You incline your head to the boy. "It's good to meet you, too. Sayaka's told us about you."
Mami smiles at him. "I'm pleased to meet you too."
Sayaka glances around the room, looking slightly put-out by the sudden influx of people, but then looks at the clock again and seems to give up. Kyousuke, by contrast, simply looks vaguely nonplussed by the sudden surplus of girls visiting him.
"So..." you break the silence. "How long have you known each other?"
"Oh, we've known each other for years," Kyousuke says, looking at Sayaka, who averts her gaze, smiling.
Mami catches your eye as Sayaka replies to that. She quirks an eyebrow minutely, with a hint of a mischevious smile hovering on her face. A smile similarly tugs at the edge of your lips, but you shake your head fractionally. Another time, maybe, when Hitomi isn't here.
"Hitomi, how's your arm?" Kyousuke asks curiously, looking at the green-haired girl.
"Oh, ah... the doctors say I'll be in a cast for a month," Hitomi replies, other hand coming up the cover the cast.
"Ah, good to know," Kyousuke says. Looking closely, though, you see that the lines around his eyes are slightly strained, and
his left hand seems to be tightening into a fist.
"Um," you say, indicating the clock. "We really should be going if we're to make it back in time?"
"Ah, OK," Sayaka says, rising from the chair beside Kyousuke's bed. "See you later, Kyousuke, Hitomi."
You exchange goodbyes, and as you leave the ward room, you see Hitomi sliding into the seat Sayaka just vacated. Sayaka looks despondent as she leaves the room, trailing behind the main group a bit.
You drop back to walk beside her. "How long has he been in the hospital?" you ask Sayaka idly.
"Seven months," Sayaka answers glumly.
You hiss out a breath. "And you've been visiting him for the entire time?"
"Yeah, it's the only way I get to spend time with him," Sayaka sighs. The group stops to wait for the lift, Madoka and Mami listening in on your conversation.
"Dedicated," you comment. "Childhood
friends?" you say with heavy emphasis on the last word.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sayaka asks, blushing a little.
"Oh, nothing," you reply, shaking your head with a smile. "How'd he get injured, anyway?"
"Car accident," Sayaka says. The lift arrives at this point with a cheerful
ding, and you step into the crowded elevator, putting the conversation on hold for a moment. The glass walls of the lift gives you a clear view of the sky outside, rapidly shading towards the orange-pinks of evening.
You let your mind drift, and wonder about simply getting everyone out of the country and away from Walpurgisnacht. Or maybe go one step further and getting everyone into space. Who wouldn't want to go into space, after all? Maybe if you had a teleporter with a large range... well, Soul Gem corruption wouldn't be an issue with you around.
Then again, sustaining long term habitation in space would be tricky, as would convincing
anyone to go along. That would be tricky. On the other hand, time would be a problem, too.
You shake your head to clear out the random musings as the elevator comes to a stop on the first floor, and you exit into the main lobby. The four of you move over to the bus stop to wait for a bus.
"
We're headed to Mami's place now," you inform Homura telepathically as you wait. "
And you know, Homura, you could
come and say hi. You even have an excuse, just say you came to the hospital for a follow-on checkup or something."
"
Unecessary," Homura says.
"
Unecessary is not the same thing as 'shouldn't be done', Homura," you say. "
Just come and say hello, Homura. Tell yourself it's for the sake of furthering future cooperation with Mami, if necessary."
"
Fine," Homura replies, eventually, and you can feel her presence descending from the rooftops and moving so that she can approach the bus stop from the direction of the hospital. A minute later, you see her in person, walking up.
Madoka's the next person to notice her. "Homura!" she calls, waving happily.
"Akemi," Mami greets her. Sayaka just sort of nods vaguely in her direction, while you greet Homura with a simple 'hello'.
"Hello," Homura says in return. She walks to the bus stop, and similarly seats herself as if to wait for a bus.
"Follow-on checkup?" you prompt, when she doesn't seem to be about to bring that up.
"Yes," she affirms.
"Ah, right, your heart condition!" Madoka says. "How are you?"
"Fully recovered," Homura replies.
"That's great!" Madoka says brightly, reaching out to pat Homura on the shoulder. You can see the black haired girl stiffen almost imperceptibly at the contact, before relaxing.
"That's our bus," Mami informs you, looking down the road at the approaching traffic.
"I won't be taking this bus," Homura says without looking.
"OK! See you later!" Madoka says.
"See you, Homura," you add, as you board the bus and find a seat next to Mami. As the bus pulls out of the stop, you can feel Homura moving away from the bus stop and taking to the roofs, shadowing the bus again.
The bus ride passes mostly in a comfortable silence, and you soon arrive at the bus stop near Mami's apartment, and walk there just in time to see a sleek looking car pull up at the pavement. A familiar looking head of white hair hops out of the side. Nagisa looks around and spies you. "Big sis!"
She runs to you, holding her arms out. You obligingly catch her in a hug. "No relation," you say to the others in response to their looks of surprise. "Despite the hair, yeah."
Nagisa's uncle laughs as he walks towards you. "I can confirm that, too. So you're Sabrina's friends? I'm Momoe Shin."
Madoka is staring at the older businessman in surprise. "Mr. Momoe?"
"Yes, I am..." he trails off as he looks at the pinkette, and frowns as if trying to remember something. "You're... Are you Mrs. Kaname's daughter?"
"Y-yes, I am!" Madoka says.
"Hah. Small world," Shin says, shaking his head. "I'll leave you to it, then? I'll pick Nagisa up at... seven?"
You look questioningly at Mami, and she nods. "That should be fine," you say in answer as you ruffle Nagisa's hair playfully. She tries to swat your hand away.
The businessman nods. "Alright. See you later, then." He returns to the car and drives off.
"So. Everyone, this is Nagisa, apparently my new little sister," you introduce to the group at large. "Yes, we're really not related despite the hair. Nagisa, these are my friends, Mami, Madoka, and Sayaka."
"Hello," Nagisa says shyly. Madoka and Sayaka exchange grins, and you can practically
see what they're thinking:
So cuuuuute!
"Hello," Mami says, bending down to look properly at the younger girl. Nagisa simply blinks her hazel eyes at the older girl.
[] Order-in at Mami's place
[] Eat at somewhere nearby
[] Write-in
=====
As always, include conversational direction.