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Chapter 2, Part 1Sayaka strode forward, sheathing her swords and still glaring at Homura. Madoka slowly rose from the ground. There were so many questions banging around Madoka’s head, right alongside panicking instincts still shouting about whether there were more monsters around. Sayaka pulled Madoka away from the child she’d failed to help, then pulled her into a hug.“Sayaka? What? I don’t…”“You’re safe now, I promise.”A familiar hug, even with the strange outfit Sayaka wore. With Sayaka’s arms and cloak wrapped around her, maybe she really was safe now? The message slowly trickled down from her brain to her body, and the tension gave way to watery trembling as the adrenaline burned out. “Sayaka, what happened?”Homura strolled over to them, hands clasped before her. The child with dark dress and hood jumped up and ran over to her, giggling and burrowing into her side. Homura absently patted her head, smiling at Madoka and Sayaka. “Such a touching scene. A happy end to the day’s excitement, hmm?”A burst of pressure like an ocean wave, and a sword appeared in Sayaka’s hand pointing at Homura. Madoka flinched. “Stay away from her, Akemi.”“Sayaka!” Another voice, from the same direction Sayaka entered the tunnel. Madoka leaned around the hug and saw a girl with an enormous mane of red hair and red layered clothing. She ran with an enormous crimson spear in one hand, and in the other… a convenience store grocery bag? “Sayaka, I got here quick as I—” She cut off when she saw the sword pointed at Homura. “Blue… don’t do anything stupid. Don’t piss this one off.”“Listen to your hound, Miki Sayaka,” Homura said. “You wouldn’t want to upset anyone here, would you?”“Don’t, Sayaka!” Madoka begged. She had no idea what was going on between her two friends, but she wasn’t going to let it explode, not here, not after she just escaped one awful terror already. “She helped save me too!”“I suppose I did,” Homura said. “I’d call you ungrateful, Miki, but we both know I saved Madoka of my own inclination, don’t we?”Sayaka tensed, and for one awful moment Madoka was sure there was going to be a fight, but then Sayaka let her sword vanish and forced a smile onto her face. Homura’s bow also vanished, and the red-haired girl let out a relieved breath. “I suppose you did help save her, so that gets you some points,” Sayaka said. “Now, Madoka was just on her way to my place, so we’ll be going…”“Wait! Isn’t anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”The red girl walked over to their group, placing herself almost between Sayaka and Homura but just off to the side. She pulled a box of pocky out from…somewhere, and looked Madoka up and down with a sharp eye as she bit into a stick, clearly dismissing her. She seemed familiar. School! This girl was in her class. Kyouko? Madoka hadn’t spoken to her yet, but had noticed she looked bored or tired in lessons. She even fell asleep on her desk in history today, until Sayaka woke her up throwing balled papers at her head. That seemed like it had nothing to do with the sharp-eyed girl in front of her now. Kyouko looked away from her and over to Sayaka. “Alright, your little friend is safe. Now let’s call Kyubey over to wipe her memory and be on our merry way, we’ve got a bag of snacks to eat.”“No one’s touching her mind!” Sayaka shouted. “Especially not Kyubey!”“Geez, the hell is your problem, Blue? You really want her living with the kind of shit we deal with? I mean look at her, she barely has any contract potential far as I can read her. What’s the point keeping her in the loop, you need a spunky sidekick to rescue?”Homura giggled, just a little too pleased.“I don’t care if she can contract or not, I’m not letting Kyubey shred her brain!” Sayaka moved to put herself between Madoka and the others.“Please! Stop talking about me like I’m not here and tell me” Madoka shouted. Sayaka, Homura, and Kyouko stopped and all turned to look at her. Madoka stepped back. “I mean… please?”“I’m sorry, we’re being terrible, aren’t we?” Sayaka said. “I’ll tell you all about it at my place if you want. That’s better than the middle of a biking tunnel.”“I’d rather have my say now,” Homura disagreed. “You’re not trying to take sweet Madoka all for yourself, are you?”“I want to hear it now,” Madoka said. Not only did she not want to wait, but she was sure Sayaka was just trying to keep Homura away from her again, even though she’d helped.“Alright then, the quick version,” Sayaka said. “I’ll start. Those monsters were wraiths. They’re born from curses inside human hearts. Fear, anger, loneliness, envy, jealousy, despair, every negative emotion. Normal people usually can’t see them until they’re pulled into the miasma the wraiths live in, but they hunt humans and drink their spirit. A lot of time when you hear about suicides or people up and disappearing, it was because a wraith got them.”Madoka remembered the bone-deep cold that paralyzed her, and the way the three wraiths grew within the miasma as the cold within her became worse. Had they been… feeding off her? She hugged herself.“Fortunately, there exist puella magi to fight them,” Homura cut in. “We possess magic specialized to destroy wraiths, and we’re quite good at it. Mitakihara’s wraiths and miasma are somewhat worse than most places, but the city has quite a number of powerful and skilled puella magi. We have it well in hand.”“We still don’t save everyone,” Sayaka said. “We try, but some people still die. That, and we’ll never make wraiths vanish forever, not unless something changes.”“Do recall that her potential is low, Miki,” Homura said. “She won’t be wishing for any miracles, if that’s what you’re implying.”“What do you mean potential?” Madoka asked.“Puella magi are just girls who made a wish and a contract with a being called an Incubator,” Sayaka said. “Everyone has different levels of potential power. The contract gives us our powers, and we receive a wish as compensation. From then on, it’s our duty to fight wraiths and protect the world.”Kyouko, who’d been standing off to the side leaning disinterestedly on her spear up til now, sent a sharp look at Sayaka. “Oi, there’s more to the contract than that, Blue. You give a sales pitch, you damn well better give the fine print.”“You think I’d skip over that? With my own friend?” Sayaka shot back, suddenly angry. “Of course I’d tell her if that’s what I wanted!”“Whoa, okay, fine!” Kyouko threw a hand up in front of her in surrender. “Geez, I didn’t fucking mean it like that, Blue. I’m just making sure, right? You’re just being fucking weird about this whole thing, that’s all.”“Well, Miki?” Homura asked. “I’d love to hear you try to explain the stranger bits.”“Sayaka, what are they talking about?” Madoka asked. “What fine print?”“There are costs,” Sayaka admitted slowly. One hand absently rubbed at her navel—which, Madoka noticed, was covered by a C-shaped gem glowing with cerulean light. “Beyond the obvious fighting, I mean. Later, though. This is the fast version. I’ll tell you all of it later.” Sayaka laughed lightly. “I mean, it’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? Just focus on the basics for now. Monsters roam the land, and girls become magical knights to fight them off.”“What were your wishes?” Madoka asked the three.“My own damn business,” Kyouko shot back.“That’s considered an intimate question for puella magi,” Homura said. “Perhaps I’ll tell you mine sometime?”“Later,” Sayaka repeated. “Not here, not with…” she cut herself off, but it was still clear she didn’t want a private conversation with Homura around.“One thing more you shouldn’t forget to mention, Miki,” Homura said. “The magic of the world itself fights these monsters. Not so well as we puella magi, certainly, but it lends a hand.”“The tin soldiers?” Madoka guessed.“Indeed. I know they seem strange, but they’ll aid you if you’re in trouble. At the very least, they’ll stall the wraiths and send up an alarm. Trust them.” The child in black, still keeping silent and smiling absently while clinging to Homura’s side, nodded confidently at that.“So there’s the too-long version,” Kyouko said, jumping back in. “Can we split now? These rice balls aren’t going to eat themselves.”“I suppose we’ve covered the basics,” Homura said. “Take this before you go, Madoka. I believe you dropped it earlier.” Homura stepped forward and handed Madoka a lidded glass dish. It was… but hadn’t she heard the glass breaking? There was a lot happening at the time, but Madoka was sure she heard this shatter. She popped the lid, and looked at the strawberries atop the pink frosting. It was definitely Papa’s cake.Homura took another step forward and touched her shoulders with her hands. “And don’t forget about our little outing tonight,” she said, leaning in with a secretive little smile. “I’ll be waiting for you.”Madoka felt herself growing warm, and almost dropped the cake again. “I won’t forget,” she promised.Homura gave her another pleased smile and stepped away, one handing briefly sliding up to touch Madoka’s neck as she did. Then she turned and left, disappearing out the tunnel exit without looking back.Sayaka and Kyouko dropped their transformations in a flash of cerulean and crimson light before they left the tunnel, which Madoka thought was actually really cool. Or, would be, if it weren’t for all the monsters. They were just like magical girls. No, they weremagical girls, weren’t they? After transforming, Kyouko wore black jean shorts and an emerald green shirt that set off her wild crimson hair and eyes and left her stomach bare. Her clothing looked inexpensive, but new and well cared for. Kyouko seemed to want to get rid of her earlier, but didn’t act bothered by her presence now. On the other hand, she didn’t look at her much while they walked either. Maybe Kyouko was just ignoring her until she left?They made their way back to Sayaka’s apartment, hurrying at Sayaka’s insistence. As soon as they stepped in the door, Madoka let out a sigh of relief.“Welcome to my humble home,” Sayaka said as she tossed her shoes aside. “The crazy girl is Sakura Kyouko, she lives here too. Ah, I had this really stupid joke all ready for when you asked why, about a bet, a DDR machine, and how now she was my waifu, but I guess now I can just say it’s so we puella magi can stick together.”“I could still laugh if you want me to?” Madoka offered.Kyouko snorted. “Don’t bother, kid. Pretty sure the wife joke was just to piss me off.”“Of course!”“The thanks I get for looking after your sorry ass,” Kyouko lamented.Sayaka grinned. “But you’re so cute when you’re mad!”“Lucky for me, so is your sorry ass,” Kyouko returned, with a fanged grin.Sayaka was left stammering at that, marking Kyouko the victor of that bout and making Madoka giggle. They retreated to Sayaka’s room, where Sayaka lamented how the juice she had laid out had gone warm and Kyouko shouldn’t have made her skip the ice. Sayaka and Kyouko jumped right into more banter, and the two of them bickered like they were somewhere between old friends and a straight man/goofball comedy routine, dragging Madoka into their fights whenever possible.Madoka knew what they were doing, of course. Or rather, what Sayaka was doing. She was trying to keep Madoka engaged and calm and happy and not freaking out about almost dying or everything she’d just learned. Kyouko, on the other hand, just couldn’t seem to resist rising to Sayaka’s constant bait. Madoka knew what Sayaka was doing, and went along with it. She felt safe with these two.After obliterating the rice balls in Kyouko’s grocery bag, they started in on the cake Papa baked them. Kyouko snatched the dish first and popped the lid open, sending her eyes shooting wide open. “Oh fucking hell, that smells.” Madoka wasn’t sure what she should do first, be scandalized at the scary girl’s language or giggle at how she was drooling.As soon as the first forkful went into Kyouko’s mouth, she stopped. After her brain restarted, she rolled the mouthful around carefully, making delighted noises. Then she swallowed and had a second mouthful with a disbelieving face as though she expected the first taste to turn out to be a fluke. “This… this cake… this stuff is better than Mami’s!”“Who’s Mami?” Madoka asked.Sayaka shrugged. “Tomoe Mami, friend of hers. Kyouko swears by her cooking, but I’ve never had any.” She started on her own slice with a look of eager expectation.“It tastes like strawberries!” Kyouko cried out rapturously.“It’s a strawberry cake,” Sayaka said. “There are fresh strawberries right on top of it.”“No no, I mean even the frosting tastes like strawberries, and I don’t mean the nasty weird sugar candy version. The frosting tastes like fruit!” Kyouko waved her arms around like wild gesticulations would somehow make the others understand. “Madoka, how the hell did your dad even do that?”Madoka swelled with pride. “Papa’s a great cook!”“He is,” Sayaka said. “It’s just like I remember it. Better, even.”Kyouko looked at Sayaka, betrayed. “You used to get food this good without me? There’s such a thing as cake even better than Mami’s in this world, and you didn’t tell me?”“It’s not like I knew you back then…”Kyouko ignored that and turned to Madoka instead. “We’re eating at your place sometime.”“Oi, don’t just invite yourself!”Madoka waved away Sayaka’s protest and leaned toward Kyouko. “I’d love having you and Sayaka over! But fair warning, you might get scolded if you swear at the dinner table. Mama always told me ‘a young lady shouldn’t cuss unless she’s got a damn good reason.’”“I can be good!” Kyouko insisted. And then, at Sayaka’s look of disbelief, “What? Really! I can! Scout’s honor! Especially if it’s for food!”Sayaka chose not to dignify that, and instead turned to Madoka. “So what’s your mom say when you try to call her on her little philosophy there, anyway?”“Ehihi, she says she got her license to cuss as much as she wants when she had to trade in her young lady card to be an adult.”After cake, they moved onto video games. Sayaka had a new game about squids with paint that she and Kyouko were both really good at. Madoka mostly ran around coloring as much of the level in paint as she could and hoping she didn’t run into any enemies. Nine times out of ten, she got splatted unless Sayaka or Kyouko were there to protect her.After about an hour of video games, Madoka checked the time and reluctantly spoke up between matches. “I should probably leave soon.”“Right, Akemi said something about an outing didn’t she?” asked Sayaka.“I’m… meeting her at a café later,” Madoka admitted.“Really? Huh,” Kyouko said. “Thought I heard Akemi wrong when she said that. It was weird enough when she pulled you out of class on your first day, too. Miss Ice Witch doesn’t give anyone the time of day.”Madoka shot Kyouko a look as angry as she could manage on short notice, which was still about half pout; Kyouko looked more ready to start laughing than flinch in fear. “Kyouko, her name is Akemi Homura, not Ice Witch. That’s not nice at all.”“Already defending her,” Sayaka said, fondness and exasperation mixed together. They both gave way to a tight expression, and Sayaka drummed her fingers on the table nervously. “Before you go, there’s one more thing I want to talk about.”“Sayaka, what is it?” Madoka asked, putting down her controller. “You… you look worried.”Sayaka laughed, but it sounded forced. “Am I? No, not really. I’m just curious. Did Akemi say anything when she pulled you out of class?”Madoka fidgeted. “Maybe? Mostly she just showed me around the school, but she also talked a little about… um… philosophy, I guess you could call it?”Kyouko groaned. “Don’t we get enough of that in lit class? If you’re going to drag a new friend out of the middle of class, the least you could do is show her the real important shit. Like, where the cafeteria and the good vending machines are and where the teachers don’t check when you want to skive off, not try to recruit her for freaking philosophy club. Huh, wait a sec. Akemi’s not in any club, I don’t think. Other than our ‘extracurriculars,’ anyway.”Honing in on how uncomfortable Madoka suddenly seemed, Sayaka leaned toward her over the table and fixed her with a stare. “Akemi did something else to you, didn’t she?”“Um…” Madoka blushed crimson, and couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.Sayaka’s face contorted with the start of an apoplectic rage. “She did, didn’t she?”“She just gave me a hug!” Madoka blurted out, trying to head off Sayaka’s anger.Sayaka slumped onto the table at the same time Kyouko burst out laughing. “Oh no! So that’s what’s got Sayaka all tense and pissed off! Akemi works too fast! A hug! That’s way too lewd!”Madoka rushed on. “I mean, it was kind of surprising, but I think it was okay? Really, I didn’t mind, Sayaka. Homura could use a hug. She seems like such a lonely person.” Her voice dropped to nearly a whisper, talking mostly to herself. “She must be, if she believes what she said.”Sayaka pushed herself up and tried to shut Kyouko up with a death glare, which only made her laugh harder, and said, “Madoka. I bet I can guess the gist of what Akemi said, something about her desires being more important than order or altruism or… anything else, really.” She watched Madoka’s face, and caught the signs of guilty confirmation in her eyes.Sayaka sighed. “I thought so. Look. I wanted to talk to you about this before Akemi did, but it’s too late for that. There’s no way to tell you this without making you mad, so I’m just going to say it. Akemi might seem like she’s just lonely, and I know it’s in your nature to want to help, but she’s a dangerous person. You’d be better off if you stayed away from her.”got Kyouko to shut up. The laughter cut off mid-bark and she stared at Sayaka, plainly confused.Sayaka went on, getting heated. “She’ll do anything to take whatever she wants. Nothing’s sacred to her! Look, this sounds melodramatic as hell, I get that, but Akemi’s a menace!”“Why would she want to hurt me, though?” Madoka asked. Then she paused, looking at Sayaka, taking in how upset and unsettled she seemed. “No, that’s not it. Sayaka, did… did Homura do something to?”Sayaka shrugged uncomfortably, trying to smile. “Nothing worth mentioning. She’s just…” she struggled for words she could safely say, “…not a nice or good person. At all.”Kyouko wasn’t looking away from Sayaka.she asked, in telepathy where Madoka couldn’t hear.Madoka leaned forward, one hand up on the table. “Did she stop you from working as puella magi? Or hurt one of your friends?” Sayaka’s face twitched. “Or did she threaten you while you were alone? Did the two of you get in a fight?”Sayaka ignored Kyouko entirely and tried to wave off Madoka’s concern, but her shoulders were hunched and tight. “Not really,” she insisted. “She’s just… dangerous.”“Sayaka. Homura asked me to come meet her alone later. Are you saying there’s a reason she might try to hurt someone like me?”Sayaka looked torn for a second, and then like she hated the words coming out her mouth. “If I’m being honest, I’m forced to say she wouldn’t. She’s not… dangerous quite like that. Just, please, don’t trust her too much, Madoka.”Sayaka twisted to glare at Kyouko.Sayaka replied with a sullen glare.“I can leave if you two need to talk…”Kyouko and Sayaka jumped in their seats at looked at Madoka, who wilted under the attention.“Um, it’s just, you two were glaring at each other but didn’t want to say anything? I should go soon anyway.”“Right, your date with Akemi,” Sayaka said. “Wouldn’t want to cut into that, would I?”Kyouko shot Sayaka a squinty side eye. “Liiieees,” she whispered. “Filthy liiieees.”Madoka blushed at the date comment, but didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she asked, “Um, is it… safe for me to walk home?”“Sure, the wraiths are dead, aren’t anymore nearby. They’re rare in day anyway.” Kyouko said, waving it off.“I’d feel better if one of us walked you home anyway,” Sayaka countered. “Those wraiths shouldn’t have been hunting in the first place.”Kyouko opened her mouth to disagree, then shut it. “This is true,” she admitted. “Hell, I don’t even know what’s happening anymore.”“Let me wash your cake dish real fast and I’ll walk you home,” Sayaka said, getting to her feet.“I’ll pick it up next time,” Madoka said. “And… um… actually, would it be okay if Kyouko walked me home?”Kyouko looked at Madoka, sharp eyes considering. “Okay. Yeah, let’s get this out of the way, then.”They stood to go and said their goodbyes. Madoka paused at the door and looked back at Sayaka, who was gathering up dishes and leftover snacks. “You said Homura’s dangerous. Aredangerous, Sayaka?” Madoka didn’t shy or flinch away when she said that; her eyes were still trusting and fixed intently on Sayaka’s own.“Not to you, I’m not,” Sayaka replied with a smile. “I’d never hurt you.”They walked in silence at first. Madoka didn’t know how to start. Kyouko… even when she was making jokes and scarfing down cake, Madoka couldn’t forget how easily she’d suggested something like wiping her memories. There was something lean and wolfish about her, even when she was at ease.After Madoka almost figured out how she was going to ask for the third time in a row, Kyouko sighed in disgust. “Hey, kid. Give me some dirt on Sayaka.”“Eh?”“C’mon, you two were childhood friends forever ago, right?”“Since always,” Madoka said. “Our mothers were college friends. We grew up together.”Kyouko grinned with mischief. “So you’ve got all sorts of blackmail on her, right? Gimme something good I can make fun of her for.”Madoka thought a moment. “You know how much she loves music, right?” Kyouko nodded and rolled her eyes, clearly thinking it was hard to miss. “Back in second grade our class learned to play the recorder. It took her about two weeks to understand blowing as hard she could didn’t really help. The teacher kept getting really mad at her.”“Aww, that’s adorable!” Kyouko said, snickering.“She’d be all red in the face, twice as loud as everyone around her, huffing and puffing between songs to catch her breath. She kept going so shrill it hurt everyone’s ears because she was overblowing, but she still just sat there kicking her little legs and playing away as happy as she could be!”Kyouko bust up laughing. “What a dork lord! Damn, I’m so going to rig her wakeup alarm to be shitty recorder music now. She’ll hate me, it’ll be awesome.” Kyouko took a deep breath. “Okay then, I’ll call that ice broken. Now spit it out, kid.”Madoka let out a squeak. Was she that obvious? …yes, probably, she was. “Well. Um, Kyouko, I know you don’t really like me much, and probably think it’s none of my business…”“‘S not about not liking you, kid. I just think puella magi and civvies are better off keeping their distance.”“W-well, anyway, I just wanted to ask what’s wrong with Sayaka?” Kyouko gave her a calculating look, telling her to go on. “Sayaka is really pushing herself, isn’t she? Maybe I just can’t read her as well as I used to. But she really seems like she’s trying to put on a happy face, and I don’t think she should be.”Kyouko snorted. “Yeah, that’s definitely a thing she does. Idiot’s been all grim and worried for awhile now.”“And Homura,” Madoka went on. “Sayaka really doesn’t like Homura for some reason. Why? Why is Sayaka closing herself off?”“Hell if I know.”Madoka looked over in surprise. “What?”“I said, hell if I know.” Kyouko shrugged. “We’ve been busy, but nothing’s gone crunchy wrong. If Sayaka’s ever dealt with Homura before, for puella magi business I mean, not just school stuff, then it wasn’t while I was around. And far as I can tell, you’re the one she’s putting up the happy-go-lucky face for.”“What? But why me?”“Do I gotta say it a third time?” Kyouko gave her an impatient glare, which immediately changed into frustration as Kyouko rubbed her hands to her forehead. “Gah, what the hell do I know, though? Immature wraiths waking up way too early to chase around girls who don’t even have a lot of magic to bait ‘em, wraiths in broad daylight in the first damn place, Sayaka suddenly has a blood feud with Akemi, Kyubey’s up and disappeared… It’s like the world got turned upside down and no one remembered to tell me. Sayaka says there’s something wronger than usual with the city, and I’m starting to think she’s right, but what is she even right about?”Madoka ran a few steps ahead and stopped in front of Kyouko, blocking her. “Please, Kyouko, if you find out anything about what’s worrying Sayaka, anything at all, please tell me! I want to help her.”Kyouko watched thoughtfully, taking in the little puffball desperately blocking her path. “You know, kid, before the wraiths happened and everything went to hell, I was planning on pulling you aside when you got to Sayaka’s place. Be scary at you, lean over you and growl a bit, just tell you to keep your distance with Sayaka and not pry ‘cause she’s got important shit to do, that sort of thing.”“It wouldn’t have worked,” Madoka declared. “It would just make me worry for her more if you did that.”“Yeah, I’m starting to get that,” Kyouko muttered. “You look all mousey at first, and she’s a brash idiot, but you two are exactly the same, aren’t you? Frigging heroes of love and justice.”“And you’re fighting alongside her,” Madoka said, challenging Kyouko. “What does that make you?”“Look. Me and Sayaka…” Kyouko swore violently for a few seconds under her breath. “She helped me out, okay? Real long story short, some bad shit happened, I went wild with grief for awhile, and then Sayaka came along and reminded me what it’s like to believe in something. So I owe her, right? And maybe her hero bullshit isn’t all bullshit andMadoka had been wrong. Kyouko definitely wasn’t a wolf. She was a puppy. A great, big, slobbery puppy who just had to be a wolf sometimes. Madoka giggled, grabbed Kyouko’s hands in hers, and leaned up to look in her eyes. “Because you care about her, dummy,” she said. “And you know I do too, and you’re trying to say that even though you don’t want me getting caught up in puella magi things, you’ll be happy if I can help Sayaka at all.”Kyouko, her hands limp with surrender in Madoka’s, stared at her. Her eyes were wide open, exactly as they had been when she’d gotten her first whiff of Papa’s strawberry cake. “I think I get why Sayaka was so worked up about you showing up,” she said, blush creeping onto her face.“Eh? What’s that mean?”“Nothing, Pigtails, nothing at all. Come on, we’re getting you home.” Kyouko pulled her hands free and slid around Madoka to start walking again. As she did, she pulled out one of the infinite boxes of candy she seemed to hide about her person, this one of strawberry hard candies. She popped one in her mouth, and chucked the rest of the box over to Madoka. “In return for the cake,” she explained. “And don’t expect me to walk you up to the door or nothing, you’ll probably be happier if your parents don’t see you hanging out with a girl like me.”“Thanks,” Madoka said as she caught the candy and threw one in her mouth. Definitely a puppy. “Mama would like you, actually. You’re cool and tough, just like her!”Kyouko shot Madoka a suspicious glare. “Hell is that that supposed to mean, Pigtails?”“Nothing!” Madoka said it with a singsong lilt and a smile, then rushed to catch up to Kyouko’s side.