Inside the relatively small room illuminated by direct sunlight, a yellow ribbon extended between a boy and a girl wearing silver bracelets, connecting the two of them.
Strictly speaking, the scene looked rather peculiar to Homura Akemi.
Sitting in her chair, Homura even experienced the strange feeling that she was the only person being excluded.
And in a sense, that was exactly what had happened.
By sharing their senses, Madoka Kaname and Makoto Tsukimi had entered another world entirely beyond Homura’s perception.
To prevent confusion between their respective sensory experiences, Makoto had directly suppressed all five of his own senses, allowing himself to receive only the signals transmitted from Madoka’s side.
Ding~ You have successfully loaded the Sensory Editing System.
Would you like to activate it?
A familiar voice sounded beside Madoka’s ears.
The pink-haired girl looked around.
The first thing she noticed was Makoto, who was sitting motionlessly in a chair with his eyes closed.
Madoka Kaname: “Is that you speaking right now, Makoto-kun?”
After a moment of surprise, Madoka asked her question.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Huh~? Madoka, can’t you recognize my voice?”
Madoka Kaname: “If I think about it carefully, I can recognize it. But it doesn’t sound quite like the Makoto-kun I’m familiar with.”
Makoto Tsukimi: “That’s… Oh, I think I understand.”
“The voice I’m creating inside your hearing right now is based on how I hear my own voice in reality.”
“And that’s different from how you normally hear me.”
When people spoke, they heard their own voices partly through vibrations conducted directly through the bones of their skulls.
Other people’s voices, however, reached their ears through the air.
Because the transmission media were different, the resulting sounds were also different.
The voice someone heard when speaking wasn’t identical to the voice heard by everyone else.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Let me adjust that.”
After a few simple adjustments, Madoka heard the familiar sound of Makoto’s ordinary voice once again.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Alright. Next, I’ll give you control over my body’s senses.”
“Madoka, you can try editing whatever appears before your eyes however you like.”
Madoka Kaname: “Ohhh!”
The pink-haired girl nodded gently, her expression filled with excitement, curiosity, and anticipation.
Adolescent girls naturally possessed a certain fascination with extraordinary things that transcended reality.
Madoka was also at an age when indulging in grand, fantastical ideas was perfectly natural.
Naturally, she was no exception.
In fact, while attending classes, she had frequently overheard classmates expressing envy toward Makoto’s unusual condition.
From an adult’s perspective, an ability that could only be used for personal entertainment might have virtually no economic value.
But from the perspective of teenage boys and girls?
It was unbelievably cool!
The kind of ability they wouldn’t trade away for any amount of money.
At this moment, Madoka wasn’t merely anticipating what she was about to experience.
She also felt a faint sense of accomplishment at finally gaining access to something that so many of her classmates admired.
Of course, alongside that sense of accomplishment came a subtle feeling that she was somehow undeserving of all the wonderful things she had been fortunate enough to receive.
The petite girl wasn’t truly lacking in self-confidence.
Rather, she simply hadn’t found a clear direction for herself. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
And because of that, she felt an increasingly urgent desire to accomplish something.
At the very least, she needed to make herself worthy of Makoto’s willingness to share all this with her.
She wanted to repay him somehow.
Madoka Kaname: “So what should I do next?”
The girl earnestly directed her question toward Makoto’s voice inside her mind.
From Madoka’s perspective, Makoto now resembled one of those mysterious elderly mentors from fantasy stories who resided within the protagonist’s body and communicated directly through their thoughts.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Emmmmm…”
Because this was his first time sharing his senses with another person, Makoto hadn’t completely anticipated what the experience would be like.
At this moment, he could fully perceive the changes occurring within Madoka’s body.
And that perception wasn’t limited to the five conventional senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.
He could also sense the subtle physical changes associated with her hormonal responses and shifting emotions.
The warmth spreading through the body during excitement.
The coldness of the hands and feet during sadness.
The stiffness of the muscles during nervousness.
The acceleration of the heartbeat during surprise.
Human emotions were continuously reflected in the physical state of the body.
And now, Makoto could experience Madoka’s faint feeling of unworthiness, along with the urgent desire to do something that arose from it, almost as though those emotions were his own.
The fluctuations in her feelings…
The physical sensations brought about by her body’s responses to those emotions…
It was as though Makoto were directly experiencing the world through Madoka’s body, perceiving everything from her first-person perspective.
Makoto Tsukimi: “Why does this make me feel like some kind of peeping tom?”
He couldn’t help making a sarcastic remark about himself.
After all, what he intended to do next was collaborate with Madoka on their creative project.
His primary reason for bringing her into the club was also to ensure that she became thoroughly absorbed in the work before her, leaving her with little time or energy to concern herself with matters involving magical girls.
Under such circumstances, there was absolutely no need to conceal what was happening.
And so, after thinking for a moment, Makoto began explaining the precise nature of their current sensory connection to Madoka.
As he spoke, a slightly panicked expression gradually appeared on the girl’s face.
Unlike Makoto, whose thoughts had immediately turned toward the more uncomfortable implications of their connection, Madoka hadn’t initially considered those possibilities.
Only after he pointed them out did she belatedly realize what was happening.
The awareness that someone else could perceive the secrets hidden within her heart instinctively triggered a defensive reaction.
After all, wasn’t there a popular saying?
Before dying, the most important thing a person needed to do was wipe all their electronic devices and delete their entire browsing history.
If humans already possessed so much information recorded in ordinary documents and devices that they didn’t want others to see, then how much more would they want to conceal their true inner thoughts?
The darker corners of the human heart.
The things people never wanted anyone else to know.
“Actually, I don’t think it’s quite that serious.”
“It’s a little embarrassing because it feels so strange, but otherwise, it doesn’t really feel much different from usual.”
She explained herself quite earnestly.
Makoto Tsukimi: “…”
Drawing his attention away from his increasingly tangled thoughts, Makoto focused on Madoka’s feelings.
What he discovered was completely different from what he had imagined.
After experiencing the instinctive panic of having her innermost feelings exposed, Madoka Kaname had gradually calmed down.
And the reason was remarkably simple.
Madoka didn’t actually have anything she particularly wanted to hide from other people.
There was genuinely very little impurity within the girl’s heart.
She didn’t lie.
She didn’t do bad things.
And she harbored no malicious intentions.
Because everything she wanted was already overflowing around her, she was already living in happiness.
Naturally, she had no reason to do anything dishonest or harmful in pursuit of something else.
There was nothing in Madoka Kaname’s heart that she couldn’t openly share with others.
Her desires, her thoughts, and everything she hoped to accomplish were things she had already discussed with her closest friends.
Madoka wanted to shine.
Madoka wanted to do something for everyone.
Makoto Tsukimi: “What am I supposed to do when your heart is so pure that it makes me feel ashamed of myself?”
Sensing Madoka’s sincere desire to comfort him, Makoto suddenly found himself at a loss for words.
Faced with someone like Madoka, he was the one who seemed narrow-minded and overly guarded.
After all, their senses were currently shared.
Just as Makoto could perceive everything Madoka experienced, Madoka could naturally perceive everything he experienced as well.
Makoto couldn’t help thinking that many of his own thoughts might end up tainting the innocent girl before him.
Madoka Kaname: “Actually, I don’t think they will.”
“I think your feelings are really exciting, Makoto-kun.”
“Experiencing them is almost like discovering an entirely new world.”
Apparently sensing the faint rejection emerging within Makoto’s heart, the petite girl spoke with complete sincerity.
In their current state of sensory sharing, any dishonesty could immediately be perceived by the other person.
Therefore, what Madoka said was unquestionably genuine.
She truly found the emotions she received from Makoto extraordinarily beautiful.
Makoto felt somewhat ashamed when confronted with the clarity and purity of Madoka’s heart.
But hadn’t Madoka also experienced a slight sense of inferiority when confronted with the complexity and intensity of Makoto’s thoughts?
Young girls longed to become adults.
Young girls wanted to grow more mature.
Madoka Kaname: “Makoto-kun, you’re someone who shines brightly, just like my mom. Thanks to what we’re experiencing right now, I can see so many more of your thoughts.”
Within the imaginary world created through their completely shared senses, the girl’s words were accompanied by her most genuine desires and a faint sense of admiration.
All of those feelings flowed toward Makoto, revealing what Madoka truly thought.
—She wanted to become someone like Makoto Tsukimi.