Neither do you look at her. Instead, you forge on. "When I woke up in that alley, I knew things." You lick your lips. "About a small number of people. Homura, Madoka, Sayaka. And other things. Other people." Mami's fingers tighten, digging into your arm. "All of whom, all of which matter and are. Worth talking about."
Why is it so hard to spit it out?
You steel yourself. "I knew about you," you whisper.
Mami makes a tiny, choked noise. Her white knuckled grip on your arm doesn't slacken.
"I, I-" you stutter. "I knew about you, I- I didn't know you. And not everything, I, I-"
"Y-you-" Mami shakes her head, tears squeezing from the corner of her eyes. "N-no, no, n-not you too-"
"No," you whisper. "No, I-" You reach up, closing your hand around hers.
She's shivering. Her hand is icy cold, fingers biting into your forearm.
"I'm not," you whisper. "I'm not. I- I didn't know you. I didn't- I'm not like it. I had no idea about you, I had no idea you could cook everything under the sun I didn't know you were in the archery club I didn't know you liked to play video games." You're babbling at this point. You force yourself to take a shaky breath. "I didn't know we'd get along so well. I- I didn't know we could be friends."
"F-friends," Mami whispers. Tears streak down her face, her breath stuttering gasps in her throat. "I-I- S-sabrina- you- K-kyub- I-"
Her Soul Gem. You can feel it, throbbing as it fills. Grief surges, closing on the halfway mark.
Way too close for comfort.
You raise your hand, cupping it gently over Mami's. She flinches, hand shaking.
You pull your hand free, dragging a river of Grief free.
Mami makes another choked, terrified noise.
Golden light blossoms. You flinch, and something slams into your side and then you're falling-
By the time you hit the floor, you're bound securely in a cocoon of golden ribbons. Your arms are clamped to your side, and Mami-
Mami stumbles to her feet. She's transformed and swaying, eyes wide enough to show the whites all around. Manic and staring and terrifed.
Her hands are empty.
She manages a step away. Toward the window. Her eyes don't leave yours.
And she stops, rocking in place. She falls.
A wailing sob. On her hands and knees, she scrabbles back to you, grabbing you roughly with shivering hands. She pulls you close, hugging you like a giant bolster.
"W-why," she whispers, shaking you roughly. "Why? W-why- y-you- why?"
