“Human Resources” Shouldn’t Be This Literal: A PMMM/ProjectMoon Quest

Chapter 62 - Goethe's Dilemma

You join Homura in her search, surveying the collapsed bodies with Sound of a Star as a lantern. The faint light emanating from the EGO should repair any minor wounds left on the now-sleeping crowd, but anything major will require special attention. It's very much like cleaning up after a particularly nasty Breach or Ordeal. Injuries must be assessed, positions reset, Abnormalities attended to. This time, you've traded placating megalomaniacal deities and overenthusiastic musicians for moving a whole bunch of people out of the street. As much as leaving it to Kyubey to try and cover up nearly a hundred people waking up unconscious in the middle of the street would be satisfying, these people don't deserve to suffer just so you can take a meaningless shot at the Incubators. Even with just one arm, carrying the unconscious citizens out of the road and onto the sidewalk is practically effortless for you now. The living are taken to one side of the road, the dead to the other. So far, you count thirteen casualties. Three adult men, six women, and four children, not counting the few you saw on the way here or any others Big Bird left before you found it. This cannot happen again. You need to find a better way of detecting Abnormalities as they appear.

Halfway through the work Homura notices what you're doing and, after a moment's pause, decides to help. She's still very much looking for someone in particular, though. It is far less easy for her than you. While Homura is certainly a very powerful Magical Girl, physical strength is not one of her particular talents. You can hear the slight strain in her breathing as she drags the unconscious bodies across the ground. The two of you work together in silence for some time.

At some point, you are drawn back towards the Sapling. Such an innocuous object, containing a creature that would render all of Mitakihara an empty husk in barely a few days. An exploratory poke-

GUIDE/WATCH/SAVE

reveals nothing unexpected. You scoop up the Sapling and, with some effort, place it in the crook of your arm. Good thing they don't seem to take much damage, otherwise being crumpled like this could be bad.

When a sharp gasp interrupts the search, you know who Homura has stumbled onto. She reaches down to the sleeping girl, hand shaking visibly, and stops barely a millimeter from her classmate's face. Even without laying a hand on her shield, time has frozen for Homura Akemi. What terrible images are playing in her head, you wonder. You've seen some of them yourself, loss and failure far too great for a child to bear. She came so close to failing again tonight. The dark-haired Magical Girl pulls back, shivering. You make your presence known with a short cough and rest a reassuring hand on Homura's shoulder.

"Hey. You alright?"

As much as she tries to hide it, you don't miss the way Homura flinches. She lets out a sigh, and some of the tension leaves her body along with it. Her eyes remain fixed on Madoka, asleep on the ground beside beside her parents.

"I am fine. What is Madoka's condition?"

You resist the urge to shake your head. You're in no place to criticize someone giving everything they have to a single task, but there is such a thing as self-care. One can't do anything when they're falling apart.

You should probably do something about your arm.

"Madoka's fine, just sleeping right now. She'll be pretty frightened when she wakes up, though. You remember everything that happened while you were hypnotized, I assume?"

"I remember everything clearly." Homura answers. "That creature was one of the Abnormalities you described, correct?"

"Yep." You grimace. "They're not all this dangerous, but engaging one without knowing what tricks it has is harsh even against the weaker ones. I took quite a bit of damage from nearly every single one seeing it for the first time."

For a moment there is almost perfect silence, the only sound the howling of the wind and the distant rush of cars. Homura slowly turns from Madoka to you, pausing in repressed surprise to stare at the stump where your arm used to be.

"Yeah, not the best things could've gone." you say with a chuckle. "It'll grow back. Probably."

Homura blinks at you, her usual blank expression looking less hard and more confused. Curious, perhaps? Whatever her feelings, she lacks the confidence to voice them and turns back to rouse Madoka.

"Ugh… it's too early, Tatsuya. I don't have to go to school…" Madoka mumbles as she awakens. The grogginess is quickly subsumed by panic when she sees the scene around her.

"Mom? Dad? Tatsuya? Where…" Her eyes drift over you and Homura, standing over her. "What happened? I remember a light, and I had to follow it, and…"

"You were attacked by an Abnormality," you say, cutting off the flow of memories. You would prefer for Madoka not to linger too long on her time possessed. Big Bird isn't an Abnormality with distinctly permanent effects on the psyche, but giving too much focus to its lamp even as a memory is a route to disaster. "Luckily, Homura saw you and then alerted me. We were able to take down the Abnormality before it could cause too much damage." You summarize the night's events in as gentle a manner as possible. No need to add survivor's guilt onto the pile of psychological issues Madoka will have to work through.

"Oh. I guess I have to thank you for saving me again." Madoka says, ashamed. "Homura, you too! I'm really grateful for you saving me!" She adds hastily. For her part, the veteran Magical Girl manages to completely conceal the flare of joy and pride that swells within her at Madoka's gratitude.

"Well, I know at least one of you has questions, but it's getting late. Homura, can you take Madoka and her parents home and keep an eye on them for the rest of the night? I'll be explaining everything tomorrow when everyone's there."

Homura nods and scans the people left sleeping on the street, eventually walking over to the woman you presume to be Madoka's mother and (with some effort) lifting her up.

"Well, this clearly isn't going to work with just one person. Madoka, can you get the baby? I'll carry your father."

The movement of walking forwards reveals the stump of your missing arm to Madoka. She gasps, but as appreciated as the concern is you can tell that this question is going to get old real fast.

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The walk to Madoka's house is relatively short, even moving at regular speeds to keep your passenger safe and taking out-of-the-way routes to avoid some of Big Bird's victims.

"Is it really okay to just leave everyone else back there? Are we not going to go back for them?" Madoka asks.

"Kyubey has systems in place for dealing with this sort of thing," you answer, recognizing the way Homura tenses at that name. "We got everyone out of the way and out of danger, so our part's over."

The pinkette nods slowly, but you can practically hear the gears turning inside of her head. She really isn't happy with leaving them there, is she?

"We don't know who most of those people are either," you continue, "so there'd be nothing more we can do."

"Right, that makes sense." Madoka says with a heavy sigh.

"You shouldn't waste time thinking about things like that." Homura says sharply, speaking for the first time since you left the site where Big Bird was. "An ordinary person should not be involved in the world of Magical Girls."

Uncertainty overcomes Madoka for a moment, but resolve pushes it back once again.

"I can't do that anymore, Homura. I'm already involved."

This argument…
[] Stay out of it
[] Intervene…
-[] Agreeing with Homura
-[] Agreeing with Madoka
-[] Support both
-[] Write-in
[] Write-in

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Big Bird's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Der Freischütz's Sapling - Observation Level 2/3
Punishing Bird's Sapling - Observation Level 1/2
Porccubus' Sapling - Observation Level 1/3

Sooo~ many Saplings! Don't worry, with the way things are going you can expect to clear some of these up in a day or so.

Actions such as offering to clean Homura's Soul Gem and healing your arm will still happen barring heavy interference, just not yet.