Mami Said Knock You Out, a Yuma Quest (PMMM)

[X] Make Kyouko promise to come back. Then let her go.
[X] Get the other girls to share this information about bees and birds you're obviously missing. It sounded important, and maybe you can share the information with Kyouko once you know!

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"I- Yuma-" you swallow. "Big Sis… you'll come back, right?"

She smiles. "Don't worry kiddo, I'll be back before you know it."

You get up out of your seat, walking over to her side. She turns to face you, putting a hand on your shoulder. "Yuma, it's okay. I'll be gone for two, three hours tops." You try to keep your face still, but a trembling lip betrays you. Big Sis pulls you in for a hug, wrapping her arms around you and planting her face on your shoulder. "Yuma, I'll be back."

"Y- … you promise?"

"I promise."

You let out a deep breath. Kyoko… you trust her. She's your Big Sis, the best there is, and she wouldn't lie to you. You trust her.

You give her one last squeeze before you pull away, a shaky smile on your face. "If Big Sis promises… we'll meet at the arcade, okay? The one near the hotel?"

Kyoko nods. "See you soon, Yuma." Your hand slips off her shoulder as she walks away. You let out a shaky breath, hand falling back down to your side, and turn to look at the others. "S-so where are we going now?"

"I…" Sayaka blinks, staring at you. "Well, I guess we could head over to the… maybe the music store?"

Madoka nods thoughtfully. "Or maybe a bookstore. Yuma… um, I'm not sure how to say this, but… you can read, right?"

You scoff. "Of course Yuma can read! And yes, Yuma thinks going to a bookstore would be fun."

Madoka smiles. "Well, then I guess the bookstore works. Are you guys done eating?"

You and Homura nod, but Sayaka shakes her head. "I've still got a bit of rice left," she says, digging in. Well, it looks like you'll be here for a few minutes more.

Actually, there was something you wanted to know…

"Hey, Guys?" you say. "Yuma has a question."

"Ask away," says Madoka, smiling.

"Wel… Yuma thinks there's something she's missing, about the Birds and Bees."

You are met by silence and stares. A piece of rice falls out of Sayaka's mouth, landing on her plate and bouncing lightly.

"You… You don't…"

You tilt your head. "Um, Sayaka? Are you okay?"

She shakes her head roughly, short hair flying across her face. "Oh yeah, I'm just a bit surprised, that's all! You know, a bit miffed that Kyoko lied about you getting The Talk, but really I'm just panicking about having to explain it to you!"

"W-what is it?" you say, frowning. "Why are you so worried?"

Sayaka looks away, turning to Madoka for help. Madoka shakes her head frantically, and when Sayaka looks to Homura she is met with a raised eyebrow and a blank stare. Sighing, she turns her attention back to you.

"W-well, Yuma," she says, eyes flitting from side to side. "How much do you know about… w-where babies come from?"

You look upwards, brow furrowed. "Well, a baby is in a mom's stomach, and then they come out, right?"

Sayaka lets out a deep breath, smiling. "Oh, so you do know it then? Well, why didn't you say so?"

"What do you mean?" you ask. "Yuma doesn't know what you're talking about. What are the birds and the bees?"

Sayaka leans forward, putting her weight on her elbows and rubbing her temples. "Alright, Yuma. Do you know how babies are made?"

"Well, when a mom and a dad really like each other... Something happens, and nine months later, out pops a kid!" you say. "Because… Yeah!"

"Okay, okay, okay," says Sayaka. "Er, Madoka, help me out? Please?"

"Oh, um, okay?" says Madoka. "Well, Yuma, you see… Kyoko can tell you about it!" She smiles, clapping her hand together. "Yeah, that's it!"

Sayaka smiles too, but Homura frowns. She says nothing, but Madoka notices. "What's bothering you, Homura?"

"It's nothing, just… It seemed that Kyoko Sakura didn't know what it was either."

Sayaka pauses, smile frozen in place. "Oh. Oh she doesn't, does she? That's why- oooh, boy."

What... you are very confused.

"What is happening?" you ask. They slowly turn towards you, forced smiles fixed on their faces.

"Oh, well Yuma," says Sayaka. "It's, um, well you see- Homura brought it up, she can explain!" Homura sighs, but raises her gaze to meet your own. "Yuma, I want you to listen very closely, as I am not emotionally prepared to do this again if you mishear anything." You nod, listening intently, and she continues. "You see, once people reach a certain age, they begin to go through puberty."

"It sounds weird," you say.

"You're right. Once people reach puberty, they begin to experience things called hormones, which are emotions but somehow even weirder. They make people want to do things like kiss, and such."

"Kiss?" you say. "Kissing is… not Yuma's cup of tea."

"I thought so," says Homura. "But when a man and a woman are feeling particularly irresponsible, they will do a Thing, which I refuse to explain to you, and nine months later out pops the baby, squishy and stupid and ready to be abandoned."

"That's… right, I guess, but maybe a bit dark?" Madoka says.

"That makes sense," you say. "Actually, Yuma sort of knew some of that? A bit? Just the nine months part?"

"G-go Homura?" says Madoka, not letting her complete lack of knowledge of what's going on stop her from supporting her friends. "You… did it?"

"I think she did," says Sayaka. "Crisis… averted?"

"Yuma still does not know why you were so afraid," you say. "But Yuma also remembers that you said Kyoko didn't know either, so…"

Madoka groans, and Sayaka stares at Homura. "Homura, since you did so well explaining it to Yuma-"

"Sayaka, don't be mean," says Madoka. "We can do it together. As a group." She looks away, nervously tapping her fingers together. "A group of friends?"

Ohh. Madoka's probably worried that you and Homura don't think of her as your friend. Well, she's probably more worried about Homura than you, for many reasons. Mainly, that Homura hasn't hugged her yet, which is quite frankly a glaring oversight on Homura's part.

"Yeah, we're friends!" you say, beaming at Madoka as she smiles at you in turn. "We hugged! And we both hugged the same person! And we were in a hug pile together!"

"Well, we were," says Sayaka, but Madoka isn't looking at her. Her attention is focused solely on Homura, though she at least pretends to look away for a bit. How cute.

Homura sees right through this, raising an eyebrow in Madoka's direction. Madoka lets out an 'eep', blushing at Homura's steady gaze. Homura lets out a sigh, and Madoka looks up at her, eyes wide and hopeful.

"Yes," says Homura. "I guess I would consider you to be my friends."

"What, no snarky remark?" says Sayaka. "Nothing else? Just 'I like and care about all of you'?"

Homura nods. "Perhaps some slightly sardonic additions in my internal monologue, but it does go something like that."

"That's- that's cool." Sayaka smiles. "Yeah, that's pretty cool."

Aww, this is nice. Homura's being nice, and Madoka's blushing, and Sayaka's smiling at Homura.

There's only one thing that could make this any better.

"Group hug?" you suggest.

"Yuma, haven't you been taught basic economic principle?" asks Sayaka. "Don't you know that oversaturation of the market leads to a devaluing of whatever goods or services you're trying to sell?"

"N-no," you say. "Why… why would you think I know that, whatever it is?"

"What? But that's, like, grade four stuff right there! I knew that by the time I was nine!"

"Sayaka, Yuma is not sure how to tell you this," you say. "But Yuma is eight years old."

Sayaka blinks. "Oh, right," she says. "Well, if we could all be so kind as to pretend that never happened, let's go somewhere else!"

That sounds good to you, so you get out of your seat and follow Sayaka to the checkout. There's some minor squabble between Homura and Madoka about who pays for what- Homura wants to pay for the whole thing, but Madoka insists that she should at least pay for herself- and within a minute or two you're back out in the mall.

"Alright, where did we say we should go?" asks Sayaka "A music store, a…"

"A bookstore!" you chime in. "And we're meeting Big Sis Kyoko at the arcade in an hour or two!"

"Right, that's what it was," says Sayaka. "I know a nice bookstore near the arcade, so we should hit up the music store first."

You nod along with the others. As you walk along with the others, arms swinging from side to side, you can't help but worry.

What if Big Sis doesn't come back? You wonder, feeling a creeping sense of dread deep in your stomach. What if she's trying to get away from Yuma, to, to!

No.

You let out a shaky breath. Big Sis won't abandon you. She's told you before that she'd never abandon you.

You're not sure of a lot, but you're sure that Big Sis wouldn't lie to you.

You smile. Big Sis will be at the arcade, you know that. You-

"Oof!"

You stumble back, reaching up to rub your forehead. Did you just run into Madoka? You did, didn't you? Well, that was embarrassing. Oops?

"Yuma?" Madoka turns around, rubbing her back. "You okay?"

"Yeah, Yuma is fine," you say, rubbing your head. "Yuma just got distracted, that's all."

Madoka frowns, but doesn't say anything else. "Anyway, we're here."

Looking up, you see that you've arrived at the music store. It's super modern, all glass and see-through plastic, with stations set up every once in a while. For an expensive looking store in the middle of a busy mall, there's practically no one there. The few music lovers in the store are so entranced by their music that they don't even lift their heads when your group enters.

"So Sayaka, are you gonna get more music for Kyosuke?" asks Madoka.

Sayaka nods. "Yeah. Now that his hand's better, I figured he'd appreciate it."

"Who?" you ask.

"Kyousuke Kamijou, a friend of mine," Sayaka explains. "He's a violinist, one of the best in Japan!"

"He sounds… cool?" you say.

"Hell yeah he's cool!" says Sayaka, grinning. "Hearing him play is just amazing!"

"She may have a bit of a crush on him," whispers Madoka.

"I do not!" exclaims Sayaka. "Absolutely not! Well, I mean, maybe a little… that's what my wish was, actually. I wished that his hand got better." She lets out a wistful sigh. "Well, time to find some classical music he doesn't have already."

This complicates things. A boy that Sayaka likes?

Well, you're sure that Big Sis Kyoko can out-romance any boy, no matter how good they are at violin. The Kyoko Charm™ has never failed, by your completely unbiased count!

Sayaka walks over to the nearest stand, putting on headphones and flipping through the selection. Homura goes to one opposite her, though she only puts the headphones over one of her ears and not-so-discreetly looks up at you and Madoka every few seconds. You go to join them and hopefully find something catchy, but a hand on your shoulders stops you.

"Hey, Yuma," says Madoka, leaning down so she's level with you. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding, but- are you, well, doing okay? I noticed you were acting a bit weird earlier, and I worried. Is everything okay?"

Madoka's… worried about you? Aww, she really is nice.

What do you say?

[ ] Admit that you're afraid. What if Kyoko doesn't come back?

[ ] Brush it off; it's nothing.

[ ] Say you're doing fine, but thanks for asking!

[ ] Write-In