Even in the middle of the night, Mitakihara City bustles as you and Mami soar over the rooftops. Cars stream endlessly on the road, and you fancy that perhaps one or two of the twinkling lights are the fire engines, and perhaps another carries journalists hurrying to the scene of the fire.
Not your problem, in the end.
"
So, Mami?" you begin.
"
Yes, Sabrina?" Mami asks.
"
What's this Masami like?" you ask. Taller buildings are becoming shorter now as you head out towards the suburbs, and Mami leads you on a weaving path amongst them to ensure that you aren't seen.
"
Hm... Peppy would be the best word to describe her. Always cheerful and happy, always listening to music of some kind of another," Mami replies. "
Really quite powerful, though!"
"
Huh. How'd you meet her, anyway?" you query, making a particularly tricky hop across a building- you're forced to tuck and roll to avoid an inconveniently placed antenna.
Mami shrugs. "
Oh, I met her about... half a year ago, I think? I... well, I saved her from a Barrier, and told her a little about magical girls. She became one a while later, but since she lived so far away, we sort of... never kept in touch."
You can tell there's a little more to that story, and decide to risk pushing a little. "
I get the feeling there's more to it than that?"
Mami laughs. "
Can't hide anything from you, can I?" She tries for nonchalant. "
She... stopped answering my calls. When I went to check on her, she told me she needed her space," she finishes evenly, but the slight stumble as she lands on a roof gives lie to that.
Ouch. You wince to yourself, and take a few quick steps forward to bump Mami's shoulder with your own. It's probably an old hurt at this point, but you can't help but feel that a little comfort would be for the best here. She turns and gives you a smile that's tinged with gratitude and just a little melancholy.
Mami's next words, spoken, not telepathic, are almost snatched away by the wind as the two of you leap for the next building, but straining, you can
just hear them. "I'm glad you're here."
The two of you continue on in silence after that, now forced to move at the street level, keeping to darker areas and avoiding cars. You soon sense a magical presence, ahead... and above you? "
This way, Mami," you say, veering off to the side.
The houses are sparser in this area- there is a
remarkable amount of greenery and open ground around here, and you frankly have no idea how that
works with land-starved Japan, unless the Kanames actually happen to be richer than gods, plural. But then again, it's not like theirs is the only house in this read, and nor is this land fenced off and 'Property of...'
There's... simply a perplexing amount of unutilized land here.
You circle around to the side of the house, where Homura's presence is, until you're almost directly on top of it. Your senses still say she's almost directly above you, but you don't
see her.
"Here." Your head snaps up at the sound of Homura's voice.
As it turns out, she's perched incongrously on a tree branch, barely visible amongst the foliage until she shifted position slightly to look down at you. You squint at her position, and then back at the the Kanames' house, estimating angles. At a guess, you suspect that she can see into Madoka's window from her current position.
Homura hops down from her perch, landing softly beside the two of you.
"Homura," Mami says, inclining her head the barest fraction of a centimeter to the time traveller.
"Mami, Sabrina," Homura replies, returning the infinitesimally tiny nod.
Well, you'll take it. "Hello, Homura," you say.
[] Suggest talking in time-stop
[] Talk here
[] Suggest adjourning to elsewhere
[] Write-in conversational direction
- [] Degree of meta
=====
The Kaname residence is
ridiculous. I have
no idea how to make sense of it.
