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

[x] At the dinner...
--[x] Subtly ship Kyoko and Sayaka. Hint at things, nothing else
--[X] Madoka and Homura.
--[X] Thank Sayaka's dad for supper.
---[X] And Sayaka herself, of course, and Sayaka's mom (for hospitality) if she's there.
--[X] Eat all the food!
----[X] Just be careful when eating.

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"Yuma thinks you should wear the second outfit," you say. "It makes you look cool!"

"Fancy it is!" says Kyoko. "Well, fancy by my standards. Which are the best ones, of course, but- oh no, what if Sayaka thinks I'm dressed too fancy?"

"Big Sis, your outfit isn't really fancy," you say. "You said it yourself; by your standards, sure, but by Sayaka's? Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Sayaka-"

"No! You aren't allowed to actually say the worst that could happen! That's cheating! Don't cheat!"

Kyoko shakes her head and takes the outfit into another room. Well, even if she's nervous, you know that the second outfit is better. So cool…

Say, shouldn't you get changed as well? You got some clothes too, and if Kyoko's getting changed you should too. That in mind, you take your new outfit- jeans and a white t-shirt- and head to the bathroom to change. As you finish changing and prepare to head back into the main room, you can't help but overhear Kyoko talking. "Yeah, we're just about ready," you hear her say. You open the door juuuust a crack, and peek through to see Big Sis holding a cellphone to her ear. "Yuma's just getting changed right now." A pause. "Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes. See ya then!" Kyoko stuffs the phone in her pockets, and you open the door.

"Yuma is ready to go!" you say. "Do you know where we're going?"

"Yup," says Kyoko. "Sayaka lives in an apartment building a few blocks away, and we should be there in a few minutes."

"Sounds good!" you say. "Let's go!"

You follow Big Sis out of the hotel. The crisp evening air feels cool on your skin and the sun has almost set, illuminating the streets with a pale orange light. "It's really beautiful tonight," you say.

"Yeah," responds Kyoko. The two of you share a look, and you waggle your eyebrows. "No, I won't tell Sayaka she's just as beautiful."

"Even if the two of you are walking together and holding hands and the sun's setting and she smiles and says it's really beautiful out?"

Big Sis chuckles, and shakes her head. "Yuma, you are one weird little girl."

"Agreed," says Homura, walking in step with you like she'd always been there. Kyoko startles, hopping to the side, but upon landing she trips on her feet and falls on her butt.

"Fucking why?" Shouts Kyoko, scrambling back to her feet. "Christ, how do you do that?"

"Yuma thinks it's magic," you say. "Homura uses magic to sneak up on us!"

"I do not need magic to sneak up on you," says Homura. She looks at Kyoko, and slowly begins to nod.

"What?" says Kyoko. "What'cha looking at?"

Homura shakes her head, lips turning slightly upwards in the most unenthusiastic, bare-bones smile you have ever seen. "Oh, nothing. I just came to a realization, that's all."

"And?" Kyoko raises her palms to the sky in a silent invitation for Homura to continue. "That realization is…"

"Just that you have a crush on Sayaka Miki," says Homura.

"W-What? I, I don't-" Homura raises an eyebrow and fixes Kyoko with a questioning stare. "Well, okay, yeah. But how did you figure out?"

"It is quite simple, really," explains Homura. "You got changed, more importantly into an outfit that- at least by your standards- would be considered fancy. Why? If you wanted to simply wear a different outfit, it would have made more sense to wear the black outfit you got on our shopping trip. But instead, you went for something more… formal. Dashing, even. The logical conclusion is that you were attempting to charm or impress someone; given the nature of this dinner, and taking your past behavior into account, that person is almost certainly Sayaka Miki." Homura steps forward, turning around to face you, and-

Homura runs a hand through her hair, flicking it out in a physics-defying cascade of perfection. Her hair seems to flow through the air, each individual strand billowing out in a glistening piece of art. "Therefore," she continues. "I came to the conclusion that you, Kyoko Sakura, have a crush on Sayaka Miki."

You stare at Homura, and Kyoko blinks. "You- how?" she says.

"I literally just explained it," replies Homura.

"Not that," says Kyoko. "I mean the hair flip."

"Magic," you say. "It's magic."

"It is not magic," says Homura. "That would be incredibly wasteful."

You scrunch up your forehead, thoughts racing. Homura's right, it would be wasteful, but you know she uses magic. So what could justify using magic to make her hair look cool… Wait, you know this! You already figured out she's trying to impress Madoka, cause she has a crush! Oh, you're so smart! You can't help but smile at your genius detective skills, which draws Homura's attention.

"What has gotten you so jubilant, Yuma Chitose?"

You smile and shake your head. "Oh, not much. Yuma also figured something out." You pause. "Does it count as figuring something out if you figured it out before and just now remembered it?"

Homura narrows her eyes. "I do not think it would. More importantly, it only counts as figuring something out if the conclusion you've reached is correct, and given the subject at hand I do not think that is the case."

Homura sighs, and Kyoko pats you on the head. "Don't listen to her, Yuma," she says. "Even if you aren't right, you'll probably be so incredibly wrong that we all laugh."

You turn away from Kyoko, letting out a 'hmph' as she chuckles. "Well then, if you don't want to hear it, Yuma just won't tell you! How d'ya like that?" Homura and Kyoko stare at you and remain silent.

You wait.

And wait.

...They'll ask you eventually, right?

"Okay okay, Yuma will tell you! Yuma realized that Homura's right; using magic to make her hair look cool is dumb, and Homura is very smart."

"So you admit you're wrong?" says Homura."It seems I had underestimated you."

"No!" you say. "The opposite of that!"

Kyoko tilts her head. "Are you saying Homura… overestimated you?"

"Yes! Because that's when Yuma there must be a reason for Homura to use hair magic! And that reason is she has a crush!"

Kyoko slowly nods. "On… Madoka, right?"

"W-What?" Homura steps backward. "I, I don't-"

"You do!" you say. "Yuma knows it!"

"I… well, okay." Homura sighs. "Since you've gone to the trouble of figuring it out, yes, I like Madoka."

"Called it," you and Kyoko say. She raises her fist, and you bump it with your own.

"Yes yes, you predicted it. But- could please refrain from mentioning it?"

"Sure," says Kyoko. "Course I will."

Homura nods, face stony. But despite her act, you notice her shoulders lowering, tension easing out of them. "Thank you. I, likewise, won't mention anything about your feelings Sayaka Miki."

Kyoko nods, and you all stop. "Is this it?" you ask, looking up at the apartment building in front of you.

Homura nods. "Yes. Sayaka Miki lives in this apartment complex. Shall we go in?" Kyoko frowns, and you reach up on your tippy-toes to pat her head.

"Don't worry, Big Sis. Everything will go great!"

Kyoko forces a smile, reaching down and pulling you into a hug. "Thanks, Yuma. You're right, everything will work out." She pulls away and slaps her cheeks. "Alright, now let's do this thing!"


----------------------------


"Hi guys!" Madoka motions for you to come in, holding the door open with a smile. You return the smile, waving hello.

"Hey Madoka," says Kyoko. Homura merely nods her head in greeting, and you step into the apartment and remove your shoes. Looking around, you notice it's warm and cozy, with fuzzy carpets covering the floor.

You can hear noises coming from a room to your right, and Sayaka pokes her head around the corner just as Madoka closes the door. "H-Hi Sayaka," says Kyoko.

"Heya, Kyoko," she says. "Welcome to my humble abode! Food should be ready in a minute! Madoka, could you get them seated?"

"Sure thing!" says Madoka, beckoning the three of you to follow her. You do, and she leads you into a room to your left; unlike the rest of the apartment, it has tile flooring, and there's a rectangular table in the middle. The table has six seats set out, and you all take a seat; you and Kyoko on one side, Madoka and Homura on the other, with the two seats at the ends of the table left empty.

"Well, this is- uh, this is nice," says Kyoko. She sniffs the air. "Wow, that smells good."

"Yeah, Seiji's a great cook," says Madoka. "That's Sayaka's dad, by the way."

Kyoko nods. You look around, not sure what to say, when Sayaka comes out of the kitchen, untying an apron. "Hey guys!"

"Hi Sayaka," says Kyoko, smiling and rubbing the back of her head. "The, uh- the food smells good!"

"I sure hope it does," says Sayaka. "It took a lot of work to get it all ready, but I think you'll all like it!"

"Oh, I think we will," says Madoka. "I've done this before, remember, and you two always make great food!"

You all chuckle quietly, until a masculine voice comes from the kitchen. "Sayaka, dear, could you help bring out the plates?" Sayaka goes back into the kitchen, and reappears a few seconds later carrying two steaming plates of food. She sets them down in front of you and Kyoko, and your mouth waters at the sight of such an appetizing dish.

It's a plate of rice and gyoza surrounding a ceramic bowl in the middle filled with Soba noodles. Steam is rising from the noodles, and you share a glance with Kyoko. She mouths something that you don't quite get, but the awe in her eyes and blush on her cheeks is enough to give you a bit of a picture. Sayaka comes back into the dining room carrying a plate of her own, and as she sits down a blue-haired man walks out of the kitchen. He's tall and thin, with short blue hair, and he looks to be in his thirties. "Ahh, I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you earlier," he says, voice surprisingly deep for his build. "I'm Seji Miki, Sayaka's dad. I assume you three are the new friends she mentioned?"

Homura nods. "Yes, I assume that would be us. I am Homura Akemi. It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Miki"

"I'm Kyoko Sakura. It's, uh, it's nice to be here."

You shake your head, disappointed in Big Sis Kyoko's lackluster greeting. Well, you suppose you can cut her some slack, what with the whole 'having supper with your crush and her family', thing, but you'll do better!

"Hello!" you say. "Yuma is Yuma!"

Everyone stares at you, and Mr. Miki tilts his head. Are they… confused? But why? What could you have said that would have confused them? "Yuma is Yuma," says Mr. Miki. "Is this a riddle of some sort?"

"N-No!" you say. "It's a greeting!" Somehow, this does nothing to help Mr. Miki understand what just happened.

"S-Sorry," interjects Kyoko. "This pipsqueak right here is Yuma Chitose. She always talks in the third person."

"So- oooooh." Mr. Miki chuckles, a jolly smile making its way to his face. "Oh, that makes sense. Well hello then, Homura, Kyoko, and Yuma. It's nice to meet you all."

You all smile at him- well, not Homura, but that's to be expected- and he rubs his hands together. "Now then, shall we dig in?"

You nod your head, and if you're a bit enthusiastic no one comments on it. It's almost reflex to shove rice and dumplings into the inescapable black hole that is your mouth, but you restrain yourself; you're a guest in Sayaka's home, you should be polite. You also want to make Big Sis Kyoko look good, but that isn't important. Painfully slowly, you eat the food in front of you, carefully slurping the soba noodles and making sure not to spill. You do pretty well, in fact, and more surprisingly so does Kyoko. You never thought something could make Big Sis slow down and be polite while she eats, but it looks like crushes are capable of many things.

"Man, this is amazing," says Kyoko. "This is some good sh- I mean, uh, it's some good soba. That's what I was saying."

Mr. Miki smiles. "Thank you! In all honesty, this is as much my daughter's work as it is mine; I can never seem to get he Gyoza right."

Ohoho, is this an opportunity? Kyoko said she wouldn't ask Sayaka out, but maybe if you're subtle and get Sayaka to figure out she likes Kyoko without you actually saying it… Well, you'll just have to be super-duper careful not to let Sayaka figure out what you're doing. Kyoko would probably be… angry, if she figured out you went behind her back. The gnawing fear starts to make itself known in your stomach, but it's quieter than before; you remember what Madoka said, about Kyoko loving you and not leaving you, but-

No, no, no bad thoughts. You're going to make Big Sis Kyoko happy, and that means getting her and Sayaka together so that's what you're going to do.

You swallow the rice you're chewing, and put your plan into action. "Yuma thinks that today was super fun!" you say. "We hung out, and we did karaoke, and we got some nice clothes!" You glance at Kyoko, and feign a minor realization. "Actually, Big Sis Kyoko, didn't you get that outfit when we were shopping?"

Kyoko nods. "Yeah, I did. What about it?"

You shrug. "Yuma just thinks it looks good."

That's the hook, thrown into the… whatever the metaphor is. Now, the only question is whether Sayaka will bite…

Sayaka's eyes lock on Kyoko, going over what she can see from over the table. She nods approvingly. "Yeah, you're right. It does look good on you, Kyoko."

Kyoko's face goes pink. "T-Thanks!" she stammers, eyes wide. "You, you look good too!"

It takes a lot of willpower to keep yourself from jumping with joy. Step one worked! Sayaka complimented Kyoko, just like you wanted! Now… Now, you wait. You… can't really do much more. Maybe some more stuff like that, but nothing too overt. But wait, aren't there more people for you to ship? Like, say, Homura and Madoka? Why, is that an opportunity you smell? "So!" you say. "While we were all having fun- and Yuma had a lot of fun- Yuma realized something. Yuma realized that Homura's hair is one-hundred percent magic!"

Your declaration is met with stunned silence. Five pairs of eyes stare at you, all with different yet similar expressions of shock; Sayaka's wide, horrified eyes contrasting her father's raised eyebrow and questioning gaze, while Homura's tired glare feels like it cuts into your soul. "M-magic!" says Sayaka, waving her hands around in a panic. "Why would you think Homura's hair is magic? Magic doesn't exist, right?"

What is she… Oh right. Her father miiiiight not know about magic yet. Umm, oops?

"Yuma Chitose, let me explain for the last time," says Homura. "My Hair. Is not. Magic."

"Then how is it so cool?" You cross your arms, just daring Homura to respond.

She sighs, and rubs her forehead. "Yuma, my hair is not that great."

"But it is! It's so silky, and luscious, and, and! Madoka, you're with Yuma, right? Don't you think Homura's hair is amazing?"

Madoka laughs nervously, and looks away from Homura. "W-Well, I wouldn't say it's magical, but-yes, Homura's hair is quite beautiful…" Madoka freezes, as if she just realized what she said, and you take it upon yourself to step in.

"See, Homura? And Sayaka, Big Sis, what about you two? Don't you agree too?"

Sayaka shrugs. "Yeah, I guess her hair's pretty nice." Kyoko nods, which you take as an agreement.

"See?" you say. "Everyone agrees that your hair is amazing, Homura, and Yuma knows it's because of magic!"

Mr. Miki laughs, putting a hand in front of his mouth as his shoulders heave. "Oh, you lot-I can see why Sayaka and Madoka seem to like you so much. I've heard a lot about you, you know?"

"Dad, I didn't talk about them a lot," says Sayaka. "I just mentioned them once or twice!"

"Sure, sure." Mr. Miki continues eating his supper, but smugly. Somehow. Argh, and now he's smug about how he seems smug without doing anything! Oh, that smug genius!

"So I assume your trip went well, then?" says Mr. Miki. "Yuma certainly seems to think so."

"Yeah, it was fun," says Madoka. "We sung Karaoke, got some books, Sayaka got some CDs for Kyosuke, it was great!"

'It sure was," you say. "And then Sayaka failed a Mario Kart!"

Sayaka scoffs, and crosses her arms. "I did not fail! I was just... unlucky!"

"Sure, unlucky," you say, trying to appear serious and doubtful but unable to keep the smile off your face. "Unlucky to be playing Mario Kart! Ha!"

'Oh, you're talking?" says Sayaka, grinning. "I distinctly remember you being waaaay behind me."

You shrug. You don't have an excuse, so you don't bother with one. "Yuma is not good at video games," you say. "BUT, Yuma didn't run into two banana peels in a row!"

"They were right there and I had no speed, I couldn't swerve out of the way!" Madoka and Kyoko laugh at Sayaka's indignant expression, shaking their heads in exasperation.

"Still, nice job on winning, Madoka," you say.

Madoka blushes and looks away. "W-Well, I didn't really do much-if Homura hadn't-"

"No," you say. "You won! Please don't try to ruin it for yourself. What Homura did was sweet, yes, but you were in first for the entire race! You deserved that!"

Madoka smiles. "Thanks, Yuma."

"Man, I missed a lot," says Kyoko. "What happened?"

"Mario Kart," says Sayaka, as if that explains everything. Really, how foolish of her. But Kyoko also seems to think that explains everything, as she nods in understanding. Well, you guess Big Sis is just weird.

Your chopsticks clink against the ceramic plate, and you look down to see that your plate is empty. You've… run out of food.

"You finished?" says Sayaka. Glancing around, you notice that everyone is just about done as well. Well, with food that good, it would be weird if they were taking a while to finish.

"Aww, now Yuma is sad," you say, head drooping. "There's no more food…" Mr. Miki chuckles, and you abruptly raise your head to stare him in the eyes. "This supper was so good! Thank you so much!"

"Oh, it was nothing," says Mr. Miki, smiling. "It was my pleasure to have you over."

"And thank you too, Sayaka for inviting Yuma and everyone over; it's been really nice."

"No problem, Yuma." Sayaka looks around at everyone's plates. "So, is everyone done?" you all nod. "In that case, why don't you all head to the living room and I'll help Dad clean up?"

Mr. Miki shakes his head. "No, I can clean up by myself. You keep your friends company."

The five of you move over to the living room, a cozy, carpeted place. You share a couch with Big Sis Kyoko, Madoka and Sayaka take another, and Homura sits down on an old rocking chair.

"So that was nice," says Kyoko. "Your dad's cool, Sayaka. Also, that supper was great. A+"

"Oh, it was nothing," says Sayaka. "And yeah, I have the coolest dad."

You completely agree. Mr. Miki seems like a great guy. But, uh, you're pretty sure that there are usually two parents. You don't want to be rude and say anything, of course, but-

"Lemme guess," says Sayaka, smiling. "You're wondering where my mom is?" You laugh nervously- well, not bringing it up doesn't work when Sayaka brings it up. "I don't mind, really- truth is, I never knew her. She left when I was a teeny weeny baby."

"Oh," you say. "That's-"

"Don't feel bad," says Sayaka. "It might be weird, but I'm not really sad about it. I dunno how to describe it, but…"

"You don't feel like anything's missing," says Homura. "You're perfectly happy with what you have."

"Yeah," says Sayaka. "Yeah, like that. Dad's great, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything."

Oh. That's… you're not sure what that is. Is it sad, that Sayaka never knew her mom? Is it good, since she loves what she has anyway? She seems happy with it, at least, so you think it's more the second.

"Sayaka, Yuma thinks tha-" you cut yourself off in a yawn, opening your mouth wide as a deep noise escapes from your mouth.

"You know, maybe it's a bit late," says Sayaka. "Yuma, are you tired? If you need to catch some shut-eye, that's fine."

But- no, you can't go! If you go, Kyoko will have to go with you! You- another yawn racks your body. Okay, maybe you should sleep, but nothing good ever came from being responsible and having a healthy amount of rest! Nothing!

What do you do?


[ ] Admit you need to go home and sleep.

[ ] Really, you're fine; you can stay.