This time, you decide to hang on to the Grief you tore free from the Witch as it swirls down into the Grief Seed. There's some resistance as it the maelstrom tries to drag the Grief with it, as if that portion
belongs with the rest of the Grief, but you counter it easily.
The Barrier breaks up, and the three of you are now standing one the top of one of the gantry cranes, the Grief Seed lying by Mami's feet, and a large cloud of gaseous Grief lazily orbiting you at a distance.
"That was a good hunt," you offer.
The blonde directs a smile first at you, then Homura. "It was. I must admit, Akemi, we couldn't have done it without you."
Homura nods, and says, "It was no problem," before flipping her hair.
This time, you hastily turn away from the hypnotic, rippling motion of Homura's hair flowing out like a midnight black banne- dammit. You're staring again, with all the inevitability of gravity.
You shake your head. "How the
heck, Homura."
"What?" she looks at you questioningly.
You sigh wearily. "Never mind."
"Is this about the hair again?" Homura narrows her eyes at you.
Mami's looking at Homura with a considering look, now. "Actually, I have to agree with Sabrina. How
are you doing that, Akemi? You can't possibly
not be using magic."
Homura stares at you, then at Mami in silence. You can practically
see the question marks forming above her head.
You sigh again. "Never mind. Never
bloody well mind," you grumble. "Cleansing?"
"That's a good idea," Mami says, untransforming and holding out her Soul Gem. Homura doesn't untransform, but wordlessly offers her hand. You siphon off the Grief clouding their gems before cleaning your own, and adding it to the cloud you now possess.
"Hmm... Maybe you should get rid of that cloud, Sabrina?" Mami suggests. "I can feel this one quite clearly. Maybe because it's bigger?"
"OK," you agree, raising your left hand, palm open. You clench it into a fist, and as it closes, you force the Grief inwards, allowing it to coalesce into an orb in your grip. This one's bigger than your usual ones, about the size of a billard ball. You purse your lips at it, and then break it up into a handful of smaller Grief marbles, before pocketing them.
"I should be going now," Homura says, and turns to leave.
"
Hey Homura, I still need to talk to you later tonight," you remind her.
"
I remember," Homura agrees. "
Contact me later."
"Shall we head home," you look at Mami, subtly stressing the last word.
"Let's," the blonde nods.
The two of you roofhop back to Mami's house. "
Hey, Mami?"
"
What is it, Sabrina?" Mami asks, turning her head to look at you mid leap.
"
What do you think of Homura?" you ask, watching as Mami lands flawlessly despite not looking where she's going.
"
I suppose she's not as bad as she seems," Mami admits. "
She's willing to cooperate, at least."
"
Lacking in social skills, though," you suggest.
Mami giggles. "
Sabrina!"
"
What?" you say, mock indignantly.
"
Nothing," Mami says. But she's smiling.
The rest of the trip back home passes in a comfortable silence. As you remove your shoes to walk into the apartment, you ask another question. "Mami?"
"Hm?" Mami asks, locking the door behind you.
"Why do we keep magic a secret?"
"Hm... Well, it's just what we do," Mami says, looking thoughtful. "I admit I never really thought about it... It's just something that we keep secret, you know? I think maybe Kyuubey told me that it should be a secret at some point." She smiles, as if an amusing thought just occurred to her. "Besides, it's just like those magical girl shows, you know? You always keep it a secret."
"Huh. Well..." you drag out the syllable, meandering over to the sofa. "You know Madoka and Sayaka's friends? Hitomi and Kyousuke?"
"Ah," Mami says, comprehension dawning on her face as she walks over to her schoolbag, sitting on the shelf beside the bag you'd been using today. "So that's why. I don't really see a reason why not, really. Perhaps we should ask Kyuubey?"
"Where is he, anyway? Haven't seen him all day," you ask idly.
"Oh, he was in school today, with Madoka and Sayaka," Mami comments, rooting in her bag. After finding her lunch box, she looks at your bag and pulls out the lunch box you'd filled this morning.
"I'm guessing he wandered off at some point?" you ask.
"He did," Mami confirms. "Um... you didn't eat your lunch today?"
[] Write-in
=====
You have seven Grief marbles in total.
