[X] Suggest a sleepover, and
-[X] Do girl stuff with your friends until it's time to go to sleep
-[X] Try to woo Madoka
-[?] Break down and try to explain things to Madoka in a timestop hug?
The three of you put your studies to rest as dinner rolls around. Archer has left something in the fridge; even reheated, the taste of his cooking is something out of this world. After dinner, the three of you return to your studies, though as the night grows later none of you can muster up the will to focus. However, you only realize how late it's gotten when Hitomi attempts to stifle her yawning.
You check the time on your phone, and are surprised to find it to be much later than you expected. Madoka and Hitomi should be going to bed soon, but... You don't want them to go just yet. Madoka... You never want to let her go, but you're surprised by how much Shizuki Hitomi has grown on you as a person; her and Miki Sayaka. Truly, this timeline is a very strange one, though the growing positives may yet tip the scales of balance against the many negatives.
"Would you two like to... Stay the night, perhaps? I... I don't have any guest beds, but I can provide blankets if you want."
Madoka looks delighted, eagerly replying with all haste with "A sleepover with Homura-chan? I'd love to!" but Hitomi is a little more hesitant with her answer.
"I don't know, Akemi-san. I would have to call my parents first, though they will probably say no on account of tonight being a school night."
"That's perfectly understandable." As much as Hitomi has grown on you over this loop, you would much prefer a night alone with Madoka.
Hitomi steps out to call her parents. Madoka also calls home, but she does so in the living room with you, confident that they will say yes. They do, of course, but to your surprise Hitomi's parents also give the green light. You prepare blankets and pillows for your guests, but despite being tired neither Madoka nor Hitomi seem to want to turn in just yet.
"I... I understand that this might be in poor taste, Akemi-san, given how later events must have no doubt coloured things, but I would like to hear about your date with Madoka, if you would be willing to share."
You aren't offended by her question, but before you have a chance to say so, Madoka interjects. "Homura-chan and I had a lot of fun! We went to the mall and I bought her a new phone, then we went clothes shopping and picked out a bunch of cute outfits for her! Then we went to the culture festival, and she won me a prize at the shooting gallery, and I won her a prize too! Then we found the guy doing outdoor showings of movies and watched Spirited Away, and when we were done we went home and watched the sun set in the park." She said all of that without ever stopping to catch her breath. The lungs on that girl...
"And then, Homura-chan was about to tell me something really important, but that's when she found you and Sayaka-chan hiding in the bushes."
"Again, I apologize for allowing Sayaka-san to follow you all day, and for going along with her against my better judgement."
A part of you is relieved that Sayaka and Hitomi interrupted you. Confronted with a situation that you had never been in before, you were about to reveal to Madoka the truth behind your timeline looping... You know she would have rejected you once she heard that. She would have thought you crazy and never wanted to speak to you again.
You can't blame her.
Several moments pass by in awkward silence, broken when Madoka asks "Since this is a sleepover, what sort of games should we play? Sayaka-chan isn't here, so I don't think Truth or Dare would be very fun, and... Well, only one of us likes boys, so I guess it's not fair to talk about who we like..."
"Oh?" Hitomi looks at Madoka, displaying a moderate amount of surprise. "When last we gossiped about who we liked, you had said that you weren't sure yet. Have you made up your mind?"
Madoka wraps her arms around you in a massive hug, and after what she says next, you don't even need to look in a mirror to know that you are once again the red cabbage. "The one I like is Homura-chan! And I'm pretty sure she's not a boy, so I guess that means I don't like boys? I don't really know what it means, but I know that I really like Homura-chan!"
"But, Madoka-san, I thought you had decided not to romantically pursue Akemi-san until you had gotten to know her better. Isn't that what you said last night?"
Madoka shakes her head, never once slackening her grip on your body. "I like Homura-chan a whole lot, Hitomi-chan. She's so cool, and pretty, and smart; I can't stop liking her just because she's got a little mystery to her. I just won't be her girlfriend until..."
Your ears know that Madoka is still talking, but the instant the word
girlfriend passed over Madoka's lips, your mind was gone.
You aren't sure what time it is when you come back; you can't remember where you put your phone during the time you were on autopilot. You aren't even sure you would have come back until some time tomorrow, if it hadn't been for Madoka whispering in your ear "Homura-chan, are you awake?"
When you finally snap back to a state of awareness, you are lying on one of your couches. Hitomi is asleep, and Madoka is sitting beside you with her blanket wrapped around her body. "I couldn't sleep."
You smile at Madoka, responded with "Yes, Madoka; I'm awake. Did you need anything?"
"I just wanted to know if you were alright. You kind of zoned out for awhile when Hitomi-chan and I were talking earlier. I hope we didn't bore you."
"No, no, you didn't bore me. I just... Well..." You've already lied so many times to Madoka; what's one more going to do? "To be honest, you aren't the first girl that I've dated. But, all of my previous relationships were very short-lived, and... You're the first to ever say the word 'girlfriend', even if that isn't really what I am to you at this point. I guess I didn't really know how to respond to that. I'm sorry if I worried you."
"Oh... Homura-chan, I... I didn't know that. Were they all... I mean, did you like them, the way that you like me?"
Just one more lie won't hurt, you think. Just one more, then you'll only tell Madoka the truth from here on. "...
I cared very much for every one of them. But Madoka... I..."You swallow the lump forming in your throat. This next part you know isn't a lie. "When my parents died, I... I thought I would never feel anything ever again. I... I was heartbroken, both figuratively and literally. If our perception of the world was coloured by our emotions, I would have only been seeing in monochrome. I was... Alone, at the one time in my life when I needed someone the most. And then... Then I met you, and for the first time in a year I could see in colour again. It... I..."
It's getting hard to speak, dredging up these memories. Madoka is staring at you with concern deeply etched into the lines of her face, but she's staying silent, waiting for you to finish speaking. "... You gave meaning to my life when there was none, and you're able to look past my flaws and accept me without hesitation... You say that you are lucky that a girl like me would show interest in you? You're wrong; I'm the lucky one, that someone as wonderful as you would ever consider being a part of my life. I..."
"I love you, Madoka."
"Homura-chan... I... I didn't know..."
"I'm sorry... I must sound so pathetic, declaring my love for a girl I only met last week..."
Because you know you are pathetic.
There's a worried expression on Madoka's face, but she wipes it away with a smile and tries her best to sound positive when she responds with "Then I guess I'll just have to get to know you real quick, Homura-chan! Then I'll be able to love you too."
Your name is Emiya Shirou, and right now you couldn't agree more with the phrase "No news is good news". You aren't sure how much of Kazamino you've scoured in your search for the mobile labyrinth, but you've seen neither hide nor hair of it, nor of Kazamino's self-styled "owner" Sakura Kyouko and her servant Rider.
Where do you search next?
[ ] Around the train tracks near the church
[ ] The observation tower
[ ] The industrial building
[ ] The windmill
[ ] Call it a night and end the search
?
Well, I tried my best at wooing Madoka, but it wasn't really the time or place to spill the beans about the timeloops yet. Madoka's got to get us real early in the morning if she wants to catch us slipping up.
Only one of the above choices will net us an encounter with the mysterious moving labyrinth. Pick the wrong one and the day ends. Pick the right one, and... Well, a man's got to have some secrets, doesn't he?
