Ranbu Escalation (PMMM/Gaim)

[X] They don't need to know everything. Something bad happened in the future, Homura wants to stop it, this will help.

Not far from Mitakihara Middle School, there was a coffee shop on the corner of the street, just within sight of the front gate of the school. By the coffee shop was a small alley, of sorts. It was completely visible to the street, so people could hardly do something in it without drawing attention, but it was also somewhat private, at least as far as it came to conversations.

The noise of the coffee shop ended up covering most of the sound made in the alley, so you could have a conversation there mostly in private, and the only real way to listen in would be to stand at the entrance of the alleyway, which was hardly subtle. It was a good place for having a conversation privately without having to go out of your way to find somewhere better after leaving school.

Madoka waited by that entrance of the alleyway, looking at her phone every few seconds nervously. She'd sent Hitomi and Sayaka a text to meet her by the alley, not long ago, and Homura had confirmed that she would be there too, once she managed to figure out how to avoid anyone who would want to know more about the magical girl thing.

And so Madoka had been waiting for a while. Sayaka and Hitomi were taking their time, Madoka noticed. Maybe they were having a conversation about something and had slowed down because of it?

...Well, they were taking their time, and that gave Madoka a little longer to figure out what Homura had been talking about.

She couldn't figure out much more about the bad thing Homura had warned her about earlier, or about whatever the Yggdrasil part of it could be. She needed to know more, but she couldn't push Homura on it. Madoka didn't know how she kept it together as well as she did in class, so she didn't want to get it any worse than this...

The thing about the magical being, the 'Kyubey' that Homura had mentioned, meanwhile...

Something that made people into Magical Girls for some reason, manipulated them, and...

The way Homura had said she became a Magical Girl, it sounded like she had done it just before she became a time traveller. In fact, the way she said it, it sounded like that was the first time Homura had told Madoka, even in the future which she came from.

...Which, thinking about it...

No, no, Homura had held it together too well for it to be something like that. Most likely, Homura became a Magical Girl and went back in time without waiting long enough to say goodbye. Yes, that had to be it.

But the point remained, in that case, that Homura already knew that Kyubey wasn't something she trusted when she came back in time. If she had become a Magical Girl just before it, if one went directly into the other, then that means she knew that Kyubey would be something she opposed and still became a Magical Girl anyway.

...But that was just speculation. Maybe the bad thing Homura came back to warn everything about was responsible for the time travel, not the Magical Girl thing. Which would probably make more sense, since if Kyubey could give Magical Girls the ability to go back in time, Madoka didn't think that it would give the ability to someone opposing it. Unless it was related to some kind of plan, but that train of thought devolved into pessimism rather fast...

"Madoka!" A voice called, and the pink-haired girl looked up to see her friends running up. Sayaka was the closer of the two, but Hitomi wasn't too far behind, as the two of them caught up. Sayaka stopped first, a step in front of Madoka, as she started talking.

"What's been going on?" Sayaka asked, her tone... Not quiet angry, but not exactly confused either. "Some weird girl just runs up to you in class and says some nonsense about coming back in time and being a magical girl and then you just disappear on lunch... Are you okay? Did she-"

"S-Sayaka..." Madoka spoke up slightly, her voice timid under Sayaka's forceful personality. Noticing this, Sayaka backed up a bit as Hitomi caught up, but the look on her face was still a... Complicated, one?

"Sorry, sorry." Sayaka sighed.

"Hi, Madoka." Hitomi said, as she stopped herself.

"But you get what I mean, right?" Sayaka asked again, stepping forward but doing her best to restrain herself. "What's going on with the weird girl, Madoka?"

"It's..." Madoka took a moment, to try and think of how to say it.

...Well she could hardly tell Sayaka everything, could she? Some of it seemed so unbelievable. Sayaka already knew about the time travel thing and the Magical Girl thing, but there was still a lot of things that seemed...

"S-She should be here soon." Madoka settled on, in a moment. She had to tell her friends some of what was going on, but she could hardly tell them everything Homura had told her. Even if Homura hadn't really told her that much. Which probably didn't help, since Sayaka wasn't the sort of person to believe something without much evidence after a negative first impression, which...

...Well, Madoka didn't think Sayaka was at all appreciative of Homura judging by that opening.

"Come on, Madoka." Sayaka sighed. "You were gone all lunch and we haven't even had a chance to talk about it. Who was that girl? Why did she go straight for you in the class there? What was all that about..."

"U-uh..."

Hearing the sound of a fragile voice behind her, Madoka turned around to see Homura behind her.

...When did Homura get-

Oh, never mind, that wasn't important. Maybe it was that time stopping thing from earlier.

"Hey!" Sayaka called, stepping forward. "What are yo-"

"Sayaka." Hitomi interrupted. "Why don't we step away from the street?"

Sayaka looked around for a moment, noticing the people gathering in the street, and sighed.

"Come on, then." She grumbled. "Into the alley. We can talk in there."

She walked on in, and Hitomi sighed as she did so.

"...Akemi." She stated, looking at the girl with the braids. "Or do you prefer Homura?"

"A-Akemi is good..." The girl in the glasses replied.

Hitomi nodded. "I... Please bear with Sayaka. She means well, she just doesn't know what to make of you."

The green haired girl walks into the alley a moment later, and Madoka looked back to Homura.

"...It'll be okay, okay?" Madoka assured her. "It's... I'll cover you, okay?"

Homura nodded, albeit nervously, and the two of them walked into the alley as well.

It wasn't too far from the street, but it was still a bit more private. Homura might feel more comfortable where people on the street aren't within earshot...

Sayaka was looking annoyed, as they stepped in, and she rounded on Homura as the two girls entered.

"Explain, now." Sayaka insisted. "What do you want with Madoka?"

"Sayaka, please..." Madoka spoke up, interrupting. "She's not... I..."

Madoka's words died in her throat, as she realised she had no idea where she was going with this.

Her eyes darted to the side, at Homura, who was... Cowering. She was scared.

"C-Cut it out!" Madoka forced herself to speak up. "She's scared, Sayaka. S-So..."

The realisation of how loud she had said that struck Madoka mid-sentence, and she cut herself off. Sayaka and Hitomi were looking at her, as if she'd said something weird, and...

"Alright, then." Sayaka said, her tone still off as she stepped back. "Just... What's going on?"

...She was backing off that easy?

She seemed less annoyed than earlier, though, so...

"U-um..." Homura started looking up. "I... W-Well, I-"

She looked between Sayaka and Hitomi nervously, and took a step back.

Well, this wasn't going to go anywhere like this. Stepping forward, Madoka cleared her throat and started talking.

"W-well, you heard her in the classroom." Madoka said. "And... W-We talked during lunch. She..."

Sayaka looked like she was going to say something, but her eyes darted to Hitomi first, and she stepped back instead.

"So you believe her, then?" Hitomi asked. "About the..."

"I think she's telling the truth, yes." Madoka replied.

Sayaka snorted. "Yeah. Time travel. Sure."

Homura flinched at the comment, and Madoka stepped forward, putting herself between the two.

"Sayaka." She said, softly. "She's scared. She's panicking. I... I don't think someone can fake something like this."

"...She could just be crazy." Sayaka muttered, looking away.

"I don't think she is." Madoka replied.

"So, she's from the future." Hitomi stated, trying to manage the conversation herself. "Let's say that's true, just for the moment. Why did she narrow you out, Madoka? What's going on?"

Madoka took a moment to consider her answer, before she talked.

"There's... Something bad, that's going to happen." Madoka tried. "It doesn't matter what, but Homura thinks we can prepare for it. Something related to the Inves game, but..."

"You couldn't get her to tell you more?" Hitomi asked.

Madoka looked back at Homura, who was still stammering, unable to make herself talk.

"...Give her time." Madoka decided. "It can be hard to talk about things, at the best of times..."

"So there's something related to the Inves game, that's bad enough to go back through time?" Sayaka asked, disbelief in her voice. "So what are we going to do about it?"

Homura tugged on Madoka's sleeve, and Madoka turned back, to see Homura holding the Strawberry Lockseed. Madoka took it from her, so she wouldn't have to speak up about it, and offered it to Sayaka.

"...Huh." Sayaka noted, looking at it. "What kind of Lockseed is that?"

"W-We talked about it a bit." Madoka replied. "It's... It should be better than what anyone else has right now. I think it was... I think it was that our old Seed was a D Class, and that one's an A?"

"...I feel as if that scale is meaningless, with what we know." Hitomi admitted.

"W-Well, Homura said that the one's Baron is using right now was a C Class..."

"...I'm not sure if I can trust that." Sayaka admitted. "Baron's Seeds are good enough that they're kicking everyone's ass right now. But..."

Sayaka pulled the top of the Lockseed up, popping the lock. A rip appeared in the sky above her, the usual Lockseed portal-

No. Not the usual. Most rips are only the size of the Inves that came out of it, barely coming up to a knee. This one...

This one was easily taller than anyone in the alley, easily at least three times bigger than usual. And if the Inves followed suit...

Sayaka quickly locked the Lockseed again, and the portal closed before the Inves could jump out of it. She looked down at her hand, at the Lockseed in her palm.

"...Okay." She decided, passing the Lockseed back to Madoka. "That's certainly something. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what to think about transfer student, but the Lockseed seems legit, and you trust her, so..."

Sayaka sighed. "Your call, Madoka. If you trust her, I'll go along with her for now. I don't exactly believe her, but I suppose she hasn't done anything bad yet. Just suspicious. So sure, your call."

"...Do you mind, Sayaka?" Madoka asked. "Honestly, I don't know what Homura's done to make you angry."

Madoka looked back at the girl again, who was looking up at Madoka with a face of... Admiration, was it?

"I trust you." Madoka assured Homura. "And Sayaka'll go with me. And Hitomi..."

Madoka took a moment, to consider that she didn't know much of Hitomi's opinion, and looked back at the green haired girl.

"...It seems far-fetched." Hitomi admitted, breaking eye contact. "And she isn't saying enough to convince me she's telling the truth. But... Well, it's rare to see you standing up to someone like this, Madoka."

She smiled, softly, as she looked back at the pink-haired girl.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Hitomi admitted. "But you care about this, so I'll follow your lead here."

All three of the other girls in the alleyway were looking at Madoka, and the pink-haired girl suddenly realised she was the centre of attention.

...W-Well, this was what she wanted, t-this was the good thing Madoka wanted, everyone will get along now, s-so she just needs to...

"W-Well, n-now..." Madoka began, trying to take the lead for the situation. "If..."

...It had seemed so much easier a moment ago, when she was trying to look out for someone else. Argh, had she really just done that? Sayaka and Hitomi, they both didn't sound like they were going to go with this before, but then Madoka made the decision because she...

Oh...

Sayaka's face flitted to disappointment briefly, as Madoka stepped back, and she stepped forward again.

"So she gave us a Lockseed." Sayaka said. "It's a good one. I assume it's not just meant to look pretty?"

Madoka looked over at Homura again, and Homura looked back at Madoka. Taking a breath, Homura stepped forward.

"W-Well..." She forced out, looking back at Madoka almost immediately. "We... Lockseeds. W-we need L-Lockseeds. I-If we use, the, uh..."

She trailed off, and Hitomi filled in where she was leaving off.

"You want us to win the Inves game?" Hitomi asked. "And claim the prize?"

Homura nodded, nervously, and Hitomi smiled.

"Well, that's something we can all work towards, at least." She decided. "We can take on another team today, and Sayaka, we might be able to dance if this Lockseed is really as good as it's supposed to be."

Sayaka took a moment to look at the Lockseed, thinking about it.

"...I think I've got an idea." She decided.

[X] "Let's go see Hase. I want to see the look on his face once I'm done with him."
[X] "You know, I think Danza usually claims the closest stage. How's an Inves compare to a Magical Girl?"
[X] "If this Lockseed's as good as you say it is... Why don't we go all in, pay Baron a visit?"