Two friends leaned against a wall of an spacious ballroom. They were well dressed for the occasion, as was everyone else who mingled around the room.
"You know, when you said 'Secret Sabrina', I was expecting... something else."
"What?" smirked Sabrina, sipping at a tall glass, "did you expect there to be a 'secret' version of me going around plotting our downfall or something?"
"In my defense," the bleunette rolled her eyes, "you gave us literally no context."
"Shhh! It's starting!"
Both sets of blue eyes turned to the wall opposite to them.
Mami walked onto a raised dais, dressed in an splendid long dress. Her eyes quickly found Sabrina's, and they shared a smile. And a wave from the white haired girl.
"Good evening, everybody!" called Mami, drawing the attention of everyone present.
A hush fell across the ballroom.
"I'm glad to have you all here tonight," smiled the blonde, "when we invited literally everybody we would like to have with us for a party, we didn't actually expect for literally everybody to show up," she winked, to a few good natured laughs. "That said, even though this has grown out of proportion rather quickly, there was one strange reason we wanted everyone to meet, and that is the next event of the night! Ladies and gentlemen, I present you... The Secret Sabrina Event!"
A huge screen flashed on behind her, the words "Secret Sabrina" shining cheerfully at the crowd.
The reactions were mixed. Some of the guests giggled, not understanding what was going on; other groaned and threw Sabrina reproachful looks, which she returned all smiles and waves.
"Let me explain!" Mami practically bounced on the stage. "The rules of 'Secret Sabrina' are simple: Our assistants are equipped with lottery machines, from which each guest will pick one ball; when they open it, they'll find the name of someone inside this room."
The golden Magical Girl leaned forward towards her audience, clasping her hands together under her chin.
"As we all know, our friend Sabrina is known for her willingness to make friends and hug people, so you are all expected to give a nice, big hug to the person whose name you pull out!"
Maybe, just maybe a different crowd would have felt the game was obnoxious and improper, but the particular group of people in that room? Collective groans happened. Laughs, too.
They knew their hosts.
"Sue me," smiled Sayaka, "I didn't expect a pun on 'Secret Santa', of all things."
"Would you say it doesn't make sense?" Sabrina's eyes moved from Mami to Sayaka as the blonde left the stage.
"From you? Nah," blue eyes shut for a moment. "It totally does."
"Ciao!" greeted a cheerful Kazumi, swaying her way to stand besides the blue eyed girls, a spinning lottery machine in her hands. "Sayaka, Sabrina, nice party!" both girls returned her greeting with almost as much enthusiasm. "I think it's time for your fates to be unveiled!"
Sabrina laughed and spun the machine.
Sayaka sent her an odd look.
"... What?" she asked, "think it's odd for 'Sabrina' to be someone's 'Secret Sabrina'?"
"No..." muttered Sayaka, "if anything, that makes too much sense."
"Good luck!" wished them Kazumi after they got their random prizes. "Don't tell me what you've got, wouldn't want to ruin the secret if you got me!" she winked and moved on.
Nodding after her, both girls opened their prizes, revealing twin, folded slips of paper.
"What," all cheer drained from Sayaka's tone.
"Hmm?" questioned Sabrina, looking up from her own target.
The bleunette glared, holding her slip so her friend could read it. It read:
'Mikuni Oriko'
"You fucking rigged this," accused the irate bleunette.
"Hey," Sabrina raised her hands defensively, her paper slip reading 'Tachibana Sakura'. "... I can't confirm nor deny this accusation."
"The fuck I would hug Mikuni, of all people."
Confronted with a snarl ugly enough to make children cry, the white haired girl put on her best smile.
"Well, wouldn't you say it's in theme with the event?"
"F..." Sayaka bit her lip, visibly restraining herself, "and what theme is that?"
"... To forgive our enemies and make friends," said Sabrina softly.
"Yeah," scoffed Sayaka, "maybe you'd like doing that, but Oriko burned down my house," she gritted her teeth, "why would I want to forgive her?"
"I'm not saying you don't have reasons to hate her-"
"Duh."
"But what about reasons to not hate her?" asked the Grief controller with a finger raised.
Sayaka blinked.
"What sort of question is that?" she snapped. "Why would I want to not hate her? And don't give me some Disney crap."
"Well," Sabrina shrugged, holding onto her smile, "because she wants you to hate her?"
Sayaka's mouth opened a closed.
"What."
Sabrina hummed, leaning further against the wall, throwing a look around the room before turning her attention back to her frowning friend.
"You know she did that as a way to save your life, right?"
"Yeah," spat Sayaka, "and that's supposed to make some sort of fucked up sense."
"Or it's supposed to make sense of something else."
The bleunette blinked. Scowled. Made a 'go on' gesture.
"See," Sabrina sighed, "all the bad things Oriko did, blowing up my leg, having Hitomi's wrist broken, burning down your home... all those actions were chosen to do something good... in the worst way possible."
Sayaka scoffed. "Because Mikuni wants us to hate her?"
"Rather," Sabrina's head tilted, "it would make the hate make sense."
Sayaka took a deep breath.
"You're not making sense."
"OK," shrugged the Grief controller, "you know about Mikuni Hisaomi."
A nod.
"And how the general populace... reacted."
"Yeah."
"Then..." Sabrina's finger rubbed on the rim of her glass, "you know the fact Oriko would be hated was never in question."
"So what?" muttered Sayaka. "The more, the gloomier?"
"Heh, no," the white haired girl shook her head, "rather, at least you hate her for something she did. So it's fair."
"That's your point?" shouted Sayaka, drawing a few looks.
She grunted and took a step back as soon as she noticed, and both her and Sabrina smiled at the crows until they returned to their own business.
Of course, that just meant they would be looking from the corner of their eyes instead. Everyone loved gossip.
"Doesn't it make sense?" asked Sabrina, lowering her tone. "When the world drops so much shit on your shoulders that you can't handle it... you would at least want to have something work right?"
An explosive sigh left Sayaka.
"So if the world hates you," she spoke, weary, "if you deserve that hate, then everything's right with the world?"
"Nobody should be hated for doing good things," shrugged Sabrina. "But if the good is only a consequence of something worse..."
"Then the world works," finished Sayaka.
Silence dropped around the two of them. A little bubble of contemplation amidst a world of laughs, cheering, gossip, and hugs.
Sabrina smiled as she spotted Kazumi glomping one Tsuruya Yuki, only to then let go, make an excuse about getting the wrong person, and go hug someone else. Which happened to be Nakano Mika. Which also happened to not be the name she had pulled randomly. Oops.
The air controller's arms snapped before the red eyed girl could get away and pulled her into a choking strong hug. At least going by the way Kazumi choked and pulled at Mika's arm with all her might, laughing all the way.
"You know what?" mumbled Sayaka suddenly. "Whatever. Later," she said, walking away.
She was immediately replaced by Hitomi and Kyousuke.
"Hey Sabrina, thank you for inviting us," greeted the greenette, echoed by the violinist.
"Thank yourself," smiled the Grief controller, "you got us this place," she gestured all around with her by now empty glass.
Hitomi bowed her head demurely.
"It's still nice, how you can move this many people, and have it feel like we're all friends. Have you thought of going into politics?"
Sabrina snorted. "Have I thought of going into politics?" she shook her head. "Better not." After a moment, she commented, "I hope everyone's having fun."
"Miss Akemi seemed uncomfortable about the... event," commented Kyousuke.
Sabrina's eyes snapped to Hitomi's. "Was she OK?"
"How did y- of course," green eyes blinked, "you rigged it. Well... I'm honored you trust me with her, I know how close friends you two are. To answer your question," Hitomi adopted a thinking pose, one hand on her hip, the other holding her chin, "Homura seemed... resigned to the idea of having hugs, as if it was something she's been enduring for a while?"
Sabrina shrugged at the greenette's raised eyebrow. "Guilty as charged," she cheerfully condemned herself.
"... That girl didn't get enough hugs in her life, did she?"
Sabrina sighed, before spotting something, or rather someone. "Excuse me," she nodded to Hitomi and Kyousuke, "I believe the music's about to start."
Receiving nods in return, she walked towards an approaching Mami Tomoe.
Hitomi smiled as she watched her friends meet in an embrace.
"Shall we?" she offered her elbow to the boy standing with her.
"Of course," he bowed and took the offered arm. "I do wish they'd let me play a song..." he commented as they lost themselves amongst the crowd.
In another part of the room, a glass door opened.
The fresh night air blew into the bleunette as she stepped out into a massive balcony.
A couple of girls, leaning against the railing, stopped the chatting, turning to look at the intruder.
The black haired one of the two frowned, annoyed, but glanced surprised at her silver haired partner when she said something.
The black haired girl huffed a breath, but smiled good naturedly, stood on the tip of her toes to share a kiss with her partner, and broke away, going back inside.
Kirika brushed past Sayaka without comment, closing the door behind herself.
She looked back for a moment, watching Sayaka warily approach Oriko, saying something she couldn't make out due to the sheer noise inside the ballroom...
She looked away. Oriko would be fine.
Kirika drew a slip of paper from a non-existent pocket. Now, if only she knew who 'Koizumi Aki' was...
