Chapter Text
Patrolling around was weird. Most of the time she got nothing, or at most, a small, faint signal that made her go nowhere before it disappeared. Afterall, Mitakihara was a big city.
But witches tend to congregate in places. To always hang around and cause despair in certain areas. She didn't believe much in the notion of haunted places before, but hunting witches for a long enough time made her slowly change her mind.
The road junction on the industrial district that was famous for car accidents, the bridge in the shopping district that was a famous suicide spot, the building close to the old train station that was famous for disappearances.
Finding a witch around these places was lucky. Two times was a coincidence. Now, three times? Four, even?
Yeah, she might be dumb! She might not be the sharpest tool in the shed! But it was obvious!
She discovered it! And then she shared it!
Mami knew that already.
…
Well, no, not exactly, Mami was really surprised when she pointed it out, but as the blonde caretaker thought about her past experiences, she ended up agreeing with her, especially since Mami already did something like it, accidentally!
Subconsciously, even! Mami was still Mami and Mami would never not tell her something like that! She was still an ally of justice! One of the most pure and admirable magical girls.
A shame they didn't talk much, not as before.
…
It was just… really awkward. Especially after that day, the day they won. Where they all defeated the Stagecraft witch after so much struggle. A day that should've ended in victory, but ended up in… that… yeah, that…
And what follows…
She hoped it would get better eventually, but it didn't. It was just… so awkward. The times, the few times she managed to talk with Mami were so awkward, it didn't matter if they stumbled upon each other during patrol or at school, it really wasn't the same as before.
And then there was what happened two weeks ago, on the rooftop where… that happened. The weird talk that resonates with her in a way she didn't want to think, the weird grief seed, what… what Madoka told them all.
It confused her. It baffled her. It didn't make any sense to her, to Mami, to Madoka! It shouldn't have made any sense! And it didn't!
Still, it happened.
And now, even Madoka was weird around her.
It normally was the contrary for them both, she was the weirdo who needed help, the dumb girl who almost threw her life away… but for a week Madoka was so… so weird, as if she was another person. She acted so… not like her, but as like her, it was weird. And as rapidly as she noticed it, it changed. After a single weekend, it all changed!
Not back to normal! No! It somehow became even weirder!
How? Why? And especially, why hadn't Madoka told her what happened? What happened in a single weekend that changed so much! They were best friends!?
Why she didn't tell her what happened with her, what happened with that cheerful girl that made it so that she looked so weird, so downturn, so awkward, so sad! This wasn’t the Madoka she knew, the one she was used to!
What happened? Why did she know nothing? She was still her friend! So why?
Why?
…
……
She really misses Kyoko… She… She would've done something and…
WITCH!
SHE KNEW THAT THERE WAS ONE HANGING AROUND! HER WALK AROUND THE INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT WASN'T A WASTE OF TIME!
IT'S SHOWTIME!
As an ally of justice, she promptly transforms, her outfit, her swords, even her mildly darkened soul gem. It was normal and what she was used to, it made her feel good. She promptly moves on to engage the witch as it runs away, its labyrinth slowly forming.
It might run, it might hide, but it couldn't escape from her, an ally of justice, a magical girl!
Sayaka Miki!
It didn't drop a grief seed.
Ok that it wasn't a particularly strong witch and that she had no trouble taking it out.
But it didn't drop a grief seed.
She really wasn't bothered about it! That witch could have killed or hurt a lot of people if it wasn't stopped! It was good that she managed to find it and took it out! It was her job as a magical girl!
As was her job getting grief seeds.
…
Sayaka sighs, groans and stretches out her arms as she makes her way out of the industrial district, her steps echoing throughout the quiet roads.
She was tired.
She still remembers Mami telling her how tiresome being a magical girl was, how boring it was to randomly walk around the city, chasing flickers of magic, how much time they had to spend doing magical girl stuff.
She didn't tell her how hard it was hunting for grief seeds.
…
N-not that her soul gem was particularly cloudy or darkened. She had it worse, waaayyy worse before. Way too much worse.
So the now solid outlier of blackness around her soul gem didn't bother her that much, she had worse.
Still…
…
*Grumbles*
“Damn, I'm hungry.” Sayaka says outloud, feeling a bit of surprise as she finally takes notice of it. It was now normal to her to not feel hunger when she was hunting witches. It helped her focus.
One of the few perks of being a zombie!
…
But what would she eat? There was nothing in the industrial district and she was already walking towards her usual bus stop. Maybe she could go to the mall? Or that restaurant close by her apartment?
But with what money? Her parents haven't sent her allowance yet! Did she needed to remind them again?
Ugh! This suck!
At least she was now close by to the bus stop, one that wasn't actually empty! It looked like a cute girl wearing a white dress was waiting on it!
She had no problem being alone, she was already fairly used to it, but, after a day like this she was happy to…
She was…
She…
…
COME ON!
“W-what are you doing here?!?!”
“Waiting.”
Sayaka groans and stares daggers at the weird girl who transferred to her school so long ago. A girl who gave her a fairly unamused look as she continues to sit on the bus stop.
“Were you hunting witches, huh?”
“Yes.” The weird girl answers as if it was obvious.
W-which might be, considering they were on a Saturday, b-but!
“So, did you find some?”
“...No. Did you?”
Sayaka blinks. There was no provocation on that voice, that weird girl was simply asking her a question.
What.
“Errr… Yes, I found one. No grief seed, though.” She was quick to add, far too quickly.
Still the black haired weirdo nods.
“Grief seeds are becoming strangely rare lately.”
The blue haired justicier almost snorts.
“Lately? They have been rare even since that day! And witches too, didn't you notice it?”
“... I did.”
…
W-what? That weirdo seems… troubled? Huh? She doesn't look much, but Sayaka could see the clear signs of worry, the signs Mami held when they spoke about it, the signs she probably had when they spoke about it. Signs that were small, but fairly obvious on that weirdo's face.
Huh? How!?
…
Sayaka can't begin to describe how weird the atmosphere between them turned, with the weird girl rapidly turning her purple eyes back to the street rather than facing her. She almost did the same. The atmosphere between them wasn't of hostility, of annoyance, of troubling.
No. It was weird, just that. A fairly similar weird that she was experiencing with Madoka this last week!
This didn't make any sense!
…
“...”
“...”
…
“So… how's school?”
The weird girl who was literally her classmate stops and stares at her with honest confusion on her gaze.
“It's school.” Homura who obviously didn't know how to even answer that, answers.
…
What a tiresome, frustrating, weird day. How could it get worse?
No, really. How?
HOW?
“Sayaka Miki, Homura Akemi, hello there.”
…
……
*Swoosh!*
*Click!*
It was impossible for Sayaka to say who transformed faster and who pointed her weapon faster towards that deceiver, but this time, she doesn't care.
Because standing right in front of the entry to the bus stop, arriving without a sound, without a presence, evading completely their senses, was a small, white, red-eyed cat like thing.
An alien.
An incubator.
“Kyubey.” She spats its name.
“Hello.” It answers back, not with its mouth, but in their heads. Its tone was the uncanny neutral they both were used to.
It was back.
After months of complete and utter silence, of complete disappearance, it was back.
…
……
Now… Now what?
“W-what are you doing here?” Her words were a lot more shaky than she intended but… how else could she react? She didn't prepare herself for it! So much happened she forgot that the deceiving alien even left!
If she even put it on a calendar, she had more time spent as a magical girl away from Kyubey rather than around it!
“I returned to fulfill my duty as an incubator, the same way you were fulfilling your duties as magical girls.” The alien cat declares in its neutral tone, as if it was speaking about the weather.
…
“Really?” Sayaka was beyond speechless.
How… how dare it! How…
“Yes, I know you all have been collecting grief seeds and that they are piling up, threatening to burst at any moment, and I am here to pick them up.”
…
The blue haired justicier slowly rests her sword, her hands trembling with anger and indignation. It was correct. It was objectively correct. She may have accused Mami that one day, but she had a lot of grief seeds in her apartment, they were piling up, they were shaking at times, she can even hear what she swears are screams from some of them at night.
She wanted them gone.
“Why now?”
For the first time in months, Sayaka hears the old Homura.
Her face had the same, sharp edge of before, her eyes had that weird, hypnotic but almost fanatic look of focus from before, her entire posture changed to what it should be, the girl instantly transformed from that weird girl to the girl who made, against all the possible odds, they win.
“Why not now, Homura Akemi?” The creature counterpoints.
*Click!*
The answer was Homura loading up a bullet on her gun's chamber.
“We returned when we had to return, Homura Akemi.”
“And why did you have to return now?”
The alien creature wiggles its tail for a moment, looking to be in thought as it faces both girls with its uncaring red eyes.
“You know what is approaching, Homura Akemi.”
…
For a moment, for a single moment, Sayaka swears she sees not only surprise in Homura’s purple eyes, but confusion. Honest confusion, as if Homura was completely lost at the declaration.
Sayaka blinks. What was approaching? Besides their summer break, which was happily approaching… There was Marine day… hmmm… Mountain day… hmmmmmmmmm… Maybe Obon?
Errrr…
Hmmmm…
Besides Japanese holidays and important dates, what else was approaching?
It was still only the 2nd of July, so…
…
No.
It made no sense.
“4th of July?!?!?”
Homura blinks.
Kyubey blinks.
Sayaka didn't know either of them could do that.
Before she can react to the absurdity that escaped her own lips, a red car arrives and casually stops right in front of the bus stop, in a move that made Sayaka ask herself if it was legal or not, but was certainly questionable even if the road was empty.
An adult gets out of the car, a western man that looked fairly generic and quite normal, wearing just a simple shirt and what looked like jeans. An adult who promptly stares at them.
…
She would never get over how awkward it was, since even if she knew that while they were using magic they were functionally invisible to anyone that wasn't a magical girl or with the potential to be one, it didn't make her feel any less weirded out.
Especially as the man blinks multiple times.
“Homura?” He asks, looking straight into the weird girl.
As if he was staring at her.
…
…….
Wait…
No.
There 's no way.
…
Sayaka waves.
The man doesn't wave back, but his eyes follow the movement of her hands. Hands that he shouldn't have seen. Hands that end up falling down as she comprehends what just happened.
What? Huh? HUH?
This ought to not happen. She didn't know it could happen!
She looks at Homura, not sure of what she would do or react. Knowing her, there was a good chance she might shoot the guy.
She saw panic.
Legit. Actual. Real panic on those purple eyes.
The weird girl was paralyzed as if she was a deer suddenly facing a truck's headlights, her eyes wide and unfocused as the hand holding her gun was starting to tremble.
…
What was happening? J-just… what!
“...Fascinating.” Kyubey says, staring at Homura and at her with some amount of interest before turning towards the sudden arrival.
…
Sayaka would never forget the moment that its ruby eyes set upon the normal looking western man and the alien creature blinked. Kyubey was a creature of cold rationality, of manipulation and deception, an alien being who knows too much and says too little.
A creature that was now looking at the man the same way Sayaka would look at a physics equation.
It was confused. It was genuinely confused. She didn’t know it could be confused. By how Homura’s face contorts into a frown, she didn't know either. By how it blinks several times and its white fur rises up, the alien creature didn't know it could be confused.
…
The answer comes when Sayaka turns her blue eyes back to the man. A man who wasn't looking at her or at Homura anymore. But to the small, red-eyed white alien cat creature.
A creature he shouldn't see.
…
An alien who after a moment, speaks out loud without moving its mouth:
“What… What are you?”