Makoto Tsukimi: “…”
The expression with which he regarded Homura became increasingly peculiar.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Homura Akemi, don’t tell me you’re actually terrible at interacting with people. Is that why you always wear such a cold expression? So nobody notices?”
Under normal circumstances, people would negotiate back and forth, making sure they understood exactly what the other party wanted before agreeing to anything.
At the very least, they wouldn’t make such ridiculously extravagant promises without hesitation.
During their conversation, Makoto could clearly sense something.
Homura wasn’t making these promises simply because she possessed overwhelming combat power and therefore felt she could agree to anything without consequences.
The girl wasn’t shameless enough to make empty promises so casually without showing the slightest embarrassment.
She genuinely intended to fulfill whatever requests Makoto might make.
Homura Akemi: “I don’t see anything wrong with agreeing.”
Makoto Tsukimi: “The way you’re acting right now makes it obvious that you’re extremely reluctant to communicate with me. You’d rather hurriedly agree to everything and spend more effort completing troublesome tasks than have to continue talking to me.”
He paused.
“To put it simply…”
Ahem, ahem~
Makoto cleared his throat twice.
Then he straightened his chest and imitated Homura’s cold, aloof, and somewhat self-consciously cool manner of speaking.
Makoto Tsukimi: “This is nothing more than a transaction between us. I have no interest in developing a deeper connection with you.”
Homura Akemi: “?!”
Makoto’s remarkably accurate imitation sent a sudden shiver through Homura.
She involuntarily took two steps backward.
As she moved, the hand she had placed on Makoto’s shoulder separated from him.
Homura Akemi’s magical ability, Time Stop, allowed her to bring herself and anything in physical contact with her into a state where they could move while the rest of time remained frozen.
Consequently, the moment Homura’s hand lost contact with Makoto, he became frozen in time once again.
The black-and-white world returned to being a place where Homura alone could move.
“…”
Perhaps because she was now the only person capable of moving, her tense expression gradually softened.
Back during her first time loop, when she had still been timid and insecure, facing a boy like Makoto would probably have made her feel rather shy.
She likely wouldn’t even have been able to look him directly in the eyes.
But now…
Homura Akemi: “I hate people who talk too much.”
She muttered these words under her breath.
First, Makoto had directly touched upon the possibility that frightened her most deeply.
Parallel worlds.
Homura traveled through time for one reason.
To rescue Madoka Kaname from the abyss of becoming a magical girl.
And when Makoto suggested that her time travel might actually involve moving between parallel worlds, what he was essentially telling her was—
The tragedy that befell the Madoka she originally wanted to save had already happened and could never be undone.
The Madoka she encountered in this timeline wasn’t actually the same person as the Madoka she had desperately wanted to rescue.
Wasn’t that practically the equivalent of destroying someone’s heart with words?
And while the earlier discussion about parallel worlds concerned something that had yet to be confirmed…
His description of her current emotional state was another matter entirely.
That was something he had gotten completely right.
“Are you really not doing this on purpose?”
The girl began glaring sharply at Makoto, attempting to exert her intimidating presence upon him.
However, doing something like that to someone frozen in time was obviously meaningless.
It was no different from talking to a doll.
The only purpose it could serve was to vent her emotions.
Then again, perhaps that was exactly what the black-haired girl wanted to do.
Severing her connections with everyone except Madoka.
That was the principle Homura had established for herself before embarking on her previous time loop.
She had already tried everything she could think of, over and over again.
She couldn’t save everyone.
The only person she could save was Madoka.
Making such a decision must have caused the girl tremendous inner anguish.
Struggle in despair.
Suffer in pain.
Fight desperately within the abyss of the magical girls’ fate.
And simply turn a blind eye.
It was one thing when she was the only person who knew about it.
But now that someone else had directly pointed it out…
Homura Akemi had never been a cold-blooded person.
At the very least, the girl who had only experienced six time loops had yet to develop a heart as hard as steel.
Even though Makoto Tsukimi had mentioned it unintentionally, Homura, who already harbored feelings of guilt, couldn’t help feeling as though she were being interrogated.
Within the black-and-white world, the only girl who still retained her colors stood before Makoto.
She bit down hard on her lower lip, her hands tightly clenched at her sides.
The girl desperately searched her mind for an appropriate response.
Yet no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t come up with an answer that would convince even herself.
Time passed little by little.
She stared at Makoto, sensing that the sand in the hourglass inside the shield on her right arm was about to run out.
Once the hourglass emptied, the amount of time she could keep the world frozen would reach its limit.
By the time Makoto regained his awareness, time around him had already resumed its normal flow.
The space before him was completely empty.
Homura Akemi was nowhere to be seen.
A piece of paper remained in his hand, bearing the following message:
[I’m running out of time for my time stop, so I’ll be leaving first.]
Makoto Tsukimi: “…”
Running away in the middle of a conversation…
Come to think of it, this was already the second time Homura had pulled something like this in front of him.
Don’t tell me she ran away again because I happened to hit a nerve?