is your real purpose here? Why do you bother getting associated with someone like me? It'll only get you into trouble."

Homura gains a hint of desperation in her voice. She paces agitatedly and I am forced into speed walking in an effort to catch up. We stop suddenly. She waits for me to say something.

"Let me explain. A certain Incubator we both know may be the biggest pain in the universe, but it is the reason I'm here. That being said, it's never took away my freedom and left me to do as I please. On seeing your work, I'm now aware of the exact gravity of the situation. Rest be assured, I'm on your side. Allow me to help you protect Madoka."

"Even if that makes you evil? What if you have to kill people?"

"I'll find a way around it. I always do. It's better than sitting around doing nothing."

"You've asked for it now."

She embraces me, like somebody who has been forcibly cut off from all human contact. I know that something is bound to happen, soon if not immediately. Thankfully, I have my phone on me and send emergency calls to Sayaka and Mami, hoping she won't notice.

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