Chapter 1 – I Met Her in a Dream, I Think…

Do I have a true friend?

Ever since I started middle school, I’ve found myself asking that question from time to time.

Like, does a person that you’d go to the mall with after school count as a friend? Is it about studying for exams, gossiping about classmates, talking about the boys you like, and other stuff like that? The concept sounds so vague and subjective that I can’t really wrap my head around it. I guess I just feel so confused about where an acquaintance starts and where a friend ends that I feel unsure whether or not I have someone that I could call a true friend, and ultimately I always end up feeling lonely.

Of course, if I said any of that to Sayaka-chan, she’d just go, “Huh? Now you’re just being mean. Don’t I count for something?” and get all mad. I bet Hitomi-chan would say something like, “How could you say something so heartless? Is the relationship we’ve built up over all this time nothing more than a house built on the sand?” I’m sure that Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan think of me as their friend; in fact, I’m probably the only one wondering if I really am their friend. And the thought that I’ve never been anyone’s friend in the truest sense of the word makes me feel so alone.

I guess that night, I must have been thinking about all that as I fell asleep, because I had the strangest dream.

It looked like the end of the world. The sky was blanketed in red, and the city was in ruins right there in front of me. I could hardly believe my eyes.

And there, in the place where it seemed like everything had come to an end, I stood atop a cliff by myself. Floating right in front of me was… some kind of monster unlike anything I had ever seen. Its body seemed to fill the entire sky, and it let out a ghastly, shrill wail. It spun in circles, and the buildings around it caught on fire as if they were made of paper, crumbling down.

It was as if the monster hated humanity and everything they made, intentionally trying to tear it all down.

My legs trembled, and I wanted to escape as quickly as possible. But no matter how badly I wanted to leave, my legs just wouldn’t move…

Then I realized what was happening. The monster wasn’t trying to destroy the city blindly. Rather, it was trying to drive something away.

And that something was…

A tiny little thing, practically a pea compared to that monster… A single girl.

She was incredibly beautiful, with black hair. She was dressed in some kind of white, gray, and black outfit, leaping back and forth in the air, occasionally twisting and turning in her duel with the monster. She alone stood up to that gargantuan, terrifying thing.

“Yo… You can do it!” I clasped my hands together, instinctively cheering the girl on.

But it wasn’t like my small voice could ever reach her.

Before long, the girl was completely blown back by the whirlwind whipped up by the monster.

By the time I worked up a scream, the girl had slammed into the wall of a far building.

“That’s terrible…. So awful…” I was shaking so bad that my lips could barely meet together to pronounce my words.

But then I saw that the girl I thought to be dead was still alive, crushed into the wall of the building. Her beautiful face contorted in pain, and her body was strewn with all kinds of wounds, but she summoned all the strength she could manage to pull herself away from the building.

And just then–

For the briefest of moments, it felt like she was looking at me.

It was only a glance, but it really set my heart thumping.

The look in her eyes was so strong, noble, and somehow desolate… it was like she could see right into my soul. It made me feel uneasy, like there was something important I was forgetting. But then, the monster let out another shriek, and with a horrifying thud, the building and the girl were both blown away.

“Why… Why…?” As I began to cry out, my voice choked with tears–

“Why does she have to go through this? Is that your question?”

All of a sudden, a small, cute voice rang out behind me.

I turned around in shock, and behind me was some kind of strange creature unlike anything I’d ever seen.

It had red, round eyes, and rabbit-like ears flowing out behind its head adorned with gold, earring-like accessories.

“Who… who are you?” I asked.

But instead of answering my question, the strange creature began whispering strange things.

“It’s not anybody’s fault. She simply can’t handle that burden alone. Though I’m sure she knew that going in.”

It was like his words were guiding my gaze… and I found myself once again watching the black-haired girl. She had been blasted far away, struggling to get back up but falling over again and again from the intense wind of the monster. She twisted herself slightly, as if to dodge, but she couldn’t. I watched a huge piece of concrete slam into her leg, bending it at an odd angle.

I reflexively covered my face and screamed. “This… this is too much! How could this be happening?!”

Tears were already falling from my eyes as I shouted, but just then I noticed the black-haired girl trying to say something to me.

“What…?”

I couldn’t hear her, but she kept on shouting. Her face was deadly serious, so wrought with desperation that it tore at my heart.

My legs went weak and shook violently. I couldn’t go to her to even try and help.

I’m so useless…

I felt so frustrated and angry at how weak I was. More tears began spilling from my eyes.

“If you give up, then it’s over.”

The voice behind me echoed once more.

“But you have the ability to change fate.”

At some point, the creature had come and sat down beside me.

“This unavoidable destruction and sorrow… you can overcome it. You have that power within you.”

It was only then that I realized the creature’s voice was echoing directly inside my head. Its adorable little voice bounced around inside my mind, resonating and penetrating. At the same time, images of people I had never seen before flashed through my mind in succession.

A girl covered in blood, wearing a shredded, yellow flare skirt.

A girl lying on the ground, her blue miniskirt in tatters and a shattered sword in hand.

A tomboyish, sleeveless dress ripped to pieces… worn by a girl who lay dead, her open eyes glazed over.

“…Who? These girls… who are they?”

“You can change all of these unavoidable tragedies. Even the one playing out right before your eyes.”

It took everything I had to move my head back towards the black-haired girl.

I could see that she was still shouting something at me. I squinted hard, but I still couldn’t make out what she was trying to say, even by reading her lips.

“…Is that really true?” My broken voice barely managed to escape my throat. “Could someone like me… really make a difference? Can I really change this?”

“You certainly can.” The strange creature jumped in place, its red eyes shining. “You could change everything. Absolutely everything! All it takes…”

…What would it take?

“All it takes is for you to make a contract with me and become a magical girl!”

◯

Brrrriiiiiiiiinnnnngg!

“Huh… Hwha?!”

A loud noise jolted me awake, and I sat up in bed, finding myself in my familiar bedroom. Right next to my pillow was my favorite teddy bear, a plushie kappa, and my favorite floral cushion.

I turned my head to the side in a daze, and saw the bright sunlight streaming in through my curtains.

“…Really? That was all just a dream?” I pushed out my hand to turn off my alarm clock, finally letting myself exhale and relax.

I wandered over to my bay window and pushed it open, and the pleasant, early summer sun drifted in alongside a gentle breeze. That small breeze alone seemed to sweep away my scary dream. I’m a pretty simple person in that way.

I could see Daddy in his vegetable patch just below my window. The sight of him in his typical apron offered a surge of relief, so I stuck my head out the window and waved at him. “Good morning, Daddy!”

“Good morning, Madoka,” he replied, standing up and smiling. That was my Daddy– Kaname Tomohisa.

“Where’s Mommy?”

With a small shrug, Daddy responded in his quiet but warm voice, “I already sent Tatsuya after her. Think you can give him a hand?”

“Okay!” I said, bouncing back into my room and shooting off. This was a daily occurence in our household.

I dashed out of my room, through the hallway, and into Mommy’s room.

“Mommyyyy! It’s mooorning! It’s mooorning!”

Just as I’d been told, Tatsuya was already sitting on top of Mommy, who was wrapped in her futon, as he thumped her over and over. But I knew that it’d take more than a three-year-old’s punches to wake up Mommy, so I dashed over to the window and spread open the curtains. I smiled at my brother, telling him, “Come down here, Tatsuya,” before pulling the whole comforter back in one swift motion.

Then, I took a deep breath.

“TIME! TO! WAKE! UUUUUUUP!”

“Hyaaaaah!!”

I’d started looking forward to this daily interaction, to be honest. Every single day my Mommy, Kaname Junko, would have some kind of new funny reaction as she woke up.

◯

“…Yeah, so what was that? You mentioned wanting my advice about something yesterday,” Mommy reminded me as we both brushed our teeth, even though she was still half-asleep.

“…Oh yeah, that. Hitomi-chan got another love letter. Her second one this month.”

“Ooooh.”

“She wasn’t sure how to respond, so she wanted me to ask you.”

“Me? What for?”

It was a fair question, but I didn’t know, either. “I guess Hitomi-chan thinks you’re reliable too, Mommy.”

“Hmm… Well, fine, I guess. Mind if I shoot straight?”

“Uh… sure.”

“If the guy doesn’t have the guts to just tell ‘er straight, then he’s definitely not worth it.”

Straight and to the point, as always.

But I was left to do the math on how I was supposed to tell that to Hitomi-chan, my hand stopping mid-brush as Mommy finished brushing her teeth and got to washing her face. I hurried to finish brushing, but by then Mommy had already washed her face and started using strangely quick jerks of her arm to brush her hair. She was family, so I saw it every day, but I was always strangely captivated by the way she groomed herself.

“Oh, and how’s Kazuko doing?”

Her abrupt question froze my hands again, but I quickly picked up the pace to wash my face before answering. “Looks like it’s going smoothly for Sensei. She spends most of homeroom bragging. This week will be their three month anniversary, so I’m pretty sure that sets a new record.”

“Well, that remains to be seen. This is a trying time for the two of them,” Mommy replied, applying her makeup with what looked like supernatural speed.

Oh, I should mention Saotome Kazuko-sensei is my homeroom teacher, and Mommy’s friend from high school. She’s pretty good-looking, and I think she’s nice, but… she’s 34, and still very much unmarried.

“This is right about where his true colors will start to show whether he’s the one or not. But if they can make it the first three months, then they should easily be able to make it a year.”

“…Hm.” In all honesty, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to romance. And I found myself thinking that romance wasn’t all I was clueless about as I finally finished washing my face.

By the time I was desperately focused on fixing my bedhead, Mommy had flawlessly applied all her makeup, looking like an actress. It can truly be stunning just how far the apple can fall from the tree. But as I finally managed to keep my hair down, I was frozen in place yet again by a new decision. I was faced with a red and a brown ribbon.

“…Which ribbon should I choose?” I asked weakly, and Mommy didn’t miss a beat, immediately pointing to the red ribbon.

“That one.”

“Really? Isn’t it too flashy for me?”

“It’s the perfect amount of flashy. As a woman, you can’t underestimate the power of a first impression.” Mommy finished off her sentence with a brilliant smile, plucking the ribbon from my hand and tying up my hair with it. “Yup, perfect. Your secret admirers will be head over heels for your new look.”

“I don’t have any secret admirers, though.”

“Believing you do is the key. That’s what a beautiful woman does.” She winked at me, and I felt flustered all over again.

I quietly looked at my reflection in the mirror.

She can say that, but I still think it’s too flashy. But I couldn’t possibly muster the courage to actually say that out loud.

“Alright, it’s eatin’ time!” Placing a firm grip on my shoulders, Mommy led me to the dining room.

Tatsuya was already placed in his booster seat at the table, and Daddy was putting breakfast together in the kitchen. Delicious smells wafted through the air, and my tummy rumbled in response.

Personally, I think Daddy’s breakfast deserves its own introduction: Crispy and fluffy toast made of 100% cake flour, homemade smoked sausage chock-full of salted meat, and fried free-range chicken eggs with a side of lettuce. Daddy was an absolute whiz at homemaking. It made perfect sense why Mommy wanted to swap roles with him once they got married.

“Ah, I’m blessed to have you,” Mommy said happily as she sat down at the table.

Daddy smiled at her, wearing his ever-present apron. “Don’t wait for me. You need to get going soon, right?”

“My bad. Guess I’ll go ahead.” Mommy immediately picked up her slice of toast in her left hand, deftly unfolding a newspaper with her right. Then, with incredible efficiency, she proceeded to read the news, drink the coffee Daddy prepared, and help Tatsuya eat all at once. She looked like the six-armed demigod Asura, but that was just my Mommy for you. She could do the work of three people, yet manage to do it all faster and more accurately than me.

Sometimes I wonder if the old saying about genetic traits skipping a generation might be true, but Mommy would always smile at me and say it all came down to practice. According to Mommy, she wanted to spend as much time with her family as possible, so she learned some kind of brain skill called parallel processing to maximize her work output. But that just ended in being given a lot more responsibility at work, so now I hear her sigh to herself, “Things just never go as planned, do they?” a lot.

“More coffee?”

Mommy gave a gentle no to Daddy’s question, wiped Tatsuya’s mouth, neatly folded her newspaper, and stood up. “Alright, time for me to go!” She gave Daddy and Tatsuya a kiss on the forehead, then held out her hand towards me. I stood up and jumped to slap her hand. A high five.

With a smile on her face, Mommy made her exit. She really was the most beautiful woman in the world.

I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to be as cool as her.

But as I sat around daydreaming, Daddy’s voice leaked in, “Come on, Madoka, you’ve got to hurry, too.”

“…Hm?” I looked at the clock at Daddy’s urging, and… it was almost 8. “Oh no, I’m going to be late!”

I scuttled around, stuffing half my toast and lettuce into my mouth before grabbing my school bag. I patted Tatsuya’s head as Daddy helped him into his high-visibility kindergarten jacket, then gave Daddy a high five before hurrying out of the house.

I finally stepped out into the refreshing sunlight.

By then, the bad dream had already completely left my mind.

◯

“Good morning!” I spotted two familiar faces on the way to school and ran towards them, waving.

“Good morning to you.”

“You’re such a slowpoke, Madoka!”

One offered a refined smile, and the other a broad grin.

The delicate beauty politely bowing her head was Shizuki Hitomi-chan. She was a prim and proper girl who had become both a classmate and friend when I got into Mitakihara Junior High.

In stark contrast, the other short-haired girl immediately bowled me over into a bear hug. That was Miki Sayaka-chan, a classmate since elementary school.

“…S-Sorry,” I apologized, trying to catch my breath.

Sayaka-chan let out an intrigued, “Oh?” as she glimpsed my hair. “That’s a really cute ribbon.”

“I-I guess… Do you think it’s too much?”

Hitomi-chan smiled gracefully at my embarrassed question. “It looks absolutely stunning.”

Hearing that from someone as fashionable as Hitomi-chan really made me feel a lot better.

The three of us fell in line side-by-side, heading to school together. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, and an endless blue expanse stretched out above us.

I took a big, deep breath. As the road sloped gently downwards towards the train station, the whole of Mitakihara spread out in the distance, all the way towards the hazy mountain range on the horizon.

It was the perfect town to live in, an irresistible blend of traditionalism and modernity.

Or at least, that was what Mommy had said to me the other day as her eyes narrowed happily.

But it was true enough. The train station was attached to a giant shopping mall, but the city still had plenty of spacious parks and nature reserves, favorite places for many to walk their dogs in the morning and evening.

It was the kind of town where everyone walked around with a smile on their face. That was the kind of place I lived. Mitakihara City.

“So… Madoka-san. Were you able to ask about… that topic?” Hitomi-chan could hardly have looked more bashful as she posed her question.

I nodded. I had thought about all kinds of ways to tell her on the walk over, but I ultimately decided to parrot exactly what Mommy said. “If the guy doesn’t have the guts to tell you straight, then he’s not worth it.”

“Is that so…” Hitomi-chan nodded, looking deep in thought.

“Man, your mommy’s the coolest, Madoka.” Sayaka-chan suddenly spoke up in admiration.

“R-Really?”

“Of course! She’s so beautiful, and then there’s her amazing career. What’s not to love?”

“I guess that’s true…” I couldn’t deny that those were both very desirable traits worth bragging about.

But the problem was… the cooler Mommy got, the more pressure I felt.

Mommy always said whatever was on her mind, unlike me. Mommy always put her ideas into action, but I would be frozen in place, unable to do anything. Mommy could do ten things in the time that it took me to do any one thing worth talking about. So the more praise Mommy got, the deeper it felt I was getting dragged through the dirt.

I could only stand there, my thoughts endlessly spiraling downwards.

“I do wish I could be as decisive as Madoka-san’s mother… Oh, how am I going to reply?” Hitomi-chan sighed quietly.

That made me start to panic. Of course, what was she supposed to do? Should I help her come up with something?

“That’s a pretty nice problem to have.” Sayaka-chan said with complete indifference, her hands folded behind her head… and to be honest, I 100% agreed with her.

How would I feel if a boy sent me a letter?

Before I knew it, the response to my bubbling imagination slipped right out of my mouth. “I wish I could get something like that… a love letter.”

“Oh, really?”

…Huh?

Before I knew it, Sayaka-chan had crept up to me with a big smile on her face. “You want to become a super-popular girl like Hitomi? So that’s why you went with that ribbon, to solidify your new makeover?”

“N-No, that was… just what Mommy did…”

“So your mommy’s the one teaching you the secrets of being popular? How scandalous! Disgraceful girls like you deserve what they have coming to them!”

“N-No, stop! Don’t!”

I don’t like to admit it, but I’m extremely ticklish. I get so worked up about it that I start squirming before someone even touches me.

“Sa-Sayaka-chan! Stop it! Gyahahaha!”

“Wa-hahahaha! What a cutie you are. But you won’t get popular with the boys on my watch! Because you’re destined to be my wife!”

Sayaka-chan loved saying that, but what made it worse was–

“Noooo!”

I couldn’t even deny it without smiling because she was tickling me so hard, which only made Sayaka-chan act out more. She was forcing a smile on my face. Truly, tickling is the cruelest punishment devised by man. I wanted to tell her that, but I was too out of breath laughing and demanding that she stop.

At least, until…

“Ahem.” Hitomi-chan pointedly cleared her throat.

“…Oh.”

Sayaka-chan had gone on for so long that a variety of students were stopping and staring at us, their eyes wide.

◯

“I have a very important announcement for you all today.”

Morning homeroom had begun, and Saotome Kazuko-sensei stood on her side of the teacher’s podium with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

“Please listen carefully, everyone.” Her eyes flashed behind her glasses. Then, her low voice sliced through the tension of the silent classroom. “Answer, Nakazawa-kun! When making fried eggs, is it more important to cook them over easy, or over hard?!”

Nakazawa-kun, finding himself suddenly called on, stiffly shoved himself out of his desk and onto his feet. After a short pause, he gave his best friendly smile and nervously answered, “Well, um… I should think either way is fine…”

Kazuko-sensei thrust her fist in the air victoriously. “Exactly! Either way is fine! Anyone who thinks a woman’s desirability can be determined solely by how she fries eggs is dead wrong!”

Realizing he answered correctly, Nakazawa-kun’s body relaxed as though his strings had been cut, and he slumped back into his seat.

Kazuko-sensei, on the other hand, was only getting more fired up by the second, practically spitting out her next words. “You need to be careful, ladies! Don’t date guys that will only take their eggs over easy! And boys, you need to grow into adults that are above complaining over how cooked your eggs are!”

Kazuko-sensei was so worked up that her shoulders were heaving.

“They broke up…”

“Yup, they definitely broke up…”

Whispers began floating around the classroom.

But Kazuko-sensei just seemed happy to have made her point, as she quickly combed back her frazzled hair and smiled. “With that said, I have a transfer student to introduce to you all.”

“Wait, she made someone stand in the hall for that?” I could hear Sayaka-chan mutter behind me.

“Please come in, Akemi-san.”

A girl opened the door and walked in right after Kazuko-sensei spoke.

All of a sudden, my heart jumped into my throat.

…No… no way…

A chorus of “oooh”s sounded throughout the classroom.

“Wow… she’s so pretty!” Sayaka-chan shouted excitedly.

But I could only sit there, mumbling, “It can’t be… it can’t be…” to myself.

It was her. A girl with long, black hair, and a face that seemed hand-crafted by a master artisan. The girl from my dream.

“Okay, it’s time for her self-introduction.” Kazuko-sensei quietened down the rambunctious classroom, and the girl’s quiet voice rang out.

“I am Akemi Homura. I look forward to our time together.”

And…

Everyone waited and waited, but Akemi-san never elaborated.

Kazuko-sensei was writing “Akemi Homura” on the board, and motioned with her eyes for Akemi-san to continue. But Akemi-san remained staunchly silent, ignoring her.

An awkward silence began to thicken throughout the classroom, until–

In a sudden burst, Akemi-san grabbed the chalk from Kazuko-sensei, wrote her name on the blackboard herself, and turned back to the class. Her long, black hair swayed as she bowed deeply towards us.

Her odd way of asserting herself made everyone in the classroom stiffen up for a moment. Nobody was sure if she was a “march to the beat of my own drum” kinda girl, or just plain weird… until one person began clapping, and before long, the classroom erupted in applause.

But… I forgot to clap along with everyone.

Because the girl had begun staring straight at me. She had strong, sharp, and dignified eyes that gleamed with an inner light. Exactly the same as my dream.

I was frozen in place down to the tips of my fingers.

More details about that awful dream that I had forgotten began to resurface.

Dry, barren earth below a deep red sky, like the end of the world.

The gigantic monster floating beyond the collapsing buildings.

I shut my eyes instinctively, shaking my head to try and dispel any memory of that horrid dream… but when I carefully lifted my eyelids, Akemi-san was still casting her cold gaze directly at me.

“Where did you go to school before, Akemi-san?”

“Were you in any clubs there? Sports? Or maybe art?”

“Your hair is so pretty… What kind of shampoo do you use?”

Every time there was a break in class, the class would gather around Akemi Homura-san, the exciting new transfer student.

Akemi-san was rather quiet, but she would still answer everybody’s questions.

“That Akemi-san certainly has a mysterious air about her, doesn’t she?”

I looked up to find Hitomi-chan and Sayaka-chan standing behind me, also watching the girl.

“So hey, have you met that girl before, Madoka?”

“Huh?”

“Well, you’ve been completely zoned out ever since she got here.”

I was stumped by Sayaka-chan’s question.

I wasn’t too sure what being zoned out was supposed to mean… but did it have to do with that girl glaring at me? Was she doing that because I didn’t help her in my dream? I mean, that would be ridiculous… A dream is just a dream, but even though we should have met for the first time in class, I instead met her in my dream before I met her in real life.

What was going on? I had no idea what to make of it all, and in the end I couldn’t answer Sayaka-chan.

But, just then…

“Excuse me.”

Akemi-san suddenly stood up, cutting off the other kids around her.

“I think my nervousness is starting to get to me… Would you all mind if I went to the nurse’s office?”

“Oh? Well in that case, let me show you the way!”

“I wanna go, me too!”

As everyone around her started getting worked up, Akemi-san shook her head.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll ask the most appropriate person.”

With that, she turned to look at me.

My heart began pounding yet again. Akemi-san walked straight up to me with an unmoving gaze, and I felt my legs start to shake.

“Kaname Madoka-san.”

She spoke directly to me, so I had no choice but to answer her.

“You are the nurse’s aide for this class, correct?”

“I… well, um…”

“Would you be my guide? To the nurse’s office.”

Her eyes gazed down at me. They were just as bright and powerful as in my dream. AllI could do was nod in response.

Her black, waist-length hair swayed with every step.

Akemi Homura-san kept up a steady pace as she walked ahead of me. It felt more like she was the one guiding me around. Every student we passed in the hall gawked at her. I didn’t know if it was just because she was unfamiliar or because of her striking beauty… but I had a hunch it was the latter. I mean, it was mostly the boys staring at her, anyway.

It felt like Akemi-san was the protagonist of a power fantasy manga who could do anything, and I was dragging behind as the support. As someone with a profound lack of confidence, I was very uncomfortable in the situation.

But… I also knew that sitting around moping wouldn’t solve anything.

So I mustered up all my courage and went for a conversation with Akemi-san.

“Um, how did you know I was the nurse’s…”

“…”

“Um, well…”

“Saotome-sensei told me earlier.”

“…Oh, that makes sense… yeah, of course, hehe.” With one mystery solved, I tried cracking a small smile, but I had no idea what else to talk about. “…So, um. The nurse’s office is–”

“This way, right?”

“Uh, yeah, it is, but… you kinda, do you, um… it’s like you already know where it is.”

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence hung over the two of us.

I felt like a bird in an iron cage, like everyone was laughing at us trapped within the school walls. I needed a conversation topic… anything would do. I thought I’d burst if we walked in silence any longer.

“A…Akemi-san?”

“Just Homura is fine.”

…Easy for her to say. I still called my friends Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan. I’d never been so bold as to refer to someone without honorifics.

“Um… Well, Homura…chan?”

“…What is it?”

“Ah, um, you, well… Th-That name’s a little strange, isn’t it?”

Immediately, Homura-chan stopped in place.

I stared at her back, hastily correcting myself. “N-No, well, I don’t mean strange as in, like, weird or anything… It’s just, k-kinda cool, and–”

Homura-chan slowly turned around.

 Her shapely lips were pressed in a thin line, and her eyes gleamed even brighter than before. Her gaze was fixated solely on me, and she tried to say something several times, but kept holding it in.

I thought my knees would buckle beneath me. The shaking of my legs spread into my entire body.

We were in a breezeway leading to an external building. Nobody was around. Just Homura-chan… and me.

“Kaname Madoka, do you…” Homura-chan’s voice was quiet and steady. “Do you value your life? Do you cherish your friends and family?”

“…Huh?”

What was that supposed to mean?

Why would she ask me something like that? I had no idea what was going on, and I quaked in fear, wondering how I had ended up in such a situation. I was so afraid, so desperate to escape… but I just couldn’t move my legs.

Homura-chan’s eyes were intense and serious as she asked her question. Something told me that I couldn’t run away from her question by saying I didn’t understand or had never thought about it.

So…

So I answered.

“I-I… I do cherish them. My family, my friends, all of them. I love them all so much. They mean the world to me.”

“Really?”

“Of course! Why would I lie about that?!”

My response turned into a shout unintentionally, but Homura-chan responded with a single nod.

“If that’s true, then you must never give in to the thought that you have to change.”

“…Huh?”

“Or else–” Homura-chan looked straight at me as she spoke. “You will lose everything.”

With that, she swiftly turned on her heel, walking away.

And I was left alone.

I repeated the words Homura-chan had said to me over and over, but they never made any more sense.

After taking just a few steps, Homura-chan stopped and turned back around.

Her face turned somewhat sad as she whispered, “You are fine just the way you are, Kaname Madoka. Now… and forever.”

◯

“Huh? Are you serious?!”

Sayaka-chan’s obnoxious voice echoed throughout the fast food joint, and I reflexively held a finger to my lips, trying to quiet her down.

It was after school, and Sayaka-chan, Hitomi-chan and I decided to hang out and talk at the shopping mall in front of the train station, so we stopped at a fast food restaurant. A lot of kids from our school also frequented the restaurant, so it wasn’t a great place for secret conversation… but it was Sayaka-chan’s favorite spot.

“Did she say anything else after that?”

“It seems she truly is a rather odd girl.”

I nodded to both of them. “I really don’t get it…”

“So she’s got the brains and the brawn, given that she was killing it at both athletics and class, but then she just starts babbling some psycho nonsense… Geez, how much character development does this chick wanna give herself? Is this supposed to be what they call moe?!” Sayaka-chan turned towards the ceiling as she started yelling again, and I just shrunk back. “I mean, did you see her in math class? Kawatou gave us that ridiculous problem, and she solved it like it was nothing!”

“Not to mention she provided a rather spectacular showing during the high jump in P.E.” Hitomi-chan nodded along, taking a sip of her orange juice.

“Yeah, she cleared almost 70 inches with perfect form! I heard Ushijima-sensei mumbling something about her breaking the prefectural record.”

…They were right.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the image of Homura-chan leaping over that bar… But as I stared in disbelief, I realized that once again Homura-chan was watching me. And I cowered like a frog under the gaze of a snake.

“Madoka-san… are you absolutely certain this is the first time you have met Akemi-san?”

I froze at Hitomi-chan’s question. “Well… in the normal sense, yeah, but…”

Sayaka-chan immediately swooped in, “But what? Did you meet her abnormally, or something?”

“…Well, um…”

Since I had already exposed myself, I told them about Homura-chan’s appearance in my dream. About the horrifying world that had appeared to come to its end. About a huge monster that Homura-chan bravely stood up to, but didn’t stand a chance against. The weird, kinda cute creature that was there next to me. And how it was saying something to me…

…What was it saying?

But before I could finish the thought–

“Gyaaahahahaha!”

“Ahahaha, hehehe.”

Sayaka-chan and Hitomi-chan’s laughter echoed throughout the restaurant.

“L-Laughing at me is mean!”

I stood up for myself best I could, but Sayaka-chan patted my shoulder, wiping tears from her eyes. “I guess you’re starting your own character arc too, huh, Madoka?!”

…I want to disappear. I could feel my face turning bright red.

“So lemme make sure I got this right. You met this girl in a dream? Guess it’s obvious! You’re tied together from a past life! Time and space came together to keep your destinies intertwined!”

“…But I’m really worried about this…” I fought back softly, tears welling in my eyes, but Sayaka-chan just kept laughing so hard that she almost tipped her chair over.

“But there is still another possibility, Madoka-san.” Wiping the corner of her eyes, Hitomi-chan continued, “It is possible that you have simply met Akemi-san before.”

“Huh?”

“You may not have remembered outright, but she imprinted herself on your subconscious to the degree that she came back to you in a dream.”

Was that… really possible?

“Wouldn’t that be a bit convenient? It’s almost too coincidental,” Sayaka-chan retorted, still wiping tears from her eyes, but Hitomi-chan shrugged her off.

“It is a much more logical explanation than a fated crossing from a previous life.”

I felt like the conversation was getting dangerously off-track.

“Oh my, look at the time.” Hitomi-chan frowned, glancing at her watch. “I apologize, but I must go,” she said, standing up and grabbing her bag.

“So, is it piano today? Or Japanese dance?” Sayaka-chan asked, grinning.

“Tea ceremony lessons. But with exams approaching, I am unsure how long I can continue these extracurriculars,” Hitomi-chan answered gracefully.

“Wow… wish I was born into money.”

Sayaka-chan sighed, and I totally understood why. Hitomi-chan was busy with all kinds of lessons, but her grades never faltered. Maybe she had mastered the same parallel processing thing Mommy had.

“Well, how about we get going?” I said to Sayaka-chan, who mumbled in agreement.

But she stopped for just a second as she picked up her bag, looking a bit flustered. “…Uh, Madoka. Before we go home, can we stop at the CD shop?”

I knew that look. “Okay. Another gift for Kamijou-kun?”

“Hehe, well, y’know.”

The normally tomboyish Sayaka-chan flashed such a girly smile that it even made my heart start fluttering.

“You’re such a good person, Sayaka-chan.”

We were riding up the escalator to the CD shop on the second floor of the mall. Sayaka-chan chuckled in embarrassment at my praise.

“What’s with that all of a sudden?”

“I mean, you’re always spending so much of your allowance on Kamijou-kun.”

Sayaka-chan shook her head. “No, it’s nothing compared to what Kyousuke goes through every single day.” She turned her head towards the ceiling, whispering, “God’s really cruel, isn’t he? You know Kyousuke still can’t move his left hand? And he was so talented with the violin…”

“…Yeah.”

Kamijou Kyousuke was a classmate of ours, and Sayaka-chan’s childhood friend.

They’d lived in the same neighborhood since kindergarten, and their families would get together often. Kamijou had debuted as an exceptionally talented violinist as a child, even competing in national competitions. Everyone had high hopes for his future. But then…

In his second year of middle school, this spring, he’d gotten in a traffic accident.

“I wish you could’ve seen the look on everyone’s face when Kamijou-kun would play. They’d sit with their mouths half-open, leaning in as if trying to listen with their whole body. After his performance, everyone would get up and applaud with tears in their eyes. I’ve always been proud of that, ever since I was little. I wanted to shout to everyone that he was my friend. Actually, I would.”

Sayaka-chan’s eyes sparkled as she giggled.

I felt bad for the misfortune that Kamjiou-kun had to experience, but whenever Sayaka-chan would talk about him and put all that effort into finding CDs that he would like, it just warmed my heart… I’m not really sure how to put it, but I wanted to help support her with everything I had.

“Anyway, Madoka, you can just look around wherever.” As we arrived at the CD shop, Sayaka headed straight for the classical music section.

I waved as she went off, then wandered around on my own for a while, eventually coming to the spot where they sold new releases. My favorite artists had new albums up for sale, so I eagerly picked up the display headphones.

I tucked my hair behind my ears, put on the headphones, then pushed the power button. As the intro played, I adjusted the volume, but then…

(…lp…)

I thought I heard a voice.

“…Huh?”

At first, I assumed the sample disc had vocals or something, so I jacked up the volume and replayed from the beginning. But I didn’t hear it again.

“Did I… imagine that?”

Just as I shrugged it off to pay closer attention to the music, I heard it again.

(…help…)

It was clearer that time.

I instinctively took off the headphones, glancing around.

(…Help me… Madoka…)

Just as I thought, someone was crying out for help, and for me specifically.

“…Huh? Huh?”

But as I looked around, it was apparent that nobody else could hear the voice.

With a start, I realized that I wasn’t hearing the voice from my ears, but from directly inside my mind.

(Help me… Help me… Madoka…)

(Madoka… Madoka… Madoka–)

The familiar-sounding voice was clearly calling my name.

“Who… Who are you?”

A college-age boy beside me seemed a little put off by my sudden mumbling, but I fumbled out of the store, searching for the location of that strange voice.

It echoed from a place unknown, as if trying to guide me.

I grabbed my school bag, making my way deeper into the shopping mall.

I went further and further, until eventually there was nobody around, and I was in some kind of warehouse-like structure. There was an iron door marked “Emergency Exit”, and as I opened it, a draft blew my hair around.

(Help me… Help me!)

The voice got louder and louder as I approached the stairs.

“Where are you? Who are you?”

But even though I asked, it didn’t seem like the being heard me, as it only continued to call for help in my head.

Even though I didn’t know who the voice belonged to, I could tell that the call for help was desperately serious.

“Just wait, I’ll be there soon.”

I decided to head towards the voice, dashing up the emergency stairs. I reached the top floor, out of breath as I opened the fire door… finding a dimly lit, open space.

It seemed to be under renovation. Construction equipment was strewn atop bare concrete.

But there wasn’t anybody there. Just a vast, expanding, dim light that…

That scared me. My legs began shaking.

The voice in my head started getting louder.

(Help me… Madoka… help me…)

“…Where? Where are you?” As I forced out the question in a shaky voice, a loud crash rang out from somewhere.

I flinched as the boiler duct’s cover flew off above my head.

And then, something rolled out from inside…

“Aaaahhh!” I shrieked, clasping my arms to my chest to catch the thing that came flying out. It was something white, and soft…

A strange creature with long ears stretching out from its head.

It was somewhere between a cat and a rabbit, like nothing I had ever seen… but no. I had seen it before. I couldn’t remember where, but that was probably due to my confused, foggy mind, and the fact that the creature was covered in blood.

“…A-Are you okay? Hey, are you okay?”

The creature trembled in my arms, not answering. Well, it was actually too weak to answer. Its limbs twitched from the severe wounds, and I thought it might die any moment.

“…Was that… you? The one calling for me?”

When I asked, the strange creature opened its eyes just a crack.

Its eyes glowed a deep crimson red. They looked moist, somehow, and they begged and pleaded with me, tugging at my heartstrings. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d met the creature somewhere before… but as I was desperately trying to put it all together–

Clack. I heard footsteps in what should have been an abandoned room.

I turned around on reflex, and there stood–

The transfer student from that morning… Akemi Homura-chan.

“…Ho-Homura-chan?”

“Stay away from that thing,” she said, her icy words leaving no room for rebuttal.

Then I noticed she wasn’t wearing her school uniform, but some kind of weird outfit patterned in black, white, and grey.

“Bu-But, look at it… the poor little guy’s hurt…”

As I spoke up in its defense, the strange creature in my arms gripped onto me.

The closer Homura-chan came, the louder her footsteps echoed, and the more the tiny creature in my arms quaked in fear.

“S-Stay back! Don’t try anything!”

“This has nothing to do with you.”

I stepped back, holding the creature closer to my chest. “But, but it called out for me! I heard it asking for help!”

“Oh, really…” Homura-chan didn’t stop advancing. Instead, her steely eyes narrowed, and it looked like she got even angrier…

…Oh no. I’m scared… so scared…

I instinctively held the strange creature close to my chest, slumping down on the spot. But then–

“Madoka, over here!”

I heard Sayaka-chan’s voice, and as I looked up, a white cloud burst out in front of me.

“Hurry, get over here!”

I jumped to my feet, desperately dashing towards Sayaka-chan as I held the strange creature in my arms. Sayaka-chan was spraying a fire extinguisher between Homura-chan and I that she had gotten from who knows where. When the pressure died down, she chucked the extinguisher to the ground, grabbed my arm, and yelled, “Run!” while sprinting away.

I grabbed Sayaka-chan’s hand and followed after her, forcing my legs to move as fast as possible.

“Wha…What’s going on with her?! Is she trying to do slasher cosplay or something?!” Sayaka-chan shouted as she ran towards the door she had come in through.

I didn’t really know how to answer her, since I had no clue how we had gotten to that point…

My left hand desperately clung to Sayaka’s hand, and my right arm gripped onto the strange creature, trying not to drop its limp body.

“So what is that thing anyway? Some kinda stuffed animal, or… wait, it’s alive?!”

“I don’t know… I don’t know what it is, but we have to save it!” I shouted back as we ran through the white smoke.

But if I was being honest… I had a really bad feeling about it all. It’s like when you start having a bad dream, then turn lucid and know it’ll be a bad dream… maybe it had something to do with the fact that for all our running, we still weren’t any closer to the emergency exit that we had initially come through.

“Is this really the right way, Sayaka-chan?”

“It is… or at least, it should be.” Even Sayaka-chan was starting to sound unsure.

The cold linoleum floor under my feet started to feel strangely rubbery. But then, it wasn’t just the floor, it was the walls and the ceiling. Everything was warping and twisting. At first, I thought I was just really stressed out, or maybe I’d inhaled some of the extinguishing agent and it was messing with my head.

All I knew was that ever since Homura-chan showed up, everything had gone horribly wrong. But thinking about it only made my heart pound so hard it hurt, so I just gripped onto Sayaka-chan’s hand tighter.

“Wh-Where’d the exit go? …Where are we?!” Sayaka-chan screamed in fear.

I thought I heard someone laugh out in the white, warped landscape.

And then… I saw it.

A black butterfly fluttering in the distance. Faceless men scattered about.

A dead town spread out before us, with rotting trees sadly drooping down.

The place we were in wasn’t made of concrete and steel. Instead, it was like we had wandered right into someone else’s nightmare.

Up, down, left, and right became meaningless, and everything crumbled and melted into a void.

“No… No… What is this?” I leaned closer to Sayaka-chan, and her breathing was shaky, too.

“Th-This is a joke… right? We’re just having a bad dream? Right, Madoka?”

Laughter continued in the background as a rattling sound emerged. It was the rattle of huge chains being forcibly pulled along… and it was accented by the voices of various children. The happy, sad, broken, uncanny voices rang through my head and made me feel sick. The voices slowly enveloped us, sounding like they were counting down for something as they slipped under our feet and through our arms.

“Sa…Sayaka-chan!” My knees were quivering harder than I ever thought possible.

I could feel a terrifying presence scraping its way towards me. Its presence existed solely to remind me that I was a stupid, weak-willed coward… that I wasn’t even worth having an inferiority complex.

The chains rattled and groaned louder than ever before. And the next moment, they snapped and flew away.

It was only then that I realized how many… things were surrounding us. They were singing and dancing, filled with unending malice, and each shriek of laughter threatened to shatter our entire world.

I couldn’t take it any more.

Sayaka-chan screamed, grabbing onto me and the strange creature with all her might–

When our surroundings were suddenly washed in bright colors as a warm light erupted from the ground.

The light shot throughout the entire area, destroying the uncanny voices at their source, before finally coming to rest in a circular formation, enveloping us.

“Wh-What is–?!”

“Are we…”

As Sayaka-chan and I sat in complete shock,

“That was close…”

An incredibly calm and gentle voice echoed from another plane of existence.

“But it’s okay now.”

We cautiously turned towards the voice–

And found someone wearing the same Mitakihara Junior High uniform as us. She had bright, curly hair tied in twintails, not to mention an exceptional figure…

She offered us a bright smile and walked over, clutching something shiny in her hands in a way that indicated its precious nature.

“Thank you for saving Kyuubey. He is a very dear friend of mine.”

Her smile was… so wonderful. It seemed to wrap us in a warm, endless embrace.

My legs had instantly stopped trembling, and I suddenly felt like everything would be okay.

“I-I… I heard it call for me. Inside my head.”

The girl smiled gently once more at my explanation. “I see,” she mumbled, casting a warm gaze on Sayaka-chan and I. “Those uniforms are for Mitakihara Junior High. Are you second-years?”

“Y-Yes. Um, and you are…?” Sayaka-chan stumbled through her question.

“Of course, I should introduce myself,” she giggled, narrowing her large eyes. Then she added, “I’ve just got one more thing to take care of first.”

As she spoke, she boldly stepped forward with one foot, holding out what looked like a sparkling jewel in her hands. Her previously gentle face turned stern and dignified, a change that utterly captivated my heart which had just been in the depths of despair.

Even stronger light radiated from the sparkling object in her hand, enveloping her whole body.

It traced across her feet, transforming her leather shoes into boots.

It rolled up her waist, transforming her checkered skirt into a glossy, yellow flare skirt.

In a flash, her whole outfit had transformed into a beautiful design unlike anything I’d ever seen… and she leapt into the air, scattering light everywhere.

Sayaka-chan and I sat there dumbfounded.

Instantly, silver muskets had manifested around her, floating in the air and firing. Their bullets rained down mercilessly across the terrain, striking everywhere except our little bubble of light, blowing away all of the uncanny figures in the area.

“W-… Wow…” As I mumbled in amazement, clutching the strange creature in my arms, our surroundings were quickly reverting back to normal. It was… overwhelming, in a word. Sayaka-chan and I had been utterly terrified, incapable of doing anything against the threat, only for it to be wiped out with a smile by a single girl faster than it would take for her self-introduction.

She spun in the air, gently landing on the ground.

“W… We’re back!” Sayaka-chan boomed.

The room around us had gone back to being the area under construction.

But the girl’s stern look hadn’t gone away.

“The witch escaped,” she called out to a shadowy area in the back of the site.

We turned to look, and more footsteps echoed as Akemi Homura-chan appeared, dressed in that striking black and white outfit.

“If you’d like to take it down, go right ahead. I’ll let you have it this time.”

Homura-chan’s cheeks stiffened at the girl’s words. “I have business with–”

“Well, you’re slow to catch on. I’m saying that I’ll let you go this time.”

With no room to argue, Homura-chan glared at the creature held to my chest. I hugged it a little tighter, and Homura-chan returned her gaze somewhat resentfully to the other girl.

“I’m sure we both want to stay out of any unnecessary trouble,” the other girl said, smiling.

Homura-chan glared coldly at her, and a strange flash of something approaching loneliness passed through her eyes before she turned away.

And then…

She vanished into the darkness.

“Thank you, Mami. You saved me.”

The girl placed her hand on the strange creature and did something, and all of a sudden it seemed to come back to life, even speaking.

“You should be thanking these girls. I just happened to be passing by.”

The girl who had been called Mami smiled, and the creature turned its round, red eyes our way. It swung its long tail around, jumping up and down.

“Thank you very much! My name is Kyuubey.”

“Kyuubey? Were you the one who… called for me?”

Kyuubey nodded cutely at my very timid question. “Yup! Kaname Madoka. And you, Miki Sayaka.”

“Huh? How did you know our names?”

I had already heard its voice in my head, so I wasn’t too surprised, but Sayaka-chan’s eyes widened in shock.

Kyuubey completely ignored her, instead appealing with a calm, earnest tone, “I have come to make a request of you two.”

“A… request?”

Kyuubey nodded, and–

I suddenly remembered everything about my dream last night. The fragments of it had been fading and getting overwritten, but it all came back in vivid detail.

Oh, yes.

I definitely had met it before.

That strange creature calling itself Kyuubey had also been in my dream.

And just like in my dream, its red eyes shone as it said, “Make a contract with me and become a magical girl!”