Chapter 11 – You and I Both

It was like a long, endless dream. And yet, it was like having someone else’s dream, from a world completely unrelated to my own.

I floated aimlessly within that white world.

[ Time traveler Akemi Homura. ] A familiar, sourceless voice began to echo. [ You have traveled numerous parallel worlds and changed what is possible within the past month to achieve your desired outcome. ]

All I knew was that somewhere in that vague, white world, someone was talking to someone else.

[ The truth of your existence has finally answered my question. I have pondered the reason behind Kaname Madoka’s extraordinary potential as a magical girl, and now, thanks to you, I can finally form a hypothesis. ]

Kaname… Madoka. I knew that was my name, but everything else felt out of my grasp, as if it was slipping away from my mind. However, it was obvious that the speaker was talking about something very, very important.

[ The potential of a magical girl is determined by the amount of causal power carried by that individual. For so long, it was baffling that Madoka, a very ordinary girl, would have such a vast amount of causal threads rivaling a queen or messiah. But could it be… that you, Homura, have made Madoka into such a powerful magical girl due to your meddlesome repetition of the same time period? ]

[ … ]

[ …I expected as much. You are the cause, or at least, it is a side effect of your magic. ]

[ What are you trying to say? ]

[ You continued rewinding time for the purpose of securing Kaname Madoka’s safety. By rewinding time over and over again for the same singular purpose, you intertwined several parallel worlds into a web, with Kaname Madoka at the very core. ]

Something happened… with me at the center? And someone did something to tie it all together?

[ Resultantly, causal links between what should have been unrelated parallel worlds were all connected to Madoka in the present timeline… which explains her incredible magical potential. Kaname Madoka has become the vessel for all the causality that has circulated within the time that you’ve continually repeated. You have caused this all to occur. ]

One of the somebodies lost their voice at that point, reduced to sobs. The magnitude of that girl’s sorrow flooded my heart, and I, too, became sorrowful.

[ Well done, Homura. ]

The carefree voice delivered a cruel final blow.

[ You have nurtured Madoka into the most powerful of witches. ]

Witch.

That ominous word hung over my consciousness as I floated there, as if bound by chains.

And I sadly came to the realization that I could not die.

◯

The whole time I was unconscious, I had fallen into a very long, very frightening dream.

It was like being lost in a long, long maze where reality and dreams were all jumbled together, and all I did was keep getting lost. But even after finding an exit and leaving, everything was still pitch black.

The process repeated over and over and over again. I thought I was going to lose my mind. I didn’t know how much more I could take before my heart shattered to pieces.

But then I realized I had already woken up a long time ago. I was only pretending to still be in that horrible dream.

…Sayaka Miki, a second-year at Mitakihara Municipal Junior High School, missing since the 12th, was discovered dead in a hotel in the city early this morning. There were no noticeable injuries on her body, and no signs of a struggle at the scene. The police are awaiting further investigation before labeling the incident as an accident or a crime…

Onto the weather forecast. Tonight will bring strong northwestern winds with rain showers, and some areas may experience thunderstorms…

It was so surreal to hear Sayaka-chan’s name announced on television. Almost as if they were talking about somebody else from a far-off country.

But it… she…

Sayaka-chan was no longer in this world.

The funeral was held in the condo complex that Sayaka-chan had lived in. I was there, as was Kazuko-sensei and everyone else from class… But I don’t remember how I got there, or what happened after I arrived.

I could only remember the picture of Sayaka-chan smiling placed next to her memorial tablet. It felt wrong, out of place.

And even though I was normally such a crybaby, not a single tear fell from my eyes.

“Welcome home,” Mommy said as I stepped through the front door.

“…I’m back,” I responded on reflex.

Mommy silently sprinkled a pinch of salt on my shoulder. That was when the reality that I’d returned from a funeral set in. I took my shoes off in a daze.

“So, Madoka.” Mommy’s voice caught, as if she was having trouble asking me something. “…Do you really… not know anything about what happened to Sayaka-chan?”

“…No.”

I couldn’t even register the fact that I’d just lied. My head was so far up in the clouds I didn’t even know if I was still in reality.

I went into my room, dropping onto my bed without even changing from my school uniform. It felt like I was sinking down, down, down into an endless mire… it felt nice. Powerless as I was anyway, I wanted to stay like that forever.

Sayaka-chan died.

She turned into a witch.

Then Kyouko-chan died right alongside her.

Sayaka-chan at least got a funeral, but… what about Kyouko-chan? She said she didn’t have any family… Maybe it was my duty to do something for her…

Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about it all.

Had it all just been a dream? That white world, where Kyouko-chan wore such a gentle expression.

Don’t worry, Sayaka… I’m not gonna leave you behind…

She said something along those lines.

Being alone really sucks… But it’s okay. I’m here with you.

And if what I heard her say was real… that meant Kyouko-chan stayed by Sayaka-chan’s side.

She could have run away, but she stayed right there.

I had been Sayaka-chan’s friend since elementary school, and I just fainted, ending up here somehow…

But Kyouko-chan, the one always fighting with Sayaka-chan, was the one to stay by her side till the very end.

And now… neither of them would be coming back.

“Sayaka-chan… and Kyouko-chan… are both dead…”

The moment I finally voiced that reality, intense emotions surged up within me, and tears popped into my eyes.

“…Well, I can’t say it was a surprise.”

I lifted my head at the new voice.

“The signs had been there for a long time.”

Kyuubey had showed up on a shelf, sitting among all my stuffed animals. It stared at me, waving its long fluffy tail, just like I’d seen so many times before.

“So you just don’t care? Even though it’s basically your fault that everyone died?” I asked, glaring.

Kyuubey sighed dramatically with an exaggerated body gesture. “Tell me, do you feel guilty over the fates of livestock?”

“…Huh?”

“Surely you understand that there is a process to how they end up on your dinner table–”

Images flooded my mind as Kyuubey spoke.

A massive, old prefab factory. Poorly ventilated air carrying a horrendous stench. Countless cows, pigs, and chickens crammed into tight cages. Each of them had empty eyes, as if they had already accepted their fate, their lives no more than a repeated process of eating food mechanically delivered to them.

“No… Stop!” I screamed involuntarily.

“Such an unreasonable reaction,” Kyuubey calmly responded. “If you think this amounts to nothing more than cruelty, then you fail to see the essence of reality. They have been protected from the struggle for survival, allowed to reproduce without the threat of elimination. This has been granted to them on the condition that they will become sustenance for humans, an extension of the fact that cows, pigs, and chickens have high rates of reproduction compared to other wild species. Is it not the perfect symbiotic relationship?”

“…And you’re saying they’re just like us?”

“On the contrary, my kind has made far more concessions with humanity than yours has made with livestock. We negotiate with you, treating you as intelligent life forms.”

“…”

“You don’t believe me? Then I’ll show you. Learn the history that we, the Incubators, have created alongside you humans.”

A flood of images rushed into my head upon Kyuubey’s words, like an entire universe expanding within my mind. Human activity ranging from the stone age to ancient civilization to the medieval age. Layered within it all was the history of magical girls fighting amidst the sorrow of each generation.

[ We have staged interventions with your kind since before any form of their recorded history. ] Kyuubey’s voice echoed in a world that seemed unaffected by concepts of time or space. [ Girls beyond number have made contracts with Incubators, accomplished their hopes, and succumbed to their despairs. ]

A time before humans could write, when they were only grasping the concept of fire… The era where writing was invented, and social classes arose. An age of endless land wars between ethnic groups and tribes of all kinds.

Among every time and in every place were girls who established contracts to become magical girls. I saw them like scenes from a TV show or a movie.

A girl dressed as a shrine maiden, offering service to the sun.

A high-ranking exotic girl wearing a golden crown.

A girl with every inch of her body clad in armor, raising her flag in one hand and swinging her sword in another, charging the enemy lines.

Each and every one of them had Kyuubey perched on their shoulder… and a soul gem shining brightly in their hands.

[ It begins with a prayer and ends with a curse. This is the path that every magical girl has followed throughout all of history. Some of them created turning points in history, leading society to a new stage of life. ]

Each and every girl who had made a contract fought against something bringing suffering to the people, their passionate wishes resounding in their hearts. Victory was won in hardship. There was applause. Smiles all around.

But it never lasted. Before long, the girls would always be feared as witches. They had attained power beyond human measure… and were killed for it. Some were burned at the stake, others beheaded, some even skinned alive.

I couldn’t bear to watch it. I knew Kyuubey was somewhere nearby, so I asked. “Did they… all believe in you? Only for you to betray them?”

[ We were not the ones to betray them. That blame lies with their wishes. ]

Upon Kyuubey’s response, a dull black light began to shine within the palms of countless magical girls. Soul gems were stained black as they began to make pained expressions. An overflowing black mist covered them… And the very symbols of hope itself became witches.

[ Any hope that arises outside of the natural order will create a ripple effect, which can only lead to a disaster. If you would think of such an obvious outcome as a betrayal, then making a wish to begin with was a grave error. ]

“That’s… so horrible…”

[ That said… I wouldn’t stoop to calling them foolish. ]

Suddenly, the world before my eyes went black, and everything disappeared.

“The sacrifices of those magical girls have become a critical facet of human history.”

Kyuubey’s voice was suddenly so close by, and I realized I was back in my bedroom. But the condensed experience of so much suffering between so many magical girls had left me unable to breathe.

“The many tears they shed in the past formed the foundation for what you now know as everyday life. With that complete perspective, why must you insist upon treating the lives of such a small number of individuals as particularly special?”

I looked at Kyuubey, my shoulders heaving as I struggled to control my breathing. “You knew all along…” At that moment, I had finally come to understand the full picture. “You’ve known every single girl… and the witch they became… all from the very first one, didn’t you?”

The Witch of the Rose Garden that Mami-san defeated.

The Witch of Sweet Treats that devoured Mami-san.

The Witch of Shadow that Sayaka-chan defeated.

The countless other witches defeated by countless other magical girls.

Of course Kyuubey could describe the witches in great detail. Kyuubey knew the magical girls that they had formerly been, that they had made a contract with a dear wish in their hearts, only to turn into those terrifying witches…

It all hit me at once, and I burst into tears.

“After all that time… after watching over them for all that time, didn’t you feel anything? Did you even try to understand how much pain they were in?”

Kyuubey shrugged with a difficult expression. “If we could understand that… Then we wouldn’t have bothered coming all the way here.” Kyuubey continued, gazing into the distance. “In our civilization, the phenomenon of emotion is an extremely rare mental aberration. We were beyond shocked to discover you humans. We could never have imagined a world where every individual coexisted with their own personal set of distinct emotions.”

It really hit me then. This creature called the Incubator, a being from another planet… It truly couldn’t experience any of the emotions that I took for granted. Happiness, sadness, love… nothing. It was heartless.

But despite how shocked I was from that realization, I couldn’t stop myself from continuing.

“If… If you–”

It was a really stupid question. The answer wouldn’t change anything.

But I had to ask. For Mami-san, and Sayaka-chan, and Kyouko-chan, and all the other magical girls who had been swallowed up by despair.

“What if your kind had never come to this planet?”

“Well, that goes without saying,” Kyuubey answered, as if it didn’t matter. “You would all still be living naked in caves.”

◯

I had learned about history from reading various textbooks. The history of the world, as well as the history of humanity.

Human history really was just a rash of mistake after mistake after mistake. But at the same time, increment by tiny increment, the world has become a better place to live. There was no end of cruelty, but there were still those whose mark in history was to try and make the world a better place for the next generation, so that those who came after didn’t have to experience the sadness of the former generation.

When the Incubators forcefully shoved themselves right into the heart of those textbooks, I couldn’t accept it right away. I understood with my head, but it just hadn’t made its way into my heart yet.

But at the same time, as I looked down the hill that my house was placed atop, the view of Mitakihara City seemed to have lost all its color. I loved that cityscape so much, but now it just felt artificial… and that made me sad.

I went for a walk in that dark city, all by myself.

But the reality that Kyuubey had placed on my heart was too much to handle by myself, and a storm raged inside me. Just a few weeks ago, I was worrying about what it meant to be a friend. It felt so long ago… such a stupid thing to worry about. I felt like I was somewhere far away now, where I couldn’t afford to have such inconsequential concerns.

At one point, I passed by the condo complex where Mami-san had once lived.

I remembered drawing all kinds of pictures of magical girl costumes as I looked up to her with starry eyes. Mami-san had always been so kind, so cool, so gallant. She was like the very manifestation of the person I wanted to become. Little did I know how much suffering Mami-san experienced, struggling alone with her fate as a magical girl… I thought of the rapturous joy she showed me in her smile when I told her I would become a magical girl alongside her.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I had to keep walking.

I passed by Sayaka-chan’s apartment complex, and my chest tightened up.

I used to visit there almost every single day as an elementary schooler. When I closed my eyes, I could still remember the sights and smells. Sayaka-chan and I would pile into her bed together, talking until the dawn broke, and I wouldn’t even feel tired in the slightest. Even when I had a hard time trying to say what was on my mind, Sayaka-chan would just quietly listen and wait. I couldn’t have blamed anyone for getting annoyed with me, but she would just listen with a smile… the memories this time brought tears that I couldn’t stop, and I slowly walked away from her apartment complex with tears streaming down my cheeks.

As I passed by Kamijou-kun’s hospital, I was met with memories of my first encounter with Kyouko-chan.

I was terrified of her at first, thinking she was nothing more than a bully… but the real Kyouko-chan was so strong and kind. She was so clumsy that everything she did and said were misunderstood, when all she wanted was to keep Sayaka-chan from turning out exactly like her. Kyouko-chan, she… she admired Sayaka-chan’s strength. It gave her hope.

And then she held Sayaka-chan close, disappearing forever.

The familiar sights of Mitakihara City at night began to blur with tears. The countless city lights above all blended together into a big, white ring.

There are so many lights. And there are so many people. But…

“Everyone around me… is gone.”

Loneliness and sorrow like I’d never known surrounded me, and I couldn’t stop crying.

“If I was just going to feel this sad anyway… I should have become a magical girl sooner.”

At least then I could have fought alongside Mami-san and Sayaka-chan. It would have been so much better than being alone.

But then…

You’re always putting yourself down as worthless or useless!

I remembered Homura-chan glaring at me.

Why don’t you try considering all the people that care about you for once?! she screamed at me that one night in the park.

Right… why did… Why would Homura-chan say those kinds of things to me?

Don’t you understand that there are people who would grieve if they lost you?! What about all the people who have done so much to protect you?!

People who… want to protect me…

I thought about what she said… and it hit me.

Was it possible? Could it be?

Were there more people who cared about me? More people who wanted to keep me safe?

And I finally understood… that I wasn’t truly alone after all.

So I ran.

It felt like I was missing an important piece of the puzzle.

So I ran into the nighttime city like a girl possessed.

◯

The old apartment building was colored a dull, light brown.

I had the address thanks to the note from Kazuko-sensei, and had made it all the way to the mailbox with Akemi written on it. But I couldn’t muster up the courage to go straight into the elevator, instead just standing at the entrance.

Maybe it’s too late at night for this. For all I know, Homura-chan’s mommy and daddy are really strict… My head spun with similar thoughts.

But if I just left… then my heart would have nowhere to go. Mommy, Daddy, Tatsuya, and everyone else lived in a different world than me. The only person who could possibly be in the same world was Akemi Homura.

With that on my mind, I timidly got into the elevator. I headed to Akemi Homura’s apartment on the fourth floor. I got out of the elevator, crossed the hall, and stood before a door. The name Akemi was written with meticulous letters underneath the door labeled 401.

I hesitated, then rang the doorbell beside the nameplate. The sound echoed for a while, then the door opened. Homura-chan’s white face peered at me from the other side of the door.

“Could I… come in?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“…” Homura-chan silently stared at my face for a while… then the door opened wide.

I stepped in, planning to immediately apologize to Homura-chan’s family for coming by so late at night. But all the words I’d prepared fell away once I saw the interior.

It wasn’t a normal room. It was more like a series of large sections that came out of some kind of space station or movie set. It didn’t even look like a livable environment. Sci-fi panels floated in the air, displaying all kinds of numbers and a map of the city.

There was no furniture, no kitchenette… nothing. And it looked like Homura-chan lived there all alone.

I stood in stunned silence, until a particularly big panel caught my eye. It displayed an unusually large and creepy-looking witch.

“Is that… the Walpurgisnacht?”

But Homura-chan didn’t respond, simply pursing her lips at me. Did she not want me to know? Or did she figure it wasn’t worth telling me, since I wasn’t a magical girl?

Homura-chan wordlessly turned away from me.

But I walked a little closer to the monitor, focusing on the place on the map that had been marked with an X. “…Kyouko-chan said… that the witch was too powerful for anyone to defeat alone, so she was teaming up with you. You’ve spent a lot of time preparing here, haven’t you?”

The X marked the exact center of town, overlapping with the shopping mall by the station that I had visited so many times before. A huge red circle filled up a vast space beyond it. My house, the school, everything I knew was all swallowed up in red.

“…Is the town… in danger?”

Homura-chan responded to my question with a dispassionate tone. “Unlike all the witches you’ve seen before… this one doesn’t need a domain to protect itself from the real world. A single manifestation could kill thousands. She would be invisible to normal people, so the damage would be chalked up to natural disasters, like an earthquake, tornado, or whatever else they might come up with.”

I gulped nervously. “So… we can’t afford not to stop it,” I began. “…With Kyouko-chan dead, you’re the only magical girl left to fight it. So…”

I’ll fight, too. Before I could say it–

“I’ll be fine by myself,” Homura-chan interrupted sternly. “Sakura Kyouko might not have been capable, but I’ll be perfectly able to defeat Walpurgisnacht alone. I didn’t even need Kyouko’s support, really. Just needed her to think that.”

“…Really?”

Homura-chan fell silent again upon my question. She didn’t even look me in the eye, simply staring at one of the white walls.

She looked so small and vulnerable. Nothing like the powerful and icy Homura-chan I had seen for so long.

“Why…” As my trembling voice finally squeaked out, the tears I’d been holding in began to spill from my eyes again. Everything I’d desperately wanted to hold back washed out like water from a broken dam. “I want to believe you, Homura-chan… I want to think that you’re not a liar… But there’s something wrong about this. I just can’t believe that you’re being honest with me this time…”

Homura-chan, she… she looked just as fragile as the day I’d watched her break down in tears. It was like she bore a heavy, painful burden all on her own. And the fact that I couldn’t even share that pain with her made me so sad that I just wanted to disappear.

“I don’t think it’s possible to tell you how I truly feel,” Homura-chan quietly mumbled, staring at the wall. “Because I… I–” Homura-chan looked up, tears welling in her eyes.

The next thing I knew, Homura-chan was hugging me tightly.

“Ho…Homura-chan?”

“Because, I…”

“I live in a different time than you, Madoka.”

It was such a strange thing to say. I didn’t even fully understand what it meant, but… for the first time, I felt like Homura-chan was being completely honest with me.

“…I… came here from the future. I’ve met you over and over, only to watch you die every time. I don’t know how I can save you… I don’t know how I can change your fate. I don’t know how many times I’ve started over, trying to find the answer…”

Homura-chan’s quiet voice trembled. She sounded weak and helpless, like a lost orphan child.

At the same time, the things she shared felt as though they were opening a door. It was a door that had been closed for a very long time, holding a valuable treasure within, suddenly being flung wide open.

“I’m sorry… I know this makes no sense to you… you’re probably creeped out… As far as you know, I’m just a transfer student that you met last month. But I… you… to me, you’re…”

A strangely nostalgic scene from a place I didn’t know suddenly came to mind. I didn’t know what it was, only that it was important. So many concepts floated around in my mind, and trying to give any of them shape or meaning tore painfully at my heart before they faded away…

But it was like trying to grab at a fluffy white cloud. At the end of the day, it was just a confusing, vague mess.

“But it’s like the longer I spend trying to fix it, the farther away I end up from you. Our feelings drift apart, and everything we say becomes less meaningful… and I just…” Homura-chan pressed her head against my shoulder. “I think I’ve been lost for a long time now.”

She cried, cried, and cried some more. And after crying so long that she looked weak and feeble, she looked up at me, her face scrunched up.

“…I’m going to save you.” Sadness twisted every part of Homura-chan’s face. “…That desire was what started everything for me… and now, it’s all I have left to hold on to.”

It almost sounded like Homura-chan was trying to convince herself.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand. You don’t have to say anything. Just please… let me do one thing.”

She hugged me tightly once more.

“Let me protect you.”

Right then, as she said that to me…

I realized that I had no idea where I stood.

Was I in the right place?

Was I treating the people I called my friends in the way that they deserved?

Or maybe, this whole time…

Had I been missing something… something incredibly important?

◯

From the very moment that the sun rose the next day, the wind began to pick up.

At 7 AM today, an evacuation notice was issued due to a rapid onset of abnormal weather. Everyone living in the vicinity is ordered to immediately relocate to the nearest safety shelter. This vehicle represents the Mitakihara City Hall. At 7 AM today–

Sirens blared throughout the town as emergency vehicles circled the blocks announcing the evacuation notice.

“We go on twip? We go campin?” Tatusya asked, happily jumping around the gymnasium of Mitakihara Junior High, my school.

“Yep, that’s right. We’re all camping together tonight,” Daddy said with a smile.

My family and about 100 others from our neighborhood had taken shelter in the gym, anxiously sitting on some folding chairs that had been hastily placed around.

“It’s a little out of season for a typhoon…”

“We’ve been getting a lot of crazy weather lately…”

Voices floated around me, most saying something similar.

Nobody else knew that it wasn’t actually a typhoon. I was the only one.

“Homura-chan…” I folded my hands in front of my chest, desperately praying for her safety.

The strong winds beat against the gymnasium, threatening to destroy it. I couldn’t stop my growing anxiety about the great and terrible witch known as the Walpurgisnacht.

Eventually, breaking and cracking began to mix with the distant howling of the wind. All the evacuees looked up anxiously, and even Daddy frowned.

But Mommy played it off like nothing happened, patting Tatsuya on the head. “We’ll be okay. Typhoons are just when the wind gods push together cold air and warm air. They go away fast for good boys,” she explained, hugging Tatsuya’s head.

If only it was just a typhoon. There I was, sitting around while Homura-chan fought off such an incomprehensible power…

Just then, a tremendously loud sound echoed in the distance, and the ground shook. The lights hanging from the ceiling far above us flicked off.

“Woah, an earthquake?!”

“The power’s out!”

Small shrieks filled the gym, but the school eventually switched to backup power and the lights came back on.

“…Something exploded somewhere,” Mommy quietly mumbled.

Anxiety clawed at my chest. The image of Homura-chan fighting for her life became clearer and clearer in my mind.

Bloody wounds covered her face and clothes, and the enormous witch forcefully smacked her down over and over again…

But Homura-chan just bit her lip, approaching it once more.

The vision overlapped perfectly with the dream I had the night before Homura-chan transferred to our class.

An apocalyptic background, a giant monster that made my legs quake, and Homura-chan fighting.

In the dream, I could do nothing but watch from the top of a cliff, crying. Kyuubey was behind me. Homura-chan yelled something. She was yelling so forcefully, so desperately.

As I thought of Homura-chan’s face… I couldn’t just sit there any longer. I stood up.

“…Hm? Something wrong, Madoka?” Mommy asked.

“I, I just… need to use the restroom,” I quickly spat out, dashing out of the room.

I headed to the hallway attached to the gym, looking out the huge window towards the blackened town of Mitakihara. The power outage affected the whole city, so there was nothing but inky blackness as far as the eye could see.

The horizon lit up with the occasional flash. It almost looked like lightning, but something told me that was where Homura-chan was fighting.

All of a sudden, Kyuubey was at my feet. I asked him a question.

“Is it true that Homura-chan can win on her own?”

Kyuubey was silent for a while. When it did speak, it was quiet. “Even if I said no, would you believe me?”

“…”

There was another flash, followed shortly by a dull thud and rumbling.

“We don’t need words to explain any more. You can simply see for yourself. How far can Akemi Homura go in the face of the Walpurgisnacht? She’s procured the most powerful weaponry possible. Too many rocket launchers to count, hundreds of mines, even a tanker truck full of gasoline. She’ll spend it all on the most evil of witches… but it’s no use.”

Kyuubey spoke like it was somebody else’s problem.

“Why is she… fighting so hard?”

Kyuubey shrugged at my question. “Because that is where her hope lies. Her hand has been forced, and so she will continue to fight, even at the cost of this timeline. I suppose she’ll never learn her lesson, simply repeating this meaningless little cycle over and over and over.”

…I… came here from the future.

I was reminded of what Homura-chan told me.

I’ve met you over and over, only to watch you die every time.

I don’t know how I can save you… I don’t know how I can change your fate.

I don’t know how many times I’ve started over, trying to find the answer…

I remembered what she said to me as tears poured down her face.

My heart began racing.

What if everything she said was true?

What if Homura actually had been rewinding time over and over again, just to save me?

“At this point, stopping the loop would just be admitting defeat,” Kyuubey continued, ignoring me. “The moment that Akemi Homura admits that what she’s doing is pointless and she can’t change your fate, she will succumb to despair and turn into a grief seed. And she is very well aware of that. So this is all she can do. Even if she can’t win, fighting is her only option.”

“…So as long as she has hope, she can’t be saved?”

“Precisely. Just like every other magical girl of times past. You should know, Madoka, you saw them alongside me.”

Kyuubey had indeed shown me the history of humanity. Or rather, the history of magical girls working behind the curtains. They all began with a small and gentle hope, only to end up completely swallowed by despair.

It was like Homura-chan was carrying their legacy. The regret and sadness of every magical girl was on her shoulders.

A realization struck me like a droplet onto still water.

Don’t fall for it, Madoka.

Homura-chan had screamed for me in my dream that day. Even though she was covered head to toe in wounds, she shouted with what little strength she had left.

Because…

She couldn’t afford to give up on saving me.

No matter how many repetitions it took, she couldn’t afford to give up.

Homura-chan, she… she knew that Kyuubey was trying to lead me down a path of despair, and she was doing everything she could to stop me.

You need to do something wrong for her.

The real meaning behind Mommy’s words finally reached me.

Tears streaked down my face.

“Homura-chan, you… you’ve made so, so many mistakes for me… for someone like me…”

She must have been so lonely. She must have felt so helpless. To live in a world where she could never tell anyone the truth, where nobody would understand her, where she would be so terribly alone. A world where nobody would help her up if she fell, because they couldn’t even notice that she’d fallen. A world where she was all alone, where she could never share her pain, forever wandering an endless maze…

And I never noticed. There had been a friend beside me all this time… fighting for longer than I can even imagine.

But now that I knew that…

The wish that I had spent so long searching for was finally clear.

It truly was a wish worth devoting my entire soul towards. What I couldn’t give to Mami-san, or even Sayaka-chan. What Kyouko-chan gave to Sayaka-chan, and what Homura-chan had been giving to me for a long time.

Maybe it was the right thing to do, and maybe not.

It probably couldn’t fix everything exactly the way that I wanted to.

But I didn’t want to give up on it.

Even if I was misunderstood, I didn’t want to give up on saving them.

It was what I wanted. For Homura-chan and every other magical girl. Because I had been born as myself, and I finally understood the meaning behind all of the joys and sorrows that I had experienced.

I’m coming, Homura-chan, I cried from the depths of my heart, pushed forward by a mysterious force to–

“And just where do you think you’re going, young lady?”

My arm was grabbed tightly.

“…Mommy.” I turned around to find Mommy with the scariest face I’d ever seen. She was holding my arm so tightly, and I could feel her determination to never let me go. “I… I have to go save my friend.”

Mommy immediately shook her head. “Leave that to the fire department. Civilians can’t get involved in this.”

I started to shout. “But it has to be me, or–”

I was slapped hard across my cheek.

I felt the stinging heat before the pain fully set in.

“Your life isn’t all about you! You can’t just go do whatever you want, or you’ll just leave everyone behind worrying about you–” Mommy started yelling too.

“I know, Mommy. I really, finally get it.” So I yelled back. “I love you, Mommy, and Daddy too. I know how much you care about me. I know that I shouldn’t take that for granted. But this is different. This is really important, and I have to protect everyone, so… so I have to go.”

“…And you can’t tell me why?”

I shook my head.

“Then I’m going with you,” Mommy replied.

The thought made me so happy that tears welled in my eyes.

I realized once more just how much I loved Mommy. How well she had cherished me and taken care of me. A part of me couldn’t help but think how wonderful it’d be to take her with me, but… something inside me knew that it wouldn’t be right.

So I held back my tears, shaking my head. “You need to stay with Daddy and Tatsuya, Mommy. Keep them safe.” I put everything into words as best I could before Mommy could object. “You said that… that I grew up to be a good girl. That I don’t tell lies or do bad things. Do you still believe that? That I’m going to do what’s right?”

Mommy pressed her lips together tightly… then gave me a firm nod. She leaned in close, looking deep into my eyes. “Don’t do anything foolish. You can’t let yourself be controlled by lies, okay?”

“I won’t,” I replied with a nod.

Mommy took her hand off my arm, moving it towards my back, giving it a hard thump.

Her hand was so strong, and I was so happy that tears came to my eyes again.

I gave her the best smile I could manage… and waved.

“Thank you… Mommy.”

And then, I ran.

Out into that stormy night, that terribly dark place… where my dear friend was waiting.

◯

The nightswept city was empty. There wasn’t a single light to be seen, by the moon or by anything else.

But somehow, a single, faint light illuminated my path as I ran.

I couldn’t tell if it was Kyuubey going ahead of me, or even the witch trying to lure me in… but it didn’t matter.

There was one thing that I could be sure of… that Homura-chan was up ahead.

But I also knew that somewhere in the dark, ominously red glow up ahead, Walpurgisnacht was waiting.

The more I walked, the more rubble I came across, and the stronger the wind became. Collapsed buildings were strewn everywhere, with occasional fires burning. Overturned cars, knocked down utility poles, and snapped power wires reflected in the dim light. Shattered window glass twinkled everywhere, and tattered remains of what were once curtains fluttered from the windows of angled buildings.

The place where the train station should have been was empty, nothing more than a giant field of rubble.

The shopping mall where I had gone to hang out after school so many times was gone.

I knew I was in Mitakihara, but it was almost hard to believe as I took in the hellscape surrounding me.

And there in the very center, a huge, black shadow towered above everything, slowly rotating in the sky.

It moved in rippling waves, as if controlling the skies, occasionally letting out a cackle that shook the very earth.

“…Homura-chan.” I ignored the giant monster, my eyes only seeking the sight of my dear friend. I strained my eyes and perked up my ears, knowing that Homura-chan had to be somewhere.

Eventually, carried over by the wind, I heard it. Quiet sobbing. Coming from what was left of the train station, through cracks in the shattered concrete.

“…Why… Why…”

I slowly approached the voice, step by step through the raging winds.

“…No matter how many times I try… I just can’t win…”

I approached the voice that was overcome with despair… finding the broken and bloody remains of my friend, lying in the rubble.

“Homura-chan.”

“…”

I saw Homura-chan try to stand up and speak, so I shook my head. “It’s okay… It’s okay now, Homura-chan.”

Homura-chan noticed Kyuubey standing at my feet. “No Madoka, you can’t–” she mumbled almost imperceptibly.

She didn’t have to say any more for me to understand.

She had tried so hard to keep me from meeting Kyuubey. Even after our meeting, she did everything possible to stop me from getting involved.

It didn’t matter if she was misunderstood. It didn’t matter if she was feared. It didn’t matter if nobody cared. She walked that terribly long and difficult path all on her own.

And I, completely unaware of Homura-chan’s feelings, had only cried and trembled in fear.

“I’m sorry, Homura-chan,” I apologized. “I’m going to become a magical girl.”

I turned my back to Homura-chan, glaring at the giant shadow in the sky.

“No Madoka, you…”

“I finally get it now. I found the wish that I want to come true. And if it can get me there… then I’ll take advantage of my fate.”

“STOP!” Homura-chan immediately cried. “If you do that, then what am I… What did I even…”

“I am so, so sorry.” All I could do was apologize. All I could do was hold Homura-chan’s wounded and broken body. But even so, my heart remained calm and unwavering. “I believe that I am who I am today because you chose to keep on protecting me. To keep on wanting me. Thanks to that, I’ve finally found the answer I was looking for.”

I smiled as tears continued to streak down Homura-chan’s face.

“Trust me. I refuse to let all that you’ve done for me go to waste,” I whispered, turning to Kyuubey.

The white creature that controlled causality itself watched me with shining red eyes.

“You have bound together the destinies of many different worlds, becoming a singularity of causality. You could make even the most extraordinary of wishes into a reality.”

“…Is that really true?”

Kyuubey nodded in response. “So then, Kaname Madoka. What would you wish for in exchange for your very soul?”

“I…” I took a deep breath… putting my wish into words.

“I want to eliminate all witches before they can even be born. Every witch, from every time in the past and future, with my own two hands.”

In that moment…

Something came to life inside me.

It was only a small spark… but then it grew bigger, intensifying and undulating, surging in waves through my entire body before gathering within my chest.

“That prayer…” For the first time, Kyuubey’s voice trembled with surprise. “A prayer like that coming true would be much more than just time interference. You would be rebelling against causality itself! Do you truly intend… to become a god?!”

“If I must be a god, then so be it.” I reached towards the light gathering around my chest, embracing it with my voice. “All the magical girls that fought witches and believed in hope… I will wipe away their tears. I want them to smile until their very last moments. If any rules or laws want to get in the way of that, then I will tear them down and change them. That is my prayer… my wish…”

Power beyond reckoning overflowed from within me…

I unleashed all of it, shouting to the universe.

“So grant it, Incubator!!”

◯

I was enveloped in a vast expanse of white.

A pure tone like the ringing of a bell played, and I could suddenly no longer feel warmth or cold as something passed around me at an unfathomable speed. But it was comforting and gentle, like the nostalgic sight of finding something I had seen once before. I realized that it was the world that I cherished so much, the same world to which I could never return, bidding me farewell. Countless warm memories melted and spread out, wrapping me in their embrace.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

An uncountable galaxy of stars spread out from within me, and I realized that they were infinite flames of emotion.

I was both insignificant and infinite, existing everywhere within the vast world.

Though I was scattered throughout the world, I gathered together as I reached out my hand. When I spread my hand, I scattered once again. As I came to understand my place, any and all fear vanished. The old, timid self melted away and vanished. All that was left was a growing wellspring of kindness flowing out from deep within me.

Within myself, a particular light from far, far below caught my attention. I focused on it…

Finding myself in Tomoe Mami-san’s room.

There I sat in my school uniform, drinking tea that Mami-san had prepared for me. She had also made a chiffon cake, placing a slice of it before me. The room exuded soft, gentle security.

“Do you understand how terrifying the wish you just made is, Kaname-san?” Mami-san asked, her face etched with worry.

“…Maybe,” the me sitting in her room answered.

“You realize that now, you must fight for the past, future, and all of time, don’t you? You won’t be able to exist as an individual any longer. You will not be able to take comfort in death. You will be anchored to the universe for time immemorial, existing only as a concept of witch destruction.”

“That’s okay. I expect to do just that. If anyone wants to say fighting for hope is a mistake… I won’t let them. I will always fight back, every single time. I can fight for that as long as it takes,” I said, nodding firmly.

“Then what’s keepin’ ya?” echoed an almost combative voice nearby. “If you can do it, then just do it.”

Sure enough, there was Sakura Kyouko, sitting down with one knee drawn up. She stuffed her mouth with cake, grinning. “You finally found your reason to fight, yeah? And you’re definitely not gonna run away, right? Then that’s all there is to it. Nothin’ left but to charge on in.”

“Mhm… Thank you, Kyouko-chan.”

I smiled, and Mami-san smiled back, looking relieved of a great burden. “In that case… I have something to return to you.”

Mami-san revealed the notebook I had left in her room. The notebook with all the drawings of who I wanted to be.

The perfect version of myself, smiling admirably.

A girl who feared nothing, who could overcome any sorrow.

Wearing a vibrant pink outfit and sparkling with magical power.

I let out an embarrassed chuckle as Mami-san gently placed the notebook in my hand.

“You’re doing more than just making hopes come true. You’re becoming hope itself. For all of us.”

With that, Mami-san’s room was wrapped in white, swallowed up into a white world.

I could feel the light.

The light that carried so much hope.

It embraced my body, changing my form.

It flowed from my shoulders to my chest, becoming a bright pink dress. It flowed from my chest to my arm, becoming an arm guard. It fell from my chest to my waist, becoming a great, fluffy skirt. It flowed down my feet, becoming crimson pumps.

A final burst of light became ribbons that tied my hair, and a choker that wrapped around my neck.

As I slowly opened my eyes… I could feel the raging, yet surprisingly organized, flow of energy. It was all gathered in a particular way, as if awaiting my orders.

Light flowed from my body, dying even the black sky a golden shade, illuminating the entire body of the monstrously large Walpurgisnacht.

But her earth-shaking cackles no longer frightened me.

Instead, it became clear that the Walpurgisnacht was the one who was actually afraid.

My enemy was not the great, hulking shadow before me. It was something that went much deeper. It was the great enemy that had swallowed so many of my friends.

Despair.

I reached out with my left hand, and light gathered together, transforming into a great, magical bow. I reached out with my right hand, and an arrow of light appeared. I pulled that arrow back with all my strength…

Launching it into the sky.

The arrow penetrated the dark clouds that Walpurgisnacht had generated above Mitakihara, instantly vaporizing them.

Then it scattered into infinite pieces, going across the sky, the land, and across time itself.

Thousands, millions, billions, trillions… It would even be appropriate to say that a bazillion arrows of light all spread out, each one being me.

One went to a certain town in a certain era.

There, I found a certain magical girl clutching her pitch-black soul gem.

I drew close to her side, purifying her soul gem of all her despair.

In another era, in another wilderness.

I drew close to a girl who lay on the ground soaked in her own blood, purifying her soul gem of all her sorrow.

In another era, in another execution ground.

I drew close to a girl who gazed at the people with soulless eyes, purifying her soul gem of all her hatred.

One girl wore a crown. One a suit of armor. One a white coat, and yet another a uniform. All of them held blackened soul gems to their chest, tears running down their faces.

“I will not let your prayers end in despair,” I announced, catching all their tears.

Wishes that began as nothing more than a pure prayer. That started as no more than the humble prayers of so many young girls. So many friends who were forced to beat themselves down and corrupt their hearts just to make those wishes come true, only to become witches themselves in the end. But I would take their sorrows upon myself.

My voice had become a ray of light, so it might not even reach them.

And taking away those sorrows was no guarantee that the greater problems would be solved.

But even so.

“Curse no longer. Suffer no more. I will shoulder the burden of your causal destinies! So please…”

Until the very end…

“Believe in yourselves.”

I bound together the causality of countless sorrows.

I accepted and embraced it, turning their pain into my own. Making their wounds mine. And yet amidst the suffering, among the dregs of human emotion, a new love began to blossom. A love for the very act of being alive, growing and thriving inside me… and I was so grateful for the opportunity to share in my friends’ suffering. Infinite time passed through me, bringing infinitely new experiences to merge with my consciousness. I took in more and more and more, becoming greater with each new addition. Becoming stronger. My awareness of being Kaname Madoka began to fade as I changed into something much, much more.

Of course… that meant parting with the personal happiness of one Kaname Madoka.

But even at such a cost, I could still be happy.

Because… for the very first time… I felt like I had a friend.

And not just one. I was becoming friends with so many people all at once.

So many that I realized that friends were always out there somewhere.

Becoming anyone’s friend just came down to making the effort.

No matter the time, place, world, or person.

It could be anyone who had experienced a similar pain, yet chose to grit their teeth and push forward regardless.

All of those people were now my friends.

And as I came to that knowledge…

I realized that the time I had to speak as myself was quickly slipping away.

Walpurgisnacht was terrified. Her cries of helpless fear shook the very earth.

She became a tornado of lightning and wind, destroying Mitakihara City.

But I knew that she, too, began as a single wish. No doubt a small, humble wish prayed from the depths of profound suffering.

I leaned in closer.

Walpurgisnacht’s gigantic body began to break apart, crumbling off in chunks.

Her body shook violently in terror, but I offered a gentle whisper.

“It’s okay… It’s okay now.”

The suffering. The unforgettable hatred and despair. The deep, dark, raw emotions that never went away, no matter how far down they were bottled up. I took them all.

“You don’t need to hate anyone any more. You don’t need to curse anyone. Before that can become who you are–”

I will take it all in your place.

In a world flooded with light…

The feelings that had become known as the Walpurgisnacht let out a tiny cry.

It was small, sad, and fleeting, echoing through an eternal universe.

A pitch-black mass of feelings was violently weeping inside my breast. They were so sorrowful, so maddening, they seemed to cut right through the entire world. My heart tightened, threatening to burst. But there… deep down at its very core…

“I knew it…”

I smiled.

“…You‘re just like me.”

With that… the face of the girl known as Walpurgisnacht distorted, disintegrating and melting.

She melted inside me, overlapping with myself.

That was very likely the moment that the existence of one Kaname Madoka ceased to be.

After all, the weight of all sadness is too much for any individual to bear.

It was a weight so heavy as to make one want to give up, and yet…

In that moment, the universe learned something. When it’s carried by everyone, such a burden becomes insignificant.

◯

“…Where…”

A black-haired girl woke up, finding herself in pitch-black space.

There was no up or down, and no end in sight.

She was certain that she was a second-year middle schooler who had made a contract to become a magical girl. But outside of that, nothing about the world could be certain.

[ The universe is now being reorganized to accommodate the new law established by Madoka. ]

A familiar voice echoed in the girl’s head. The carefree voice brought to mind a strange mixture of both hatred and nostalgia.

Suddenly, the girl realized. She was in the place where the universe began. The singular spot where infinite proliferation started, forming all the galaxies.

Spots of light appeared in the girl’s vision. They chained together, creating a primordial galaxy.

[ Ah, so you too wield magic that can transcend time, ] the voice said, relaxing somewhat. [ So then, let us watch together as the existence known as Kaname Madoka concludes. ]

As the being spoke, a meteor flickered into existence in the distance. Before long, its gigantic form registered in the black-haired girl’s mind.

[ That is the soul gem produced by her wish. ]

“It’s…”

It was practically its own planet. The girl couldn’t even begin to comprehend its true size, even if she moved her head.

[ Can you even comprehend the weight of the curse that Madoka will have to bear as a result of her grandiose prayer? ]

With a start, the girl looked over… finding a familiar, beautiful blue star.

The third planet of the solar system… Earth.

[ The amount of hope she generated was enough to create an entire universe. Naturally, that generated an amount of despair capable of ending that universe. As one would expect. ]

Just as the voice started to gain a malicious streak…

A black stain appeared right in the middle of the planetoid soul gem. In the blink of an eye, it spread and infected the surrounding area, dyeing the entire object black.

It was a painfully familiar sight for someone who had spent so long fighting as a magical girl. It was the incubation of a witch, formed from a root of despair that could not be bottled away.

And… it was a witch born from a planetoid soul gem. It had…

Such power.

The Walpurgisnacht had been the size of an entire city, but she could not even begin to compare.

The beginnings of a scream died in the girl’s throat as the gargantuan witch reared up, scattering so much mass as to split the entire universe.

Its writhing body was almost greater in size than the Earth itself.

So in the end… I couldn’t do anything, the black-haired girl thought.

All that time going back and forth in a loop, all that effort to save her one and only friend… all of that, only to end up here.

In fact, maybe it was less that she couldn’t have, and more that she shouldn’t have.

She shouldn’t have repeated time over and over, linking so much causality to one girl.

At least then she wouldn’t be responsible for the birth of such a gigantic witch.

Despair heavier than any she had ever known settled on her chest, blanketing her soul gem.

It’s all… over…

The cracks in the girl’s soul began to widen.

(It’s okay, Homura-chan.)

I just can’t stand to stay silent.

“…Ma…Madoka?”

I watched the back of the black-haired girl as she looked around in all directions, flustered.

(My wish was to destroy all wishes. And if that wish really came true…)

I approached.

A being of infinite spacetime, once a girl known as “Kaname Madoka”.

I pulled at the bow in my hand, unleashing a beam of light so bright that it set the whole universe aglow. The arrow scattered into countless beams of light, instantly obliterating the witch that covered the Earth.

From behind the immense beam of light, I embraced Homura-chan protectively. I saw her stiff expression, and smiled. Even if it was only for a moment, I was happy to see her again, happy for everything she had done for me, and happy just to know she was with me.

That joy gave way to a newfound strength and courage within.

(Even I… will have no reason to despair.)

With that, Homura-chan’s consciousness scattered.

◯

[ Madoka. Your life… no longer has a beginning or an end. ]

The place we were in now starkly contrasted to where we had just been. Now it was a vast expanse of “white”.

[ You no longer exist in this world in any form, not even in memory. You have shifted into a higher realm, reduced to a concept. ]

The voice was now broken and hollow. Its usual carefree lilt had vanished.

[ Nobody can be aware of you any longer, nor can you make your presence known to them. You… are no longer a part of this universe. ]

“What does… that mean?” Homura-chan mumbled, her voice trembling amidst the white void. “Is this supposed to be what she wanted? How is this what she deserves?”

My dear friend was crying and screaming for me. But no matter how Homura-chan wailed, her voice was simply absorbed into the white world, bereft of impact.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! This is an even worse fate than death…” she screamed, grief emanating from every pore of her body.

I shouldn’t have wished to be the one to protect Madoka. I just wanted to be with her… Just to live a happy life, always with the girl called Kaname Madoka… I should have just wished for that…

Homura-chan’s overwhelming regret threatened to tear her apart from the inside out. She hid her face, sobbing and cursing her own existence.

So, for just one more time…

I spoke to Homura-chan.

(I’m glad it happened this way, Homura-chan.)

“…Madoka.”

(As I am now, I can see everything in all the past and future. Every universe that ever has been and ever could be. Every single one. So now, I finally understand. I’ve seen all that you’ve done for me, and how hard you fought for me.)

All of the time that Homura-chan had experienced and repeated flowed within me. I saw Homura-chan suffering alone, unable to share the pain of her illness. I saw Homura-chan going home, avoiding her classmates who walked and chatted excitedly. I saw Homura-chan as she met me, then subsequently lost me. I saw Homura-chan make a contract with Kyuubey to never let it happen again, repeating the same time period over and over and over, only to keep losing me every single time.

(I saw every tear you cried, and every wound you bore, all for my sake… and I’m so sorry that I never noticed until now.)

As I said that… a single tear slowly rolled down Homura-chan’s cheek

(Now that I’ve become what I am, I can know the real you. I learned that I had such a wonderful friend beside me for all that time… and I’m so happy to know that. Thank you, Homura-chan. You really were… my very best friend.)

“…But now you… like this… You can never go home, and you’re separated from everyone you love… You’ll just be here forever… all alone…”

(But I’m not alone. Everyone is always here with me,) I answered, carrying the weight of countless stars. (For all of time, I’ll be anywhere and everywhere. So even if you can’t see me, and even if you can’t hear my voice… I’ll always be right by your side.)

“But is that… really what you want?” Homura-chan cried, her voice failing. “Even though I’ll forget about you? Even though I’ll never know that you’re with me?”

(Don’t say that. It’s too soon to give up.)

It was a strange thing to say… but I truly believed it, so I said it anyway.

Our meeting was like magic. Like a miracle. It changed the both of us. Homura-chan embraced an entirely new set of values, and a coward like myself managed to gain the strength to accept my own weaknesses. Learning about witches, the magical girls who fought them, and fearing the true nature of the world… it changed us both, little by little. In our own time, and in our own way, we were living life to the fullest.

Things could never stay the same, and it all built up slowly and surely to something new. But even so, something told me… that Homura-chan and I were both searching for the same thing.

So, in light of that…

I drew upon the image that still remained in Homura-chan’s mind.

The image of a small, delicate, terribly immature, hopelessly weak, and familiar figure.

I allowed the girl who had been called Kaname Madoka to stand by Homura-chan’s side. She offered one of Homura-chan’s favorite, spring-like smiles, drawing towards the crying Homura-chan.

“Homura-chan.”

“…Madoka.”

As Homura-chan’s eyes widened, I pulled out the ribbons tying up Madoka’s hair. “You’ve already made it all the way out here with me. Maybe it’s possible that you won’t forget me when you return to your world,” I said, placing the ribbons in Homura-chan’s hands. “It’ll be okay. I just know it. You have to believe.”

“Ma… doka….”

“Because we’re magical girls.”

Yellow, indigo, and crimson smiles flashed inside me. I considered the smiles of so many countless girls, who fought so hard since time immemorial out there among the stars. Pushing through life and hardship with all their might, yet still showing a dazzling smile.

I smiled upon Homura-chan. “Magical girls… make hopes and dreams come true. And if it’s something so small, then I’m sure a real miracle could happen. You feel it too, right?”

With that, Kaname Madoka’s body slowly began fading away.

“Ma… Madoka, don’t go!” Homura-chan reached out, the ribbons tight in her grasp.

(I’m sorry… But I have to go guide everyone now.) I held Homura-chan’s outstretched hand tightly in my own. (I’ll see you again someday, Homura-chan. This is only… a temporary parting….)

“MADOKAAAA!”

Her voice echoed through me, lonely and sad…

But as I was now, I could truly believe that it wasn’t over. Someday, I would reach Homura-chan again.

So…

I had a moment.

A moment to accomplish what I could as the consciousness of one “Kaname Madoka”.

◯

Time continued on after the nightmarish disaster. Mitakihara City slowly began to recover a semblance of its former appearance following its devastating destruction.

A magnificent violin melody echoed through the hall that had been selected for the first round of the violin competition. In parts gentle, in parts violent, its sound spun from the four strings onstage, laying bare the hearts and souls of those listening. Judges sat in the front row, holding pens and clipboards for evaluation, but nobody was writing. Everyone simply closed their eyes, taking in the sound.

And there in center stage stood a young man with striking features, playing the violin. His wavy bangs swayed as he absorbed himself in the melody.

The hall had enough seating to fit 500 people, but it was mostly empty. The middle row of the hall was also empty, and yet…

There was the unmistakable sensation of two beings.

Ave Maria. It always was Kyousuke’s favorite song.

Mhm.

The two sensations were both girls, and they sat comfortably close to one another.

Guess I really put you through the wringer… one girl said.

Don’t apologize. I’m sorry, too. I wish I could have created a better outcome for you, the other girl quietly responded. The only way I could’ve saved you was by making it so the whole ordeal never happened… But if I did that, then this would have never come to pass. And I don’t think that’s how you would have wanted it, Sayaka-chan.

The girl called Sayaka listened patiently as the other spoke slowly and intently.

I think that all your prayers and all your hard work was so very important… and I just couldn’t let it go to waste. So I…

It’s okay. This is good, Sayaka replied with a pleasant tone. She looked very satisfied as she leaned forward, giving in to the music of the violin. You’re right. All I wanted was to hear him play again. I wanted so many more people to hear his violin… and the memories are enough. I don’t regret a single thing.

After saying her piece, Sayaka looked over to the edges of the stage with a chuckle. But well, that’s a little frustrating.

Down in the side of the darkened stage, where Sayaka pointed her gaze… stood a young woman watching the young man, looking almost ready to burst into tears. She was more nervous than the young man who was actually in the competition, and she seemed to be wishing with all her might for his success.

Guess you can’t stop Hitomi once she gets going. Honestly, a girl like her is too good for Kyousuke… He better make her happy.

The other girl smiled at Sayaka’s admission.

Ave Maria flowed around and through them, embracing them in its sound. There wasn’t even the slightest distortion in its melody.

Sayaka was well aware that it could only be that way due to the result of the young man’s extraordinary efforts. His dream of music had once been cut short… and the new tones he created could only have been made by someone who understood how important music was to them as they clawed their way out from the depths of despair.

Kyousuke’s… gonna be okay.

The other girl watched Sayaka’s radiant profile. Then it’s time for us to go, she said, placing a gentle hand on Sayaka’s shoulder.

Sayaka nodded firmly. Sure thing, Madoka, she said with a bright smile.

And with those final words, countless memories began to float away into the air and disperse.

All that remained was a bright, clear smile. The vestiges of two girls who desired nothing more than the happiness of others. And perhaps those desires wouldn’t be understood by the world right away… But even so, they poured all their emotion into the town that they loved so much. Into the people that lived there. Even if it was just a tiny seed planted into the hearts of those who could only count life by its losses.

Because someday, that seed would sprout, transforming into a resilient strength in the heart of the people.

Which could then become a kindness that protected the weak.

They prayed for that day. It was all they could do.

And so, the two girls… the two of us took each other’s hands, smiled…

And the performance was over.

The audience leapt to their feet, commending the young man and the melody he had just played. Lavish applause filled the vast concert hall.

In response, the young man tucked his violin under his arm and bowed politely.

Memories of all kinds welled up in his heart as the applause washed over him.

High school, professional music college, Julliard, the grand prize of the Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition… the young man’s path had felt like nothing short of a long, long dream.

But by no means had it been an easy path.

There had been days where he felt nothing but the darkest despair.

Back in his second year of junior high, he had gotten into a traffic accident, waking up in the hospital. The family and doctors all around him watched with pale faces.

Then, the report.

He would never play the violin again.

Resignation and despair swallowed up the following days. It was as though the bright path ahead had completely crumbled away, right before his eyes. He had to walk a long, dark road… until he finally reached its end. He could stand where he was thanks to his perseverance and dedication.

And as he pondered what had placed him before such thunderous applause…

He remembered someone. Someone who had always been by his side as he walked that dark path.

A childhood friend with a bright, unwavering smile, who always encouraged him no matter what happened.

The frustration of his incurable condition and the despair of losing his dream often manifested in him lashing out at her.

But even so, the girl continued to insist.

That miracles and magic… really did exist.

“…Sayaka,” the young man whispered, biting his lip.

I’m happy for you, Kyousuke.

He thought he could hear the voice of the girl who was no longer with him. The young man’s gaze shot up. He squinted, searching throughout the hall for her.

But all that he could see was the endless cheers and praise shining a bright light onto his coming future.