On the athletic field, the running students remained frozen in mid-stride.
Leaves that had been swaying in the breeze became completely motionless.
The physical education teacher stood with his mouth open, holding a stopwatch, without moving an inch.
The cheerful girls dressed in gym uniforms still wore bright smiles on their faces.
Even within this frozen world, their youthful energy made for a pleasant sight.
A black-and-white filter had descended over the world.
Time had once again come to a standstill.
Homura Akemi, who had disappeared around the corner only a moment earlier, had already completed her magical girl transformation.
Now, dressed in her pale lavender ruffled dress, she stood before Makoto Tsukimi.
Evidently, after leaving everyone’s field of vision together with Madoka Kaname, Homura had activated her time-stopping ability again and returned to Makoto.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Is all this really necessary? That should be considered Kaname’s private business, shouldn’t it?”
Looking at the hand resting on his shoulder, Makoto spoke in a mildly exasperated tone.
Homura Akemi: “If you won’t show me willingly, I can take a look myself.”
At some point, her left hand had slipped into the circular shield on her right arm.
The cold-looking girl withdrew the same handgun Makoto had seen not long ago.
Seeing this, Makoto could only shake his head helplessly.
Before Homura could press the gun against his forehead again, he took out the papers Madoka had given him.
Homura accepted them and began examining their contents.
As Makoto had claimed, it really was nothing more than a club membership application.
However, attached to the application were several illustrations Madoka had drawn.
The drawings were somewhat clumsy, but the strokes had clearly been made with great care.
The main illustration depicted a heroic-looking girl, apparently intended to be a female warrior or adventurer.
She wore a blue cape and wielded a Western-style sword.
Various ornaments decorated her waist and chest.
Madoka had even drawn separate illustrations of these accessories and provided individual explanations for each of them.
At the bottom of the page, she had written a description of the heroine’s background and various abilities in somewhat inexperienced handwriting.
So this is basically a little fantasy comic she secretly drew during her chuunibyou phase?
Maybe in a few years, it’ll become one of those embarrassing memories she’d rather forget.
Still, it must have taken quite a bit of courage for her to hand something like this over to me so seriously.
Unfortunately, faced with Homura and her handgun, Makoto had little ability to resist.
Makoto Tsukimi: “So, am I supposed to reject Kaname’s application now? After all, when you’re pointing a gun at me, Homura, it’s not like I have much power to refuse.”
Although he phrased his words as a question, Makoto had already begun considering how he should explain his rejection to Madoka.
However, as he continued thinking, he suddenly realized that the girl beside him had fallen completely silent.
Homura Akemi: “…”
Makoto Tsukimi: “?”
He looked at the silent girl in confusion.
He had expected Homura to immediately agree with his suggestion.
After all, from Homura’s perspective, Makoto was an anomaly who shouldn’t exist in this timeline.
Allowing someone like him to spend extended periods of time with Madoka, whom Homura valued so deeply, should have been an extremely dangerous proposition.
Yet—
Homura Akemi: “I want you to accept her application.”
Her fingers tightened slightly around the papers.
Homura lowered her gaze toward the illustrations.
Where Makoto saw the embarrassing fantasy creations of a young girl, Homura saw Madoka’s sincere wishes and aspirations.
It suddenly occurred to Homura that throughout all her repeated time loops, she had focused entirely on preventing Madoka from becoming a magical girl.
But she had seemingly never stopped to ask what Madoka herself wanted to do.
The Madoka Homura remembered had only become confident after becoming a magical girl.
And the Madoka whom Homura cherished and desperately wanted to save was precisely that confident girl.
The girl who had helped her.
The girl who had reached out to her and rescued her from her lonely existence.
When she thought about it, perhaps it would be better to give Madoka something meaningful to pursue rather than allowing her to remain uncertain about her future. This chapter is updated first at novelping.com.
If Madoka had something she genuinely wanted to dedicate herself to, then surely she wouldn’t have as much time to think about becoming a magical girl.
And if Madoka intended to create stories involving magical girls…
Homura Akemi: “If I wanted you to guide Madoka into thinking more deeply about certain issues surrounding magical girls while she’s working on her creations, what conditions would you ask for in return?”
The cold-looking girl raised her eyes and looked directly at Makoto with her violet gaze.
Makoto Tsukimi: “You want me to set the conditions?”
A strange expression appeared on his face.
Homura Akemi: “…”
Makoto could clearly see an emotion called embarrassment beginning to emerge on the face of the girl who was desperately trying to maintain her stern expression.
After all, just a moment ago, Homura had been coldly pointing a gun at him.
And now, almost immediately afterward, she found herself having to ask him for help.
Even though Homura Akemi had experienced and witnessed all manner of tragedies, those experiences had merely made her more decisive.
They hadn’t made her shameless.
Homura Akemi: “As long as your conditions aren’t unreasonable, I’ll do everything I can to fulfill them.”
She explained her position.
Hearing the noticeable change in Homura’s tone, Makoto’s smile grew increasingly bright.
He carefully examined the girl standing before him.
Despite her young age, after transforming into a magical girl, she now wore black, high-heeled, knee-high boots.
True strength wasn’t something that could be measured simply by how tough someone appeared to others.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Anything?”
He asked in a peculiar tone.
Homura Akemi: “Anything.”
The girl answered without the slightest hesitation.
Raising her cool, beautiful face, she made the greatest promise she could offer.
Homura Akemi: “Whatever you want, Tsukimi, as long as it doesn’t involve Madoka, I can help you achieve it.”
This time, she had even removed her previous condition that his requests couldn’t be unreasonable.
And faced with her solemn declaration and the strange sense of pressure carried by her words—
It was Makoto who fell silent instead.