Chapter Text
Your eye shoots open. And it's fresh as the day. Your hair's undone. It's a mess. You are a mess. The bedsheets are askew, the windows are wide open, the breeze is refreshing and cool, even with the faint sound of cars and people down below, just a few dozen meters below.
It's been a week since you were freed, and a couple of days since you finally got this apartment. It's a bit more furnished than the place you stayed at in Kasamino under...
Under...
You have to resist the urge to scream at the thought of her. You hate her. You hate her more than anyone on the planet. You want to put your fist through a window, to yell it out, to bash your face against the wall. But that's counterproductive. You take a deep breath.
Your name is Mami Tomoe. You are stuck in 2031. You are not naive enough to think there is an easy way back home. You take a look back up and wonder if you should cut your hair.
No...no you shouldn't. Not without some advice. You move your legs to the side...just in time to hear a knock at your door.
You stumble sideways into the wall, before you regain your bearings. A step, a step, another step, and then you bounce on your legs to force yourself awake. You take a few quick hops towards the door and pull it right open.
Standing in front of you is a pink-haired young man, one arm behind his back, the other still raised at a door that's already been opened. "Oh, a good mooooooorning to you, Tomoe~!" His voice is peppy and high-pitched and you can almost feel that old Kaname energy coming through.
As it turns out, your landlord is Madoka's kid brother, though that's probably an incorrect term for him now.
You still haven't gotten used to the idea; he's almost twenty four now. Even wilder is his unbearably pink outfit; white crop-top, pink arm warmers, pink boots...the change is mind-boggling. But, well, you aren't about to start questioning it. He is leasing this room for free. In fact, he has a number of these rooms just free.
"Tatsuya." You rub your eyes. "Apologies for my appearance. I just woke up." You check your phone. Another change; it's not all that different from what you used in 2011, but...well, it actually is; you used a flip phone in 2011. You don't know when those got phased out, and these crystal blocks are an adjustment that you never really wanted.
His energy ebbs away, and he stands a little bit straighter. "Oh, no it's fine." He points to the side with his thumb. "I just wanted to let you know you had a package downstairs in the post office with my boyfriend."
"Mmm." You nod. "Thank you again."
You bow at him, before you close the door behind you and step down the long, fluorescent-lit hallway. Your bare feet hit a carpeted floor that's been beaten and worn by thousands of other feet and footsteps; this building is clearly well over twenty years old.
Older than you. And yet...not? You are technically in your thirties. Granted, you've never really lived most of your life if that's the case. It's a thought that worms its way in as you jump down the stairs in your nightgown. It's yellow; new silk but old-fashioned. You were surprised that they sold them when Kyouko and Sayaka and their dau-
You freeze. You bite your tongue, even though it was just thoughts.
Their child took you out shopping. You finally hit the ground floor. Sure enough, right there, is another magi, this one is a blonde young man with a binder in his hands. "Mami." He says with a wave.
"H-hey." You wave back. "I believe you have a package?"
"I do." He pulls through the binder, quickly signs something with his stylus and steps back. The paper in front of you flickers with the word, before smoke wafts into the air and the word and dates are permanently etched into the surface.
You wonder why they would bother with paper if they have electronic storage. The man glances between your eyes and the binder, before he chuckles. "Oh, yeah, we have a backup server. But I prefer keeping paper records. Servers can break. Paper doesn't."
You glance between them, before you shrug and take the box. "I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense." You wave your hand. "Thank you!"
He waves back as you bound back up the steps. You take a look at the box, tempted to open it. But really, you're not going to. Not yet. You have to get to your room first.
You still have yet to be registered into the school system. You suspect that'll take a few more days before you're in. Everyone in this part of town goes to the same school that Minako does. You suspect you'll be doing that soon.
You pull yourself together and open up the box, revealing a beret. A cute, yellow little beret. You pop it onto your head, as you curl your hair into a familiar pair of twintail spirals.
Except...well, maybe that's not quite you anymore. You're not sure what you are, anymore.
You're used to not having parents.
You're not used to having no identity. You still aren't, really.
You were a teacher. You were Mami Tomoe.
But now you're just...
Mami. And what worth is Mami, really?
Stupid, gullible, bigoted Mami.
Ugly Mami.
Failure Mami.
You are a failure.
It's what you're best at.
Failing, falling over yourself, getting people killed.
You almost killed Sayaka. You almost killed Kyouko. It's a miracle they still accepted you after what you did. You envy those that Minako didn't touch. They don't remember what they did, but you do.
You remember it clearly.
You're so wretched.
You squeeze your eyes shut. You turned down that offer for Kyouko to find you a therapist. You shouldn't need help. You don't need more people wasting their time on you. They deserve better than you. You take another deep breath.
You're isolating yourself. This is exactly the problem you had before and you're doing it again. You should know better...right? You're fifteen. You should know, right? You feel much older than fifteen.
Another deep, deep, deep breath. You should stop.
You take a look outside as you slip on a pair of black pants and put on a yellow coat. It curls up around your body; it's bright and sunny outside but as October rolls in it's starting to get colder and colder. You love the autumn, really. Back in your world, it was around spring.
You take a look outside. You think you should see someone...it is the weekend. You could go anywhere you want right now.
Ah, that's right, you have neighbors. You should probably meet them. You adjust your hat and put yourself together. You really, really dislike the look of your hair more and more, now that you keep seeing it in the mirror, but at the same time you really don't know what else to wear it with. At one point in time it just felt natural to keep it up like this...especially since...
Well, you wore it when you got into that car accident.
When you think about it like that, it really feels like you're just a bundle of problems. And until Kyouko died it was easy to pretend you had yourself together.
You shake your head and take a step outside to see a drunken teenager burst out of the room with a full-on bottle of rum in her...no, their hand as you round the corner. This is the person you remember as the grenadier on your mission from Rin, except now they're dressed in a green suit with a half-shaved head and a bellowing laugh.
"Oh, I couldn't handle another one! OOHO!" They slam into a nearby wall, as behind them another person, this time with dark skin and white hair, follows nearby.
You wonder if you should tell Tatsuya about the underage drinking. You probably should tell Tatsuya about the underage drinking. He would probably appreciate it if you told Tatsuya about the underage drinking.
You can tell him later it'll be fine.
The person behind this drunken grenadier, with their hands pressed against their nose, finally notices you standing behind them.
"Hey, uhh...I don't think we've met?" You bow. "I'm Ma-"
"Mami, yeah. I heard about you." They bow right back. "You came in a couple days ago, yeah?"
"Yes, I did." You nod. "I...the paperwork cleared and Mr. Kaname-"
"He prefers being called Tatsuya," they interrupt. "Sorry for being short; I gotta make sure Riko doesn't-" There's a loud crash, followed by a scream from what you can only guess is the magi who just stumbled through the hallway. "-oh for fuck's I'll see you again soon pleaseforgivemeforbeingsoshoRT!"
And they're immediately off, running after a still-drunken teenager as Tatsuya finally catches wind. "Hey, hey!" You see him immediately rush down the stairs, pulling himself around a corner and descending further. "What did I tell you about alcohol on the premises-!"
You take a deep, deep breath. You hope the other neighbors aren't as noisy. This person didn't even give you their name! You take a look at the label on their door, labeled with "Yuuko".
You don't know if that's the grenadier or the person you were just talking to. You can ask that later on.
A few steps down and you see another door. This one has a printed name underneath a peephole, a convenient little sign that Tatsuya's boyfriend prints out at the fabrication lab at the University. Your mind briefly wanders over the fact that 3D printing is just a thing that happens now, but then you shove that aside.
The door swings open and inside you see the claw-girl. She's standing in front of you, one hand on her hip, the other on the door. She pauses as soon as she notices you, then she visibly deflates, like the will to speak was taken out of her.
To be truthful, that kind of hurts. But you soldier on. "Hello, my name is Mami, I live two-"
"I know. I saw you move in." She pushes her black hair out of her face, showing a single golden eye. "My name is Kirika. Good to meet you. Please don't come to my door again."
"Oh, apologies." You look behind her. "Were...were you trying to-" A look behind shows that her room is bare, plain and empty. It's like she deliberately kept people from furnishing it.
"It's none of your business," she says, sharp, quick, and a little bit like she forced it out of her throat. "I don't want to talk and I don't want pleasantries, condolences or anything of the sort." And with that, she closes the door.
That's...really odd. You don't remember her acting like that when you were working under Rin, though she was the next person that Minako had helped after you. You wonder if her previous behavior was a product of that control.
You take a wary step backwards, then you turn around to one of the two doors on the other side of your hall. A knock and...
Then you hear a thud, a scream, and loud, loud swearing. There's a rustling of bedsheets, followed by loud, loud stomping. The door is yanked open, showing a pink-haired girl with purple eyes. Her hair is messed up, her school uniform is askew and wrinkled, she's panting heavily, and behind her you can see an orange-haired girl, also in a nearly undone school uniform.
You quickly put two and two together. You turn a bright, bright red. "O-Oh, I am so sorry! I just wanted t-to-!"
"It's fine, it's fine!" The girl raises a hand. "Henrietta. That's Uriko behind me."
The girl known as Uriko raises her hand. "Helloooo."
You suspect the obvious. You really suspect it. You consider asking a little bit. Wandering a little bit further. You open your mouth. Then you pause. "G-good to meet the both of you."
Henrietta shrugs. "Uh, same?" She looks back. "So, uh, your name is Mami, right?"
You nod. "Oh, y-yes! Yes it is!"
"Good to meet you then." Henrietta bows, and you do so right back. "We'll uhh..."
"I'll m-make sure to meet you at a less awkward time," you say quickly. You take a step back, then scurry away from that door. Of course, the door next to this one has Uriko's name on it, so that handily explains who your across-the-hall neighbors are.
This apartment complex isn't especially big; from what Sayaka told you, most of the magi actually do have places to stay, be it with parents, at locations purchased their own rent money, the like. This complex holds eleven magi, many of them brand-new, much like you. A halfway house for magi. It would be funny if, you know, it were less immediately relevant to your current situation.
You adjust your beret and quickly take a few steps downstairs. You should probably think about stocking your fridge. You also consider the merits of cooking for the other people on the floor.
Oooh, that would be a nice gift! They'd be enormously appreciative. And you're not a half-bad chef yourself.
You giggle at the thought.
[=]
Your name is Sayaka Miki-Sakura, and you are currently walking towards the apartment complex where Tatsuya and his boyfriend have set up shop. You still can't believe how much help he's been ever since he bought that place; previously, keeping track of orphaned magi was expensive. Random hotel rooms, paying rent for cheap apartments...
But then he managed to get a good deal on a decrepit pre-Walpurgisnacht dwelling. It took a bit of finagling, some personal work, and elbow-grease, but he and Toji managed to turn it around. Even better, that bar at the basement is a perfect place for magi like yourself to relax at, and several of the adult magi in town actually live just above it.
It's where you and Akane had that talk a couple of weeks ago, when you thought your child becoming a magi was going to be the biggest source of strife in your life.
You press your finger and your thumb against your forehead; that's neither here nor there. Right now, you're on your way to talk to Mami Tomoe. Make sure she's settling in. Through the chaos of last week, organizing your spy parties and trying to train your child again, it's been pretty difficult to keep track of the goings-on.
And, most suspiciously, there's been a lack of witches. The Glow stopped sending them after Mami's attack.
You have your own theories as to why that is, theories that you've discussed with your wife.
It's then as you're musing, just in front of a humbly-sized brick-red complex at the edge of town, that you see a head of distinct, curly blonde quickly descend the steps. She turns the corner, obviously not noticing you as she starts her way towards a nearby grocery.
"Hey!" you shout.
The girl stops in her tracks, turns her head. A cute beret, a big yellow coat, and a long, somewhat-puffy face turn to face you. "O-oh! Saya...no, Ms. Miki-Sakura."
"You can call me Sayaka." You take a few steps towards her. "Settling in alright? I wanted to check on you!"
She nods. "O-oh, I'm...I am!" she says with a quick glance across the street. "I was just looking for ingredients. I-I'd rather cook than just get food elsewhere."
"Ah." You nod. "Do...wait, can you even afford to?"
"Oh, I can." She reaches into a purse that she's slung over her shoulder only to realize...that, well...
"I...that's right, I don't have a bank account," she mutters.
"I can help you with that. Or worst comes to worst, my wife and I could-"
"O-Oh, I could never impose that on the two-" she catches herself, "-three of you."
She laughs, but it's awkward and grating and you immediately feel less comfortable just hearing it.
"Well, the offer's still open."
"Right." She breathes in, and the both of you start moving towards the supermarket.
It's a couple of blocks down the road from the apartment, in the middle of a crowded street. It's lodged in-between two restaurants, like a much wider, fatter store was crammed in the middle of a street corner in an attempt to keep it from taking too much space. It's several stories high, with an automated drone system to try and keep groceries in order as the shoppers go from level to level.
It manages to do an admirable job; carts stay in order and rarely collide, even with people, and you and Mami grabbed a single cart to try and get stuff for her apartment.
She stays nearby, picking through ingredients as you make the occasional suggestion, the odd comment on food...
But you're not exactly checking on her just for that.
You press your lips together. First thing's first...since you are looking for food. "So, anything catch your eye? Do you want to make bread, or...?"
"I like making pastries, yes. I prefer making my own mixes. That way I can adjust the recipe as needed, depending on who's having what." She puts some flour in the cart. She pauses. "Does anyone have an allergy that I should know about?"
You shrug. "I don't think so."
"No peanut or...?"
You smile. "Nah. Not gluten, nor peanut. Nothing that I know of."
"That makes it easier." She puts a bag each of brown and raw sugar in the cart with some molasses and a little bit of cinnamon. "Tonight I'm simply going to make some crepe batter; tomorrow I'll try my hand at cheesecake, maybe some spongecake..."
"Oh, I remember that." You look up at the ceiling. "You did that with Madoka and I when we were over..."
"Mmm." Mami nods. "Oh, is...I never asked, but is she..."
"She's alive, yes. Alive and well."
"Oh. Good." Mami sighs in relief. "Is Homura alive?"
"Yes," you say. It's curt and sharp and it makes Mami wince.
"I thought the two of you were friends."
"It's complicated. And she didn't make it easy, that's for fucking sure."
Mami opens her mouth to ask more questions, then realizes a second later that she might not want to ask them, instead bringing her hands to a full chicken. She puts it in the cart, followed by wine and cranberries. She keeps moving through, grabbing food of all kinds before finally coming to a stop.
"Not going to get any marinade?"
"I can just make some." She raises the wine and a jug of vinegar. She puts it back in the cart before you both hit the stairwell. The cart hits the elevator as you and Mami walk up towards the top floor. As she hits the top floor, she glances back at you. "So, how did the world change?"
"Quietly." You both emerge to the rooftop greenhouse as the plants on top are gently misted. "If you were hoping for flying cars, sorry to disappoint."
"Mm." Mami picks through several plants. "I wasn't, really. And I heard that gay people could get...?"
You blink. "What? Oh, you mean same-sex marriage." You raise your right hand. Right next to your soul gem, on your finger, is a big, beautiful ruby ring. It shimmers, a bright red on a golden band. "This is a fake ruby but the marriage is definitely real."
She stares at your finger, eyes tracing that gem on your hand before you bring it down. "Were..."
"We've been married for fifteen years. The year after, we had Minako." You smile. "It was legalized just after Walpurgisnacht. You'd think it wouldn't be a concern during the rebuilding process, but..." You smile again. "July 2011."
"Ah." Mami nods. Her eyes dart to the side. "And...well, you did beat Walpurgisnacht." She looks to the grief seed in the distance, towering over the buildings as she picks a potato out of some artificial soil. "It does explain why the city feels so...different."
"Yeah, well, it's been twenty years and a near total-razing." You nod. "We're lucky that we survived."
"Mm..." She nods. "Oh, and printing...?"
"Yeah that's just a thing." You keep forgetting how quickly these things came into being, and how easily they got integrated. "You still need to provide materials but there are a number of printers around town, or you can get a toy design from online and then they can just print that off. It takes a while and we pay for service, but it gets the job done."
Mami seems to be visibly chewing over your words as she grabs a number of radishes and some carrots and beans. She puts them all into the cart as she looks them over, then up to you. "I'm sorry, this must be terribly boring to explain-"
"It's fine." You put your hands behind your back. "It's just...well...you're stuck here now. We might as well help you."
She's dead quiet as she lets the cart move towards the elevator, and it's another reminder that she's...well, she's still a fifteen-year-old girl. She's a child and she looks completely lost, two things you've never associated with Mami up until the moment that Charlotte-
You hate that the more you thought about her death the more that name stuck in your mind. You knew Mami for just over a couple of weeks, but it was enough time for you to know her. To miss her after the witch descended. And the more you thought about that witch, the more that grief stuck with you, the clearer the name got.
You didn't even know that was a thing that could happen, up until both you and Kyouko remembered the name of Skadi, as well.
You keep up with her on the stairway, just a few steps behind as the both of you descend down to the ground floor. As you hit the floor, she turns. "When...when did you know that you liked women?"
You pause. "That's a bit of a sudden question to ask. I just...kind of did? I mean, I decided to give it a shot with Kyouko after she asked me out and...that was that? Maybe there was a little bit of 'maybe I don't actually like girls' but that kind of went away after the first month."
Mami nods and stares ahead. She pauses again. "If...is your daugh...child gay?"
You snort. "I mean, I guess? They exclusively like girls, if that's what you mean."
Mami turns back away as you go back through another stairwell and down to the bottom floor. The cart follows you before stopping against a checkout counter. The entire cart tilts upwards with a faint, quiet whiiirrr as several conveyors in the checkout counter quickly scan items and sort them with a soft shifting of a multi-directional track. Mami peeks down, watching with rapt attention as different items are immediately sorted.
You giggle. The fact that she's so wrapped up in that is honestly really, really cute. "Hey, so, if you think you're a lesbia-"
"I'm not sure yet!" Mami stands straight, straighter than a pole as soon as you ask.
You take a step back and raise your hands. "Okay, okay!" You laugh again. "I wasn't saying you had to be sure!"
She visibly relaxes. "I...was wondering, though."
"Well, think of it this way," you say as you point in the direction of the apartment complex, "you're in very good company. There's me, there's my wife, there's Minako. You're not alone."
She opens her mouth to retort before you press your hand into her coat shoulder as gently as you can.
"And you don't have to know just yet. Nobody knows immediately. So don't feel bad about it." Honestly, Kyouko would probably be a better fit for helping Mami out, given her general mood, but at the same time...
Kyouko still thinks about those last words. And Mami probably feels just as bad, if not worse. You're not sure that's a good idea quite yet.
The monitor beeps at you before Mami can answer. You quickly press a button that reads "Paper", and the food rolls from the sorting chamber and into a plastic bin full of paper and plastic bags. The bags are shot out of a hole on the floor before they wrap around the food and sort themselves with a quick sizzle from a printing laser.
As that's happening, you quickly pull out a card from your purse, press it against a terminal, and scan your fingers. The counter beeps, the top of the sorting chamber popping open to let you reach your food.
You honestly don't like how the chambers hold your food hostage before you pay for them, but Mami is so fascinated by the process that you don't really care that much. You carry half of the bags, Mami carrying the others right behind you. It's not that much of a struggle; really, the sticking point is making sure the bags don't break as you carry it all to Mami's apartment.
Halfway there, though, you remember something else. You turn around with the bags still in your arms. "Oh, Mami, there's something else I need to ask."
"Mm?" She moves her head.
"If it makes you uncomfortable, just let me know." You take a breath. "I need to know about the magi in the Gl-"
"I am uncomfortable," she says quickly. "Please, Sayaka, I don't...I really, really do not wish to talk about that."
You grimace. "Right. Sorry."
Mami walks past you with her bags in her arms. "I'm sorry, but I do not...it would be best for me not to think about what that monster did to me." She spits the words. "I just...it...I feel...!"
"You feel like how you did after you learned about witches?" You finish it for her.
She stares at you down the street, takes another breath. "Let...just let me take my food home, Sayaka." She starts walking back. "I am sorry."
"Don't be." You glance away. "I'm sorry for asking."
The rest of the walk to her apartment is quiet. Neither of you are in the mood for conversation anymore.