Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The five of them laid among the ruins of a flooded city block, covered in mud, blood, tears and sweat. Gentle raindrops start falling from the darkened sky slowly recovering its afternoon glow. Consciousness returns, and soon they take in the sight before them.

A collapsed bridge.

The overflowing river.

Entire buildings brought down to the ground.

Gathering whatever strength they have left, they look up to the sky, searching for the responsible of all this destruction. But it's not there. Its imposing presence no longer felt at all. It’s over. After so many failures, so many losses, so much pain and tragedy… it was over. The immovable obstacle was finally gone.

With the heat of battle cooling down, the first one to talk was Tomoe Mami, senior instincts kicking in, while trying to get on her feet again. "Is everyone OK?"

A couple seconds later, the first response comes from the tables outside a local café on her left. "Define what's OK right now...", was Sakura Kyouko's answer, as she tried to untangle herself from the tablecloths. Seeing her still moving just fine, Mami throws a smile at her and looks over to her right. She sees Miki Sayaka starting to get up on her own, holding a thumbs up to confirm her well-being to the blonde instructor, which is enough for her to keep looking for the others.

Further down the road, Mami sees Kaname Madoka, her other newest pupil, hurriedly stumbling to a large debris that probably used to be a wall. Still sitting on the ground and against the wall, not trying at all to get back up, she finally sees Akemi Homura, eyes closed. Arriving soon after Madoka, now on her knees holding Homura's left hand trying to get a reaction, Mami encounters what is to her a most unimaginable view.

A right leg trapped under another cement block, a pool of blood beneath it.

A rod poking out of the right side of the chest, another through her midsection, soaking the outfit with dark puddles.

A half of the face still showing pale skin, the other side hidden by a red veil.

Akemi Homura. Unresponsive. Broken. Defeated.

To witness in such a state the person that had become a friend after clashing on and on until their rivalry subsided… Mami didn't know what to say, not even think. Kyouko and Sayaka finally joined her, helping each other to get there. Seeing what the situation is now, they all sit next to Madoka. She puts her right hand in Homura's clean left cheek while still holding onto the girl's hand.

"P-Please, Homura. You… you have to wake up", she speaks for the first time since waking up. "Wake up please. Wake up. You need to see this, Homura. We did it! We won! Walpurgisnacht is gone! It's over now!"

No reaction.

"You made it, Homura! You got us all to work together! And it worked!"

No movement.

"SO PLEASE, WAKE UP ALREADY!" She cried out, straining her voice, tears pouring down her face. The others were surprised by her uncharacteristically demanding tone.

"M-Madoka", said Sayaka with a trembling voice, putting a hand on her friend's shoulder, who just shook her head while looking down to the hand she was holding. "No… no… no, no… no, no, no, no, no… please don't… don't do this… not like this..."

Stretching out to get her own hand in Madoka's back while the bluenette retired hers, Kyouko knew what had to be done before it was too late to act, and that no one else here would be able to do it right now. "Madoka, please, you've seen her soul gem. She's running out of time. The closer it gets, the more she will suffer. It's better if... we do it now that she's…" Kyouko stops her sentence as she looks at the dying girl's face, gasping and unable to keep her own tears from falling off. Madoka tenses at the implication of the redhead, even knowing that it's true. It was Homura herself who revealed what would happen if this scenario wasn't dealt with in time. Yet, she couldn't find the strength to do it.

Mustering up her courage once more, Kyouko stood up, walked to Madoka's right side, crouched down to her level to hold their holding hands on her own and see the crying pinkhead. "You don't have to do it. It's too much to ask of you… It's ok... I'll do it, alright?" This got both Mami and Sayaka to stare in shock at the idea, while Madoka could only whimper in response. Then, she nods to let her know it's OK, starting to let go of Homura's hand.

A pressure.

A twitch.

A tear.

A reaction.

Feeling the movement under their hands, Madoka and Kyouko look up to meet a slowly opening purple eye. In a most painful effort to try to recollect some sort of wavering strength, Homura manages to speak again. "N-no… you don't… have to-", she's interrupted by her own coughing, blood coming out of her mouth, spraying all over her outfit again. The sudden movement reminds her of the bar going through her right lung. Everyone else closes in in immediate response. With iron taste on her lips, she tries again. "I won't let... any of you do it… it has to be me…" Only small nods and quivering answer her. "Just… help me... get a gun out…"

Moving carefully to reach Homura's right hand, Kyouko brings it over to the buckler in her companion's left arm, so that she can summon one of her weapons from the mysterious pocket dimension contained inside the metallic artifact. Even in her deplorable state, she still holds the handgun with the precise control they're used to see by now. Homura focuses on Madoka, speaking with an even softer voice now.

"Madoka… I'm… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Her watery eye cannot resist letting a tear flow down. "I… I can't keep my promise now…" Madoka can't say anything, choking on the knot on her throat, she can only look at Homura with defeat across her face. She can't do it, she can't see this. She closes her eyes hoping she'll wake up from this horrible nightmare, just like the one she had the first day she met Homura. But t he girl has nothing more to say now.

Gem in hand.

Safety down.

Trigger ready.

Barrel aligned.

"WAIT!" Mami's scream calls everyone's attention, turning to see her fidgeting, looking between them. "Do it one more time, Homura… Go back to the hospital." The rest stay silent. So Mami explains her idea. "You told us you always return to the day you are discharged, right? That you heal your heart and eyesight with magic. So you always wake up on a new body that can easily be healed."

It was true, though she hated wasting magic due to having to heal her frail body's ailments to secure her best physical performance, any wounds she had suffered throughout her failed attempts to defeat the witch never carried over with the reset. It was really only her soul that went back, which still presented a problem in itself. Kyouko understood what it was.

"Yeah her body might be better back then, but what about her soul gem? Just look at it!” She paused to raise Homura’s hand a little, the darkening gem slowly losing its purple gleam. “We don't have more grief seeds! Even if Walpurgisnacht dropped one, we don’t know where it might be! And there’s no time! She won’t last an hour without one!" The redhead couldn't see a way out of this, Homura going back would only make it worse. She would turn in the hospital, a banquet of patients ready to feast on around her. In doing so, their victory today would be undone and Walpurgisnacht would return to the city.

Mami hadn't considered that. She thought that, with a new body and not using any magic, Homura could ask for a phone and call her former self. If she knew herself well enough, a distressed girl on the phone begging for a grief seed would be more than enough motive to ditch school and run to the hospital to assist a fellow magical girl in need. Then the answer clicked on her, eyes lighting up like fireworks while she thought. "Of course! Myself! It'll be faster if I go do it myself!"

"Then I'll go with you! You've taken me into your time stop before, why wouldn't the reset work too?"

"I've never… brought someone with me, Mami." Homura said while trying to keep her eye open, but failing nonetheless.

"Well here's the chance to do it! Come on, Homura! Don't give up now when there may still be a way!"

Once again pushing herself, the broken girl forces both her eyes wide open, her right field of vision under crimson coating. Through a more stable voice she says, "Nothing to lose at this point, I suppose." Mami beams a smile at her and quickly stands up to move to her side.

However, Madoka interrupts her pace. "Wait, wait! If it's possible, then I'm going with you, too! I can't let you go through all of that again alone!"

"She won't be alone, Madoka! Mami will be there!" Now Sayaka was able to break off her previous state of dumbfoundedness. "But you're right! If there's a chance it works, I'm coming in too!"

"Yeah, you're not getting away from us any time soon, Hom", was Kyouko's way of saying she would tag along too. Homura can only smile at everyone's disposition to jump into the unknown for her sake. After everything they've all been through, hope is the only thing that is never lost. Almost forgetting about the pain she's currently experiencing, she finds one issue with this improvised plan.

"Hehe, yes… I can only… blame myself for that, but…" She stares down at her soul gem. "I don't have enough… to bring all of you with me…" The statement hits the others with a punch to the gut, hating the idea that they may have to stay behind and forget everything that got them here. For Homura to be forced to start all over, if she even recovers, that is. “I don’t think I can even... do it myself anymore..."

To this, Mami reveals her last, desperate idea, not even stopping to discuss it with the others. She produces ribbons that wrap around everyone's wrists, then she exchanges the main knot tying them together in her right wrist for Homura's. "Madoka! Sayaka! Focus some of your magic onto the ribbons! We'll work as a supplementary source for her, just enough for all of us to go back! But don't over do it! You have to be able to sustain yourselves while I go help her! We'll meet at the hospital!" Both apprentices nod as they start pumping magic through the magical connection. "Kyouko! Did you carry a grief seed with you on that day?"

"I think I slept 'til noon! I hid a few nearby so don't worry about me! I'll be back in Mitakihara before sunset, I promise!" Her usual confident grin back on her face.

"OK! Stop your flow when you're close to your limit!" With that said, Mami now turns to Homura. "I always have one on myself at school, I'll recover almost immediately! I'm going to keep giving you magic until you're ready to send us back!"

Not only was Mami's plan purely improvised on the spot, it was borderline suicidal. If any of them miscalculated how long their remaining magic would last, the simplest of delays could end up killing them. No doubt one of the most idiotic ideas Homura had ever heard after all this time, however long that is by now. And yet, it was a crazy plan what actually worked to defeat the stage-constructing witch at last. So maybe that’s really what it took to overcome such overwhelming odds, to shut off her machine-like mind and just go with the flow , as Kyouko would usually put it.

All the ribbons but one start to change their golden color, reacting to each girls’ flow of magic going through them, light shades of red, pink and blue meeting Homura’s violet on the knot. With no idea if transferring magic directly to a soul gem is even possible, she decides to keep their magic on hold until sensing that they’ve gathered what's used to activate the reset five times over. Mami along with Kyouko make up for around three quarters of it, so Madoka and Sayaka won’t be in immediate danger after this.

“It’s almost ready! Stop!” Finally allowed to cease her own draining, Mami shows signs of being truly weakened. Failing to keep standing now, she crumbles down to the muddy ground. Before the others start to worry about her instead, she pushes up with her arms to raise her head and look up to them with her characteristic warm smile. That is enough for Homura.

“I have to put a bit of my own magic first... before letting yours flow into this thing”, bringing the buckler close to her chest, right hand still holding her gun ready to spin it. With a click, the shield does a half turn, indicating the device is ready. She tries to put a joyous look on her face, an expression the rest have never seen before, for what they can remember. Putting a small part of what’s left of her magic into the apparatus and then the knot's after it, they flood into the internal machinery, gears spinning at full speed.

In an instant, the world surrounding her is gone. As usual, she’s in a large corridor, white walls with geometrical patterns rushing towards one end of the tunnel, the floor moving like a conveyor belt. Homura looks around to see all four of her friends still attached to her via Mami’s ribbons.

Wonder.

Amazement.

Disbelief.

Stupefaction.

That’s all their faces display now witnessing time itself moving backwards. Shaking her head to what’s by now a common event, Homura checks on the hourglass, noticing how much faster its spin is than when she reversed time alone.

Perhaps, a little too fast, as the entire shield starts to vibrate, forcing her arm to join the fray. Trying to take a closer look, unexpectedly to her, all motion stops, inercia making her lay down completely. She brings her arm up again, steady, under control now.

The buckler, at a standstill.

The gears, immovable, yet tensed up with energy.

“What the-”

CLANK

Just as soon as it all stopped, it began to move. In the opposite direction. The shield again turning uncontrollably but in a way it's never been capable of, there was a lock of some sorts that always prevented this rotation. The sudden change in direction sent all the girls flying back to where they came from, completely unable to control themselves, being thrown around like ragdolls against the walls, with no sense of up and down anymore. They collide with each other a few times, no luck trying to hold one another. Homura tries to look around, barely managing to grasp flashes of the rest in this chaos.

Some more tumbling around, and she finally gets a position that allows her to see everyone behind her. They can’t see her, though, facing in random directions and no idea of how to steer themselves. Then, she notices the knot of ribbons that Mami put on her, unraveling.

“Wai-”

The one thing keeping them all together, undone. She feels herself become heavier, being attracted to one of the walls. In quick succession, Homura watches as they all pass by her. First Mami, from who she manages to see the absolute terror on her face. Then Sayaka bolts after her mentor. With an intelligible scream escaping her mouth, Kyouko dashes through the tunnel. Meaning…

Homura sees Madoka float past her. They exchange one long look, as if all the madness froze in time again for just one second. With a weak smile, Madoka closes her eyes and tears trail behind her as she continues her trajectory.

Unable to fully process what’s happened, Homura quickly comes to a stop, before she fades into the void of slumber once more.

Chapter Text

Once the red haired student had left, Cementoss brought down the wall he'd created to protect All Might's appearance. "Thank you, Cementoss, that would've been hard to explain right now, hahaha…" All Might chuckles and is soon joined by the other hero and Midoriya Izuku, the only student who knew his secret, as he would be his successor one day. Once the laughs stop, they notice a vortex just like the one the villain Kurogiri used to escape alongside Shigaraki Tomura. Now fully reverted into his normal form, All Might realizes what's about to happen and warns Cementoss. "They're coming back with reinforcements to finish me off! Get Midoriya out of here now!"

As Izuku was about to express his concern for All Might basically surrendering himself to the villains, Cementoss interrupts. "No! We're not abandoning you, All Might! The other pro heroes are already here, we can handle it!" Feeling a sudden change in the air around, the three look back at the now raging swirl. And then something comes out of it. Someone.

The spiral of dark-like dust disappears and they settle their sight onto the person laying face down to the ground that was just expelled from it. Of long black hair and thin frame, wearing some kind of seifuku-stylized uniform and a weird disk on the left forearm. And as Izuku looked closer to the side not hidden by hair, a girl's face covered in blood, which was enough to force him to do something. "There's blood on her head! She's hurt! Cementoss-sensei we have to help her!"

While trying to crawl with his arms to reach her, the teacher calls out to him. "Wait Midoriya, stop right there! She has a gun!" Looking over to her right hand, he sees the pistol she's holding with a finger ready at the trigger.

"What's going on here?" Now joining the fray was Midnight, accompanied by Vlad King carrying Principal Nezu. "We heard shouting, are we still under attack?"

"She's hurt, she needs help!", was Izuku's response. "She's not fighting us! She's not even moving…" Taking in the figure of the girl sprawled over the walkway, Nezu leaps down from Vlad King's shoulder and signals Midnight to follow him towards the girl. Before getting there, he turns to Izuku to calm him down. "It's alright, Midoriya. We will handle this, lay down and rest now. Don't worry."

As they reach her, Midnight slowly removes the gun from her hand and slides it away, while Nezu checks for the wound in her head. "She's unconscious… and bleeding from the left temple and upper eyebrow. We have to take her to Recovery Girl. Vlad King, help Midnight to turn her around." Now with the assistance of the other hero, Midnight starts pushing the girl to her side but stops when she feels some wetness on her hands. "Wait, wait! Look! She's bleeding from the chest, and her leg too!", showing her now bloodied hands. "This is bad, she needs a hospital right now!"

After such a declaration, Nezu starts spewing orders immediately. For Vlad King to call the medics and get an ambulance ready to go, for Cementoss to help transport the girl to the U.S.J.'s entrance, and for Midnight to stay close to her and notify any changes. With that, Vlad King runs off to go find the medics while Cementoss slowly raises the ground beneath the girl for her to lay on a cement bed and start moving it to the exit, Midnight walking next to them.

With them gone, only All Might and Izuku are left on the scene with Nezu. "As I said, we'll handle this issue. So I'll ask both of you to get the rest you desperately need right now. Don't worry about her, she will get the help she needs, too." The One For All users nod in agreement, while the principal continues. "I'll tell Snipe and Ectoplasm to come help you get to the infirmary." And with that, he walks away.

After a few seconds of silence, Izuku speaks up again, tears slowly coming out of his eyes as he does. "I'm… I'm sorry, All Might. I couldn't do anything to help against the villains. And now… someone got really hurt."

All Might put on a smile to try to cheer up his successor. "Don't blame yourself, young Midoriya, you gave me the few seconds I needed to maintain my bluff until the other heroes showed up." But there was no denying that, for how much battered she was, that girl had shown up just like the villains did before. But perhaps it was better to keep that correlation to himself rather than say it out loud, for now. "And you heard Principal Nezu, the girl will get the treatment she needs. Right now, you and I need to get ourselves checked by Recovery Girl. Look! I see Snipe is already on his way here."

Homura slowly begins to wake up. With her eyes still closed, she first notices what feels like a respirator attached to her face. "Weird, I've never come back having respiratory issues." And as she tries to sit up, the avalanche of pain washes over her again, making her cry a deep grunt that startles the people around her.

"Wait, there's people here… Where… Where am I?" As she wonders about her location, a woman in a whole white, skin-tight bodysuit takes her right hand and looks at her with worried eyes. "Hey, hey, you're awake now. Hey, look at me. Try to calm down, please. Look, we found you in pretty bad shape, we're in an ambulance taking you to the hospital now. Please lay down, don't exert yourself." Letting her head rest on the stretcher, Homura examines the ambulance with her one good eye and finds next to the doors a paramedic juggling a syringe and some veils, probably to give her a shot. On her left, an armed police officer escorts them, given the severity of the unknown subject's wounds. Injuries that she now notices have not disappeared at all.

Looking upwards with her eye wide open and ragged breathing, Homura feels what's most likely a panic attack coming up. The woman talks to her again. "Hey, hey, calm down, calm down. It's ok, you're going to be alright, but you have to stay calmed so you don't hurt yourself. Breath in slowly", she shows this by inhaling herself and then exhaling, "and let it out just as slow. C'mon, try it."

At the advice, Homura shuts her eye close and focuses on stabilizing her respiration. Even after bringing it down to normal levels, her heart is still pumping as if she just ran a marathon. Because none of it made sense. "What… What happened? Why am I not at my hospital bed? And I'm still wounded? Where did they find me? And I'm still transformed! This is a complete mess!" There were so many things that may or may not explain her situation, but she realizes there's no time to dwell on them right now. Without having to check visually, she can feel the impurities on her soul gem accumulating, approaching the limit of how long she can last without purifying it. "I have to focus, there's almost no time left. I need to come up with something, fast."

With the clock ticking, Homura goes over what little facts she can come up with. "First, I don't even know if I'm back on the same day all resets start on, but I’m definitely not in the same place, which means I can't count on Mami showing up now." The magnitude of the revelation made her gulp down the pain she could still feel on her chest.

"Perhaps make my presence known to any other magical girl in the area? No, no, no, I'd be a sitting duck if they're even remotely territorial. So no assistance from anyone capable of it right now."

"Maybe I could go on stasis, disconnect my soul from my body, that would give me a couple more hours… but that's stupid, even if I somehow manage to come up with something during that time, my body would be dead and the medics will process it as such, and again, no one to help me recover."

"Magic is out of the question, of course. Can't spare using a single second in this state, that'd just burn me down faster. And if what I heard breaking is integral to how this thing works, I don't know if I can even stop time now."

"Grief seeds? No, I used them all during the fight, they're on critical levels for sure… And I'm in no condition to go looking for a new one."

A minute goes by with everyone in the cabin silent. Trying to think of more possible alternatives, she opens both eyes, with half her panorama in red tones, and Homura sees the lights on the ceiling. They remind her of Kyubey, those big red eyes that betrayed no emotion even in the most appalling of events.

"Kyubey… What did the rat say about used up grief seeds? That they took care of them in that dangerous condition, because otherwise there's a risk the witch may hatch again if their seeds are used beyond what they can handle…” She stops for a moment at her line of thinking before continuing. “But it's for their energy, that's all the incubators care about, right? They don't let witches be reborn because it would require expending energy to force them out, the whole system would become unbalanced at that point."

This was her most promising idea so far, even if it was based on trying to find a way around the incubators' methods and goal. Given how insistent Kyubey sometimes was on acquiring fully utilized grief seeds, the warning he usually gave about a possible rehatch now seemed to be worthy of real consideration. If she tries to force as much of her own soul gem's impurities as she can into one of her used grief seeds, will all that condensed emotional negativity overflow the seed and release the witch back into the world? And in turn, allow her to survive long enough to find the others?

She could try, but not with these people so close to her. She would still need some time to get back to full combat form, too. She has to get out of their reach now. Bringing her right hand to her face, she removes the respirator, gaining the attention of the crowd. The paramedic interjects. "Hey! You can't take that off, you need it!"

"I-I'm ok, I'm fine… really… W-Where are we right now?" Homura played the timid girl card while moving her head around trying to find an opening to act. The woman on her right explained that they were going through a road that cut through the forest area of the U.A. High School, that they were about to enter the city's route.

"That confirms I don't know where I am… and that this is a big place if we are still on its premises." A forest environment might give a witch some trouble to find victims if it's too isolated, so more time for her to recover. She'll have to do it here, then.

"Any buildings around us?" Homura gave another childish puppy-eyed look to sell the act of innocence to the unsuspecting woman, who told her, "Not really, at least for another 2 minutes or so."

That's all she needs. "Oh, alright…" Homura looks down to the left where the police officer is sitting, fixing her sight on the gun holder on his hip. "This is so reckless! But I have to act now" , she thought as the man cleared his throat. He finally speaks up, addressing the woman. "Look, Midnight-san, she seems very much awake now to me. We should start taking all the information she can give us to solve this problem as soon as possible, don't you agree?"

"No, you wait until after she gets real help at the hospital. I was told to keep an eye on her, so don't even think about pressuring a word out of her."

Seizing the distraction that was now presented to her, Homura reaches out to grab the officer's gun with her left hand. Pointing it at the woman the officer referred to as Midnight, she addresses the shocked audience with her usual cold, stoic demeanor. "Tell the driver to stop the ambulance, pull over close to the trees."

In disbelief of the turn of events, no one even moves a finger to her request. Except for Homura herself, seeing that they're all too stunned to comprehend what's going on, so she gives a warning shot that impacts the roof. The loud sound brings everyone back to Earth, scaring the driver who shouts asking, "What's going on?! What happened?!"

Understanding now dawned on Midnight that she had been tricked, possibly by a young villainess playing as a victim. But in such close quarters and already at a big disadvantage, she couldn't risk the lives of the other occupants of the vehicle. So, she commanded the driver, "Stop the ambulance! Pull over! Quick!" She turns to lock eyes with the girl pointing the gun back at her.

As they all feel the change from asphalt road to dirt sidewalk, Homura looks over to the paramedic, paralyzed on his seat over the whole ordeal. "He seems the least confrontational, and I need to stand up if I want to get rid of the grief seed." She speaks up to him, "You. Open the doors, pull me over there and help me stand up." Glancing quickly to her sides, she notices the other two still fixed on her. "And you two, get out. Stay where I can see you."

Slowly moving to the doors, they help the confused paramedic open them. Once they're out, Homura signals him to move the stretcher, as far as it goes. Now comes the worst part, getting up. She tells the man, "Stay right there at the edge, I'm going to sit up, then you support me out of this vehicle." She starts rising from her sitting position and everyone else notices her effort clearly exerts her injuries, if the grunts and hissing are anything to go by. The bleeding, now even more evident.

Fully standing up in one leg now, the paramedic approaches her. They come out of the ambulance with him at her right side, giving her the support her leg can't. Looking deep into the forest, she commands him again. "Now help me get to one of those trees." Slowly making their way to the tree line, the officer and the woman follow them from a distance. Using one of the imposing trees as support, she releases her hold of the paramedic and tells him to go back to the others, which he does.

"Time to test if this works. No… it will work. It has to work. I can't… I won't let all this be for nothing." Bringing her hand into the shield, she pulls out a grief seed and looks over its design to at least try to remember who might just pop out of it soon. Homura gives out a short sigh, as she recognizes this one.

"Huh, well Charlotte, you were always full of surprises… Try not to hate me for forcing you out like this." Just as Homura says this, she notices the irony in her words. "Now I'm apologizing to a witch, this has to be a new low, even for me."

As she touches her soul gem with the grief seed, a small amount of her magic gets restored in a couple of seconds, but then the flow stops, as the seed reaches its maximum capacity. "So you did have a little more to give… then… let's see how much despair will it take for you to come out!" And so Homura pictures on her mind how to forcefully pump the darkness out of her soul gem, feeling the incredible resistance that the seed presents to her attempt. Her wounds reignite the blood splattering, with new ones appearing on her body's joints as small scratches, a sign of how much effort her soul is experiencing.

It's working to an extent, though. If she can keep this up for a few more seconds, she'll walk out (figuratively) of this predicament with half the total amount of magic she can gather on her soul gem. Enough to last a week on minimal output, while she heals a truly mangled body and finds a witch, other than Charlotte, that is.

At last, the grief seed looks like it's about to hatch, some of the accumulated energy emanating like fumes out of its container. Gathering strength on her right arm, Homura pulls it back for a throw. "See you soon, Charlotte!" , she thought as she launched the grief seed into the depths of the forest they all stood outside of. As the seconds passed without a labyrinth forming around them, Homura finally relaxed, relieved that she wouldn't have to confront the witch for now.

Turning around to meet the gaze of her confused public, she tries to ease the tension they're all feeling at the moment. First by throwing the gun she stole from the officer back at his feet, then by saying, "I would… like to apologize… for everything I did. I didn't intend to harm any of you, but I had to do this." The crowd doesn't respond to her attempt at an apology, still focus on the rather critical condition she was apparently ignoring.

To this, Homura adds, "And if it's not too much to ask… I would like to go to the hospital now." Right as the cumulative exhaustion from the previous battle and her most recent, strenuous procedure hit her all at once, falling unconscious to the ground, transforming out of her magical girl form back into her school uniform, which is just as ragged, but less tainted with blood.

Snapped out of their stupor by the sudden radiance that engulfed the girl's body as it collapsed to the dirt, the paramedic and Midnight move to her aid as the officer recovers his weapon.

This one would be one hell of a report to give to detective Tsukauchi back at the office.

Chapter Text

After checking in the unconscious girl in the emergency department, the officer called the police station to request another agent for back-up, given the spectacle they went through on their way to the hospital. On the other hand, Midnight was contacting the school to inform the principal about the recent developments.

"So she takes the gun, asks to stop the ambulance and to be carried over to the trees. There she talks to herself and gets even more hurt somehow. She apparently throws something away into the forest and finally apologizes to you before collapsing again." Nezu quickly recapped what the teacher had just tried to explain to him.

"And the weird flash of light when she fell down." Midnight considered that detail to be relevant, worth noting at least.

"Yes, yes, the light… You do realize how crazy all that sounds, professor?"

"If there weren't two other people who saw the same thing, I'd be the first one to call me crazy, principal."

At least they agreed on that, and the hero work had shown them a lot of eccentricities some couldn't even dream of, so this situation wasn't exactly the most insane they've experienced. Unexpected and strange, nonetheless.

"So what do the doctors say?"

"Well… if anything, she's resilient." Midnight felt a little sick when a medic came out to explain the girl's condition. "It seems the reason she was bleeding so much is because she has.. two penetrating wounds in her chest and stomach. And her right leg too, it's crushed from the knee down." She stops for a second to take a breath before continuing. "The head injury is mostly superficial, but part of the right orbital is cracked so she'll need surgery for that as well." Midnight pulls away again from the phone for a moment to try to keep herself together.

"Kayama-san, if you want to I can ask someone to go take over for you." Nezu suggests now worrying over her own mental state.

"No, no, it's OK really. It's just a little overwhelming. I can handle things here." She assures him.

"It's just… well the doctor said that… that she shouldn't even have been able to make it this far, not with such wounds. And how did she get those?"

"Cementoss said she came out of one of the villain's portals, right? Did they kidnap her just to torture her and makes us take them seriously?!" Now she was getting ready to go out looking for culprits.

Nezu couldn't allow her to start freaking out right now. "Midnight! Calm down! We don't know what happened! You need to calm down and keep an eye on that girl. I'll ask Recovery Girl to go there once she's done with All Might and Midoriya. See if she's in any position to help."

"Y-yes, my apologies for that. I'll go see if they managed to find her records or something to start with." Midnight returned to a more collected state.

"Good, good. I'm suspending classes for tomorrow, we'll have a faculty meeting at noon and most likely the police report. Call again in the morning if you can make it here."

"Of course, I'll be there." With that, the call came to an end. Time to start getting some answers.

This, this was a little more like it. "Hospital bed… Did I dream all that?" Homura scans the room with one eye to find she can't recognize it as the usual place she would wake up in. "No, definitely not a dream, then. If this pain is anything to go by." She glances down at the bandages covering her torso and then to her immobilized leg. "And this will hurt even more when I start healing it."

She was left alone for now, so I'd be safe to check on her soul gem. Its mundane camouflage as a ring on her left hand's middle finger transformed into the egg-like form, so that she could see in better detail its condition. Her gem's vibrant violet color was partially covered by the black mist flowing inside it, like water and oil that can't mix together. "Around half-full… empty… whatever. At low output this would give me a week, but healing all this will leave me with two to three days worth of magic."

The small lacerations on her body, including the discomfort on the right side of her face, would be restored quickly as she focuses on the main injuries. Fortunately, the stabbing ones were very localized, so not a lot of organ and tissue would have to be rebuilt. The real problem was the leg. "All that bone fusing back together…"

"For once, I'd very much appreciate Sayaka to be here, it wouldn't hurt so much then." Homura says snarky, glad no one was around to hear that.

"Well then, let's do this." With that, she focuses her magic around her chest to start working on fixing the lung first. It's a stinging, pulsing sensation, making her tense while the wound closes off. At last, she can breathe freely again, her head also no longer bothering her, removing the bandage on her right side.

Moving on to her stomach, she felt like throwing up for a bit with the movement of viscera rearranging under her skin. After that's done, she says, "Positive side, Mami didn't see that. She would have fainted, otherwise." That got a chuckle out of her.

Looking down to her leg, Homura gets mentally ready for it. She sits up on the bed, taking one of the pillows she was resting on. It would muffle down the screams. Pouring magic onto the limb, it felt like it was on fire. She let out a silenced cry as she dug herself down the pillow.

Unbeknownst to her, a nurse walked in to check on her vitals as the medical equipment she was connected to haywired with the sudden increase of activity. Alarmed, she approached Homura, "Wait, wait, wait! You can't move! You will open up your wounds!"

Now noticing the nurse's presence, Homura looks up from her refuge crying to yell, "LEAVE! OUT! NOW! GET OUT!" Leaning back into the softness, she bites down on it now that she's been found out. The nurse leaves the room horrified by the screeching she can still hear through the pillow.

Midnight joins the police officer at the reception desk. "Anything so far?"

"Well, she's not on the registry, at least in this hospital. We'll have to wait for her to wake up and tell us her name, see if the station has any records on her. Also…"

"Not more bad news…" Midnight was getting tired of this day going from bad to worse.

"It took a while to confirm, given that one of her legs might not work for the examination. But apparently she's quirkless! See? Two joints on her pinky toe." He shows her the X-rays of her still functioning foot, evidence of the lack of a quirk.

Midnight takes the radiographs to watch them closely. "That's not… right. She… how could she hold on after all that without some sort of stamina or reinforcement quirk?" The policeman's gesture suggested he was just as baffled at this discovery.

At that moment, detective Tsukauchi walked into the building. The operations on school grounds were over, so only this particular business was left for him to take charge of. He addresses the pair who notice his arrival.

"Good evening, Midnight, officer. I'm told you requested additional support due to the subject's behavior. Can you fill me in on what you know?"

The three of them discussed the situation in detail for over an hour. So much had happened and there still was too much they didn't know.

A nurse interrupted the meeting with her frantic appearance at the reception. "I need help in room 106! The patient is awake and… I don't know what's happening! But she's in pain!" Four other nurses lay down their office duties to assist.

Midnight raised from her seat when she heard that. "Wait, that's her room!" She dashes towards the doors of the emergency wing, followed by the other men.

She enters the room to find the nurses surrounding the bed but not moving at all. Moving closer, she sees the girl sitting on, hugging a pillow while staring hard at her leg. A leg without a scratch on it.

Homura breathes out audibly at a fast pace, a couple of tears course down her face as she collects herself to speak, voice still trembling. "Th-That… that fucking hurt."

She falls back to the bed, eyes closed, but still very much awake.

The atmosphere in the room was tense, to say the least. After the nurses ran another check up on her, they were all surprised to find her fully recovered. No bruises on her skin or scars to speak of. It was like she never got hurt to begin with.

This kind of healing wasn't unheard of, with people like Recovery Girl around, or others with quirks that allowed even full regeneration of lost limbs. But the evidence suggested that shouldn't be the case here.

Letting the police officer end his service for today, detective Tsukauchi sits on a chair to the left side of the bed, Midnight taking the right side. They both watch intently at the girl as she's having some soup the nurses brought for her after she asked for some food. Tsukauchi decides to break the ice already. "So… You're OK now? Nothing aches you anymore?"

"No, I'm fine, just tired. The only thing bothering me is that I'm still on a hospital gown. I'd like to get dressed but I don't know what they did with my clothes while I was out." Homura plays with the spoon as she answers. She knows what's next, better get down with it already. She glances first at the man before landing on the woman. "I know you have questions, so…"

Taking the hint, Tsukauchi clears his throat to proceed with the questioning. "Well, first of all, my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, I'm the detective leading the investigation on the attack earlier today at the U.A. High School. And this is the pro hero Midnight, she's-" He got cut off by her.

"Representing the school, I was told to keep an eye on you. And it seems every time I don't, you do something scandalous. Care to explain that for us?" Midnight really wanted some answers now that it was clear the girl could provide them.

"Pro hero? What?" Homura frowned wondering what that's supposed to mean.

"Midnight-san, please." He was surprised by how invested she seemed to be. He turns back to the girl. "Can you tell us your name, please?"

"Akemi Homura, a pleasure." She goes back to her soup.

"Nice to meet you, too, Akemi-san. Is there anyone we could contact to let them know you're here?"

She stares silently at the bowl for a little too long before answering. "No, there's no one. Don't waste your time trying."

That was a little concerning. How could there be no one to reach out to? He notes it down and continues. "What about your age? Are you already independent of your family?"

"I'm 14, and… No, I just don't have family anymore." It's been so long since she had something similar to that, she can't even remember what they looked like.

Now this was worrisome. A young teenager on her own, in the conditions she was found? It turned on several alarms in the detective's mind. None much better than the others. "This might be hard to answer but, can you tell us if you were taken by a villain? The yakuza, maybe?"

Now she could not hide her confusion under her practiced neutral expression. "Villain? The 'I do evil just because' villain? And you call her a hero, too. What's that about?" She turns to see Midnight, taking in her form in all that get-up she was wearing.

Both grown-ups look at each other taken aback by her comment. Maybe she just wasn't raised with a lot of knowledge of hero society. Midnight talks now to ask one of her current concerns, pulling out the X-rays from earlier. "The doctors say you're quirkless, based on these, but you healed up injuries that take months to get through in a few hours. Clearly you're part of the exception to the rule, and the exam doesn't work on you. So what's your quirk, then? Some type of regenerative stamina that keeps you going under stress?"

Midnight saw the potential something like that had. "With the right training and care, she would make for a good hero with something like that."

This conversation was off the rails for Homura. They were just putting random words together now. "Hold on now. I don't understand what you're rambling on about, and I don't like not being in the know." She gave them a judging glance. "First, what do you mean by 'quirk'?"

That really shattered the expectations of the detective and professor. They look again at each other and then back to Homura. Tsukauchi tries to ease the dialogue into a friendlier discussion. "Homura- Can I call you that?"

Homura nods. "Trying to get closer, huh?"

"Alright. Homura, you really don't know what a quirk is?" There would be a lot to explain if she was completely out of loop.

"No. What's the deal with it?"

Both Midnight and Homura look at the detective bowing his head and sighing. He takes a moment before rising up from his seat to speak. "It seems there are some topics we need to talk to you about. It will take a while to go through them, so I'm going to get myself something to eat. Any of you would like some, too?"

"Yes, please." They both answer in tandem, looking back at each other as he leaves to grab some food.

Overwhelming. 

Unbelievable. 

Absurd. 

Outrageous.

That's Homura's opinion of what the detective and hero (heroine?) are telling her. And she's a magical girl! She's supposed to be the pinnacle of such things!

Common people with random characteristics ranging from animal and technological to even environmental?

A world in chaos after their emergence?

A societal restructuring to account for these new abilities people were manifesting?

The rise of the hero profession to counteract those who would wrongfully take advantage of their unique capacities?

This is too much to take in at once. Especially the implication that hundreds of years have passed, given that roughly 80% of the world's population has one of these 'quirks' and some of the technology available now. That really concerned her, not really paying attention to the adults once she started thinking about her friends. "Stop, stop. Just, stop… I need… Could you give me a minute? I need to think about something. In silence."

Midnight stands up while addressing the detective. "Well, I'll go stretch my legs, talk to Nezu if I can reach him. Would you mind helping me with that?" The girl wanted to be alone for a moment, and after that infodump they just threw at her, who wouldn't?

Having some privacy, Homura gets up from the bed, no issue in doing so. She needed to walk around for a bit, too, even if just inside the room. "The kind of mess we just got into…", was all she would speak out loud, rather keeping her thoughts to herself for now.

"So, instead of going back to the beginning, we jumped centuries ahead, great. Humanity still exists, so I guess Walpurgisnacht is really gone. That shouldn't be such an underwhelming silver lining but… what do I do about the others now?"

"They were all connected to me, that's what allowed them to even get inside the time tunnel. But I'm out of there and landed here, now,… without my magic they will be expelled from it, too."

"But how long will that take? We moved through hundreds of years, and they all carried some momentum when they went past me. It could take years from this perspective for even one of them to get out." She rested against the wall looking out the window, the city lights shining through the night. It was rather late now, midnight maybe.

She stood there for a few minutes before she finally said something. "I guess I'll have to wait, and be ready to help them once they're here."

The door opened a moment later, both detective and teacher coming back to check on her. A little surprised to see her standing without trouble. She really was fine now. The man spoke first. "Good to see you can move on your own again. We just talked to the principal and… well, we have a meeting tomorrow noon, to discuss what happened today. We were wondering, now that you're feeling better, if you'd be willing to come with us to that meeting."

"You can stay here if you'd rather not, we won't force you." Midnight added, just in case. This situation would require as much delicacy as possible.

"What would I say? I know nothing about what happened at your school." If they wanted details about the supposed attack, Homura couldn't give any.

"That's true. But you could talk about yourself, the other teachers will listen without judging, part of the job and all that."

Thinking it over for a bit, Homura looks back to them to answer. "Sure, I'll try to say something… And no, I'd rather not stay here. I've had enough of hospitals already." A small frown on her face.

Tsukauchi moves to open the door. "Alright then. You should sleep in for the rest of the night. I'll talk to the doctors, come back tomorrow morning to handle the discharge and go to the meeting."

"Hold on." Midnight interjects, noticing Homura's gesture and accompanying remark. "I have a guest room I could offer you, if you'd prefer leaving the hospital now. Only if that's OK with you as well, detective." Her suggestion coming out of the blue surprised him. He consults it with Homura.

"Would you like to stay at her place for the night, Homura?"

She was just as baffled by the sudden proposal. It's not like she couldn't spend the night in this room, she had plenty of experience sleeping in hospitals. But given the opportunity not to do that…

"If it's not too much of a bother, I would gladly take your offer." She bows to Midnight in acceptance, who gives her a smile in return.

"Great. Why don't you go handle the discharge, detective? In the meantime, I'll go ask about your clothes. You just wait here for us, alright?" They leave her room with their tasks to carry out.

Homura sits back at the bed, thinking about what a long day she just went through. It had been brutal, to say the least, if Walpurgisnacht as the mere opening act said something. An entirely new, unknown world receiving her after that victory? That was a main course if she ever had one.

If only she could be sharing it with her friends, her loved ones.

Chapter Text

It'd been a while since the last time Homura had the chance to sleep over 8 hours, her routine just didn't allow that. Walpurgisnacht wasn't even a day ago, technically, and all the effort she had to do when she got dumped here finally caught up to her. She entered the house silently, paying attention as the teacher quickly signaled the kitchen, restroom and guest room. Homura bowed wishing her a goodnight and disappeared into the room, immediately slumping over the bed like a log.

When she woke up the next morning, the sound of the frying pan and TV news greeted her as she walked into the living room. They were covering the incident that took place at the U.A. yesterday, from what she could gather. Homura goes straight to the restroom to wash the sleepiness off her face and get her own hair more presentable. It always tried to braid itself again at night, some straightening always required to put it back in place. A little, annoying reminder of who she used to be.

Coming back out to the living room, she finds Midnight, already in full suit, at the table having breakfast, another set in front of her, with bread, bacon and a coffee pot in the middle. While she approaches, the pro hero drinks from her cup of coffee before speaking. "Good morning, Akemi-san, did you get enough rest?"

Homura stopped for a moment to consider that. Would she ever really find 'enough rest'? Her life so far has just been going from one traumatic event to the next one, even before becoming a magical girl, which only multiplied the amount of times something unbearable would happen. But at least those had become predictable, for the most part, easier to get over. And now Midnight was staring at her after not getting an answer for half a minute.

"Uh, y-yes, from yesterday. Yes, I rested well, thank you… Is this…?" Looking down, Homura points over the omelette on the plate.

"Oh, yes! I didn't know what you might like, so I went with the basics." Midnight takes the coffee pot and another cup. "Coffee?"

"Black, 3 sugar spoons, please." Homura sits down, a little surprised, but starts eating anyway. She definitely didn't expect this type of gesture, after all the issues she created yesterday, but having a nice meal first thing of the day was nice, reinvigorating even.

She was about halfway through her breakfast when she understood what this was, and any trace in her face that said she enjoyed the food was gone. Putting down the cutlery, she looks directly at Midnight, stoic as ever. "You thought I wouldn't notice? A classic strategy to ease someone into a conversation they either don't want to have or are incapable of handling well… I've had to do it myself from time to time."

Midnight had just finished with hers when she got hit by the sudden reveal that the whole setup was plain to see through. "How did you-" 

"That…", her thought got interrupted by Homura, "or a straight-up interrogation. It's easier to inadvertently slip up some details when you have to spare even a little bit of concentration on eating. Also something I've done before." She brings her cup up at face level, staring at the coffee for a little before taking a drink. "So just bring up whatever you want to talk about already and don't waste our precious time."

"You little-" Midnight takes a deep breath to calm down the slight irritation her commentary produced on her. At least she wouldn't have to butter up her words, it seems.

"Well, that took less time than I imagined. I figured I'd have to slowly poke around, see whether you would be open to discuss anything at all. But if you want straight-forwardness…" Midnight stops to pour herself some more coffee. "Detective Tsukauchi notified me earlier today that he searched for you through all the registries he could access but found nothing."

"Of course he didn't." Tsukauchi had stayed the rest of the night at the police station making calls to all government agencies that kept public records of the citizens. "So?"

"So how come you have no record to speak of? Medical, academic, criminal… Not even a quirk registration."

"I told you, I don't have a quirk."

"Still doesn't justify lacking even a birth certificate. He checked, there's no Akemi Homura in the last 20 years, anywhere. Is that even your real name or did you just take it from someone you know?"

"Fair point, I doubt there's still records hundreds of years old." No way she was telling her how she got here, too many details, and just saying 'magic' wasn't the best explanation. Besides… "If I wanted a scapegoat, I'd go with 'Miki Sayaka'. Don't worry, I'm not the expertly cunning manipulator you're trying to see me as."

"Oh, I'm sorry for thinking someone might be lying about who they are so that we don't find out." Midnight comes off very sarcastically, accentuating every word with strong head tilts. "And I don't buy that you have no quirk either. The doctors might have diagnosed you quirkless, but tests have failed before. You can't hide there's something going on with you, because if you don't remember, I was there. Alongside all the other people that saw you healed back to full health."

"And I'm sorry for liking my privacy and not exposing every detail about my life to strangers. I know who I am, not my problem you don't." Now Homura is  frowning, not taking kindly to the tone she's been talked to. Having said that, her breakfast is getting cold, and with the bluff already out, she's not going to waste it, so she resumes her meal.

That made Midnight have to take another breath. She would never blow up in front (or because) of a kid, but this one definitely didn't harbor the same default admiration and respect for heroes as those her age. Claimed age, she remarked to herself. Normally, the title alone would get most people talking immediately, even some villains would parrot for hours if their audience was composed of heroes. Not that she was comparing the girl to them, but figuring out so fast what she was trying to do and claiming experience was a hint on itself.

"You said you've been through this kind of conversation before. How, exactly?"

"See? Let-me-feed-you tactics work, even if you only got that out of it." Homura takes the last bite of her omelette and chugs down the rest of the coffee, now fully looking at the woman across the table. "You probably already came up with something, so what do you think?"

"Not something a kid should be doing, that's for sure." Midnight did have an idea of what she could have been doing all this time. "I feel like you have some street knowledge, the kind you only get after spending some time with rather unsavory folks. It would somewhat explain how we found you yesterday, you were probably involved in a fight or something, it got out of hand and you ended up pulling the short stick."

Without flinching to let her know if any of that was remotely accurate, a small realization goes through Homura's mind. "I can see how Kyouko might come off as unsavory to some people, I'll give you that."

After a few seconds of silence, waiting for a retort that never came, Midnight continues. "But you're also too… polite, even right now. You haven't exactly attacked me for trying to get you to speak. And your general demeanor is just… weirdly calm, unlike those people with more in-your-face character. So maybe you're not just another pair of hands looking to make some easy money. Maybe."

A small giggle shows only through the corners of Homura's mouth. "That's quite a theory I must say. Wrong, but interesting, sure."

"It figures the only thing you'd confirm is when I'm off the path." Midnight decides not to keep throwing out possible scenarios with no real evidence, so she changes her focus onto something with enough reasons to consider. "Then why don't we talk about your not-quirk? If I have to make an actually educated guess, from what I've seen, it seems to be a transformation type that gives you more stamina and helps you heal faster, for a limited time I presume. And the clothing you had yesterday? That's probably some sort of support tech to help you manage it better."

That description of her abilities wasn't that far off actually, so it worried Homura a bit that it was brought up. How was she supposed to justify that, really? 'Well, you see, I'm a magical girl!' As if she would ever out herself like that! Not in a million years! No way!

Right?

From what she heard and saw in the hospital, oddity was the order of the day around here. Should she keep it a secret? Would the others want to live like outcasts, strangers to the world, if they could just brush it off as one of those quirks now people had? They look like regular humans all things considered, even when transformed. Really, their only difference came down to the whole soul-inside-a-stone issue, and the need to replenish their magic by hunting witches that fed on the despair of everyone. Something she should get working on soon, actually. Charlotte has to go down before she figures a way out of the forest and starts luring unsuspecting civilians.

Midnight snaps her fingers three times, bringing Homura out of her inner debate. "Hey. You OK there? That was some serious spacing out."

"Uh, yes, I… I was just thinking. Look, Midnight-san…" It wasn't the right time to consider the possibility of revealing what she is, she needs to think it through better. "It's not easy to talk about my condition. I would ask for some breathing room to make up my thoughts about it first."

That was unexpected. A chance that she might actually give out information about herself voluntarily. Trying not to sound too demanding or imposing, Midnight asks, "Would you want to talk about it once you've had the time to think about it?"

With a sigh, Homura says, "Perhaps. I'll consider it, at least."

That's some small progress, for the time being. Midnight chooses to stop the questioning, better to avoid antagonizing after getting to this point. "Very well. Now, detective Tsukauchi offered to pick us up on his way to today's meeting, remember that?" 

"Right, that."

"He should be here in about half an hour. Can you shower and be ready in time?"

"Absolutely." Homura stands up from her seat and goes to the restroom once more.

"Those are all the details we've uncovered so far related to the attack at the U.S.J. We'll let you know if we find something else of relevance." Detective Tsukauchi finished his debrief to the council of U.A.'s pro heroes. A security breach of this magnitude had the media demanding answers with forks and torches. A full press conference was scheduled for later that day, so they would have to give the harpies something to ease the public's opinion regarding the incident.

Principal Nezu takes the reins now. "Thank you, detective. As you see, my fellow heroes, yesterday was a wake-up call to this institution. Our security system was easily compromised, which in turn put at great risk the well-being of our students. We've allowed ourselves to become dependent on the idea that the Symbol of Peace is enough to deter criminality. Don't misinterpret me, he truly has helped to bring down the number of people that would resort to it. But this assault shows us that there are still those who wish to undermine the progress that countless people have made towards the betterment of our society. The next generation of heroes that will come out of this proud school won't ever reach their full potential if we don't procure them with the adequate guidance and care they need. That includes being able to walk around school grounds without the fear of death on their shoulders."

"It is under that premise that, after much deliberation, I've come to a decision. The U.A. will transition into a boarding school, starting next week. I know this is a sudden change on how things usually work around here, but I trust we'll adjust just fine. We already dispose of enough real state to accommodate all students and personnel, by my calculations. But we need actual living facilities, so…" Nezu turns on his chair looking for the perfect hero for the job. "Cementoss, are you still in touch with the construction company you mentioned in your application?" 

Leaning forward into the table so that he could be better seen, the teacher replied. "Yes, principal. I'm sure a contract of this scale will be of interest to them."

"How quickly do you think you could get the project done?"

"Starting tomorrow morning?" He stops for a moment to consider the effort required. "Three days. All students should be able to move in on Sunday afternoon, but the staff would take until Monday. Prioritizing the kids and such."

"Very well, then. We'll announce it during the press conference. All homeroom teachers will have to get in contact with the students' families tomorrow, visit personally if possible, to get their approval. If they refuse, well, we can't force them to accept it, but try to talk them into it. Last thing we need is a claim for denying access to school services."

"What about Eraser Head, principal? Who will ask in his place for the parents of Class 1A?" Vlad King questions, giving that his 

neighboring class' teacher is still recovering from the injuries he suffered during the attack while protecting his students.

"Oh, Aizawa contacted me this morning, he says he'll be ready to resume activities tomorrow, so it won't be a problem." Vlad King was relieved to know that his partner was OK, and that he wouldn't have to go through the task of talking to 40 different parents in one day.

"With the subject of the U.S.J. and how we will proceed moving forward out of the way, I believe there's still another matter of interest for this council." Nezu exchanges the folder full of documents relating to the assault for a single sheet of paper with a few notes that summarized this next topic. They still seem like loosely cohesive, random, exaggerated ideas with barely enough tracks to follow. Knowing full well that he lacks any real understanding of the situation, Nezu relinquishes control of the committee to those who know somewhat better. "Tsukauchi-san, Midnight-san, the floor is yours now."

Both rise from their seats to go stand in the middle of the council room. Quite an intimidating spot if you weren't used to public speaking, all eyes around focused on you and a big screen watching over your back. But it's a part of the job, so no complaints on their end. The detective initiates this next business.

"Well, first of all, it's important to remark the fact that this information is not in the public record, which the police and the principal here agree it should remain this way for now." At the hint that this would require discretion, the heroes present in the room shifted on their seats.

"So, right after the attack concluded, another person appeared in the U.S.J. According to the testimony that All Might and Cementoss gave yesterday, a girl came out of one of the teleporters the villain identified as Kurogiri used to escape alongside the proclaimed leader of the League of Villains, Shigaraki Tomura. She was unconscious and with unidentified wounds at the time, so she was taken to the hospital. During transport, well…" The detective looks to his right, at Midnight. That was her cue to take over. One deep breath and…

"I was assigned to keep an eye on her, so I jumped into an ambulance with her, and another police officer. After a few minutes, still on school grounds, she wakes up, disoriented, scared. I try to calm her down, explain how we found her and that we were taking her to the hospital. Then we're passing through the forest, I get distracted arguing with the officer for a moment, when she just takes his gun and points it at us. She fires a warning shot asking us to stop the ambulance, so we do. We get out, the paramedic helps her walk to the edge of the forest, where… well, I don't know what she did there, really. But after she was done with it, she showed signs of somehow developing more wounds, although superficial, like scratches. She surrenders the gun back to the officer before falling unconscious again. From there, we reach the hospital with no more issues." Repeating all that out loud to an audience felt a little surreal.

"Are you alright, Nemuri?" Recovery Girl was the one asking on behalf of their comrades.

"Me? Ah, yes, yes, I'm fine, nothing to worry on my side, thank you."

"So how is the girl doing? That looked serious from what I noticed." Vlad King was there for just a minute, given he had to run out to get the medics once it became clear she was hurt.

Tsukauchi pulls out Homura's medical report from an envelope and turns on the screen to show the X-rays and pictures taken by the hospital staff as he lists the injuries. "Partial fracture of the right orbital.

Completely through punctures on the right lung's upper lobe and the stomach's central region. Total fracture of the right leg below the knee. Small lacerations all over the body."

"What's the meaning of this?! Why wasn't I notified of such injuries?!" Recovery Girl practically stood over the table when he was done enumerating the several traumas that certainly would scar that girl for life.

Nezu also jumped from his seat to stay on level with her. "Recovery Girl, calm down. I didn't ask you to go there because Midnight told me not to."

"Why would-"

A small pause as realization hits.

"Did she die?"

A much longer pause follows.

Midnight takes another deep breath for this. "No, she didn't die. The fact is, we didn't call you because there was no need to. She woke up, in pain apparently but, when we got to her room, she was already healed up. Completely. Not a trace that she was ever injured."

The older lady that was Recovery Girl returned to her seat, incredulity could be seen from the factions of her wrinkled face. "Really, how so? A very potent healing quirk for sure."

"I thought the same thing, or maybe some sort of hybrid with a stamina boost for her to be able to do what she did previously. But…" Midnight signals Tsukauchi to show the next slide. "The doctors are still running more rigorous tests, but the foot joints exam says she's quirkless."

Sepulchral silence.

It was broken by the loudest person in the room. One of the loudest people, ever, Present Mic, with a deadpan as tense as he could make. "That's… impossible. Right? It's just impossible! Not even Recovery Girl can get someone up and ready from something like that, not that quickly!"

The youthful hero rises again, now standing on her chair to make her authority on such matters clear. "Precisely. People have fully recovered from even worse with my intervention, but that still requires therapy for some, and don't forget about the toll it takes on a person's stamina to do that! So yes, I do find hard to believe that anyone with no quirk at all can perform, on their own, such a miraculous feat."

Midnight nods energetically at her observation. "Again, my thoughts exactly… That's why she has agreed to come talk with us today for a bit." She turns to the detective, who walks to the backside of the room, opening the door that connects to the principal's office.

"Akemi-san? You can come in, now."

The travel through the city revealed even more about the place for Homura. It was truly a festival of freaks, no offense intended, of course. Not like she was a regular teenager by any means.

Some of the stuff around that she got to see through the car's polarized windows would have shocked out of their minds anyone not already familiar with the scenery. People did their commute like usual, though some chose to fly their way to work apparently, some joggers had feline traits (including tails), a very tall family comically towered over a very short one, and was that guy a toaster?!

But for her, someone that has seen worlds and those who inhabit them that range from the disgustingly, uncomfortably cute and childish, to the absolutely terrifying, utterly horrific eldritch abominations… Another Thursday morning.

They arrived at the school's entrance a quarter before noon. Tsukauchi drove around what she assumed to be the main faculty building, giving the driveway clearly designed for dropping off and picking up students. They entered the building and walked up the stairs to the administrative floor, several offices marked by their corresponding teachers' nameplate. Finally, they reached the principal's office, who was waiting for them at the door.

The sight of him (it, if she may be frank) irked her down to a halt. A mouse, dog, bear, something creature standing straight on a full tuxedo greeted her looking up from a height around her hip. "Hello there!" Nezu was giving her a friendly smile as he raised his paws to shake her hand.

"..."

It's not the animal appearance nor the scar running down his face that has Homura speechless. It's the fur. White, pristine fur. "You kind of look like Kyubey." She's still frozen in place as the thought passes through her mind. The conditioning, years of chasing down, discussing with and killing off incubators. Not something she'd be able to overcome anytime soon.

"Akemi-san?" The detective looks at her a little concerned about her sudden disconnect, but that's enough to pull her back from wherever she just went to.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies for that." She extends her right hand down to meet his paws. "I am Akemi Homura, thanks for receiving me here today."

"Don't worry, my dear. I get it all the time! It would actually be weird if people I meet for the first time every now and then don't think it's some sort of joke being played on them! HAHAHAHA!" Nezu laughed maniacally at his own self-deprecation.

Homura just chuckled a little bit. "Yeah, let's go with that."

"Well, the meeting is about to begin. Detective Tsukauchi here will give the report of what the police knows so far about what happened inside the school yesterday. It won't be too long, maybe an hour, correct?" Nezu turned to see him on his right.

"Yes, it shouldn't take too long to go through what we know, not as long as the press conference later today will definitely be."

"Very well. In the meantime, Akemi-san, you can wait for us to be done here at my office. We'll be right in the next room."

"One of us will come for you once we've introduced your situation to the council. Right through the door in that wall." Midnight guided Homura into the principal's office to point it out.

"Understood. I'll wait around here, then." Homura bowed to the departing figures as one of them closed the door.

Now left alone, she sat down on the left couch in the middle of the room. A pretty big and decorated space, considering who used it most of the time. She had an hour to herself, better use it properly.

"Should I really do this? Confess to being a magical girl? How do I even begin to explain something like that without being immediately branded insane and sent off to a mental institution?"

"I'm no public speaker. Damn it, I still couldn't talk Mami and Sayaka out of their stubbornness, it took saving them from the Sweets Witch for them to finally believe in me a little. And I still stutter around Madoka whenever she comes off with some of her unintentionally cheesy one-liners."

"No, no, I have to do this. It's not just for me, but for them, too. Having someone that already knows a bit about this place that can break it to them in a way they can properly assimilate, unlike me. Yes, I have to be that for them."

"But how do I go with this? Do I mention the whole incubator side of things? I haven't seen any of them around yet, or sensed another magical girl in the area, in fact. Perhaps they're still very well hidden, even today. I'll have to look into that later. Getting on good terms with a local would help very much when hunting, at least to avoid unnecessary fights over grief seeds."

"So no Kyubey business, adding aliens to this mess won't help at all. If they don't ask how the soul gem came to be, I won't have to lie. Basic mechanics might be necessary to explain, though. I doubt I'll be out of these people's sight for too long to work around them, the cameras on this place alone are pretty obvious, they'll see I'm gone."

Some time gone by without a single thought before she gets startled by a realization. "Wait, no. I'm doing it again… I'm trying to plan everyone's future for them without considering what they might think about it… I said I wasn't going to do that anymore, that I would never try to control them like that again… But, they're not here, I can't reach them. I can't know what they'll think of this."

"What should I do?" She asks herself with eyes closed, head tilted upwards. Another long pause between the machinations of her mind. "Charlotte! I have to take her down as soon as possible. But I need to replenish my inventory first, I used all my heavy armament on Walpurgisnacht, the few handguns I have left aren't enough. I need an excuse to visit the police station, get some time alone inside the armory."

"And I also have to find a proper moment to practice the time stop, see if the jump affected the shield's capabilities in any way. I don't want any surprises in the middle of a fight, I hate being blindsided by unpredictabilities, and right now this place is full of them."

A few more minutes pass in silence before the door on her left opens up, detective Tsukauchi shows up to ask her to come to the other room. Standing up from the seat, she mutters to herself. "Let's see how this goes."

Just like her numerous introductions to the class, Homura gives the group of heroes sitting at the crescent half-moon table her rehearsed presentation. A little tense this time, since usually the boys and girls in class would start murmuring about her the second she walked through the door, but instead she's met with silence.

Feeling the awkwardness building up, Midnight intervenes. "We're glad you're taking the opportunity to speak about you, Homura. Would you like to have a seat?"

"When did you decide to get personal?" Homura frowns at her for that, at least Tsukauchi had asked. "No, I'm fine, I can just stand here."

Midnight stands aside with the detective to give her some space as Homura starts talking in her serene voice to the crowd. "First and foremost, good afternoon to you all. Thank you for receiving me today."

Nezu gets the conversation going. "Well, I think I speak for all of us here that it's good to see you're doing OK now." Several voices join him in confirmation. "I'm sure there's a lot to go through, so let's begin with the basics. Are you truly quirkless, as the medics say, my dear?"

"Here we go." Homura takes a deep breath before answering. "Yes, I'm what you call 'quirkless', which is still a rather foreign idea to me. The entire 'quirk' concept at that, I just know what the detective and Midnight-san told me yesterday."

"And what exactly do you mean by that? Did you grow up isolated in a secluded location?"

"No, I didn't. I was born and raised in…" She really couldn't remember who her family might have been, or where exactly did she come from anymore. "My upbringing is not important here."

"How can you be standing right now without a quirk to heal you?" Recovery Girl needed an explanation that could satisfy her curiosity and disbelief.

"Yes, that… You're all probably already used to people having nonsensical capacities, so maybe this won't come out as much of a surprise as I'd expect… In very simple terms, it was magic."

There was no response to that for what felt to her like another hour, no one even moving a muscle in the meantime. Until the school's nurse broke the silence. "I'm sorry, did you just say-"

"Magic, yes, you heard me. I used magic to heal my wounds."

"So you healed injuries that should've taken weeks of recovery, in a few hours, with magic?"

"A couple minutes, actually. Very… hurtful, moments really. I'm not the most proficient in healing major injuries. I could've let it all heal on its own, but I don't have the luxury to wait for that."

"Why?" Several teachers say in unison, finally joining the chat.

"Magic is a limited resource. I can only go for so long before I need to replenish it to get back to full strength."

"And how exactly do you do that?" Nezu asks, enthralled by the route this meeting was taking.

"There" . A chance to give half a context to her situation. "I can answer that by backtracking a little. I was in a fight yesterday, it left me too weakened as a result, very low on magic. I needed help but… well, something went wrong, and I ended up here."

She turns to look at Midnight. "I was desperate when you found me, I had to act before I…" That would be too much information to give, and how do you even say that you'd become a monster the moment the light of your soul extinguishes? "Before I ran out of magic. I came up with something, it was a long shot, but fortunately it worked."

Midnight puts two and two together. "That's what you were doing by the trees? Getting your magic back?"

"Exactly."

"Why did it look like it hurt you more than it helped, then?"

Homura looks down, trying to come up with a way to explain that without getting into much detail about witches. "It wasn't exactly the safest way to restore magic. I took the risk and it worked, but not without consequence of course. I used a rather unstable source of magic, which reflected on the cuts I got while doing it. I was too tired to properly get rid of it, and having people around makes it more dangerous to handle, so I threw it as deep into the forest as I could. That way it can't harm anyone, for now."

Homura could see the uncertainty in the faces of the heroes, trying to come to terms with her explanation. The small animal is the first one to say something again. "Well, that's quite the tale, my dear! And you seem so sure of it, but you gotta understand that it's very hard to believe all of what you said."

Homura huffs at his response. "Of course, that would've been too easy." People naturally have a tendency to reject what they don't understand, especially if it challenges their worldview. At least that wasn't unexpected here. "Yes, I'm aware of how I come off, it wouldn't be the first time. But you wanted to know and that's how things are. It doesn't get any more simple than that."

"Akemi-san, I can tell there's something special about you going on here, but so is the case for a majority of the population. No need to attribute it to magic! People take years to figure out the full extent of their quirks sometimes. How can we say yours isn't just one that hasn't been properly examined yet?"

"Because there is nothing to examine. I don't have a mutation like quirks are, apparently. You'll find no signs of it. But this…" Maybe a small demonstration would turn them around. Her body glows in a bath of purple light as she changes fully into her magical girl form. She passes her left hand through her hair, flicking it over her shoulder, just for the maximum dramatic effect. "Magic is as real as it gets."

That little display got quite the surprise out of everyone, with Nezu stopping to think. "What a turn of events this turned out to be!" Clearing his throat, he calls everyone's attention back to him. "Oh that's a nice trick, Akemi-san! But it's not that rare for people to undergo much radical transformations when activating their quirks or as a side effect of them. But if you insist, some elaboration on what you call magic would be appreciated."

"I'm not pulling rabbits out of a hat or drawing circles on the floor, if that's what you're asking." Last thing Homura needs is to be diminished, her words to be disregarded as mere delusional fantasies. She thinks for a moment what she could present without much effort, she'd rather not expend a lot of magic right now. "From what I know about these quirks, magic does a lot of what some of them do. Things like strength, speed, reflexes, stamina and yes, healing, they're all boosted to a certain degree. So I understand why you're hesitant in accepting my claims, I can't blame you all for it. But if I can make something clear, it would be that this condition is definitely not the same as the whole quirk thing."

"But you can't exactly disprove that it's not actually a quirk either, can you?"

"Not safely, no." A witch was really the easiest way to do that, but the whole point was not to go there. "Which is why I use it sparingly, it's not a good idea to lose control or run out of it."

"So like transformation quirks, there's a limit to how much you can use it. You see? Indistinguishable!" Nezu wanted to give her a chance, but there was no reason to try to hide a quirk like that. "Now, you said your physical capabilities in general are enhanced because of this magic. I wonder, is that something you'd be comfortable showing us? Not right now, of course, but later on."

"That… shouldn't be too difficult. Yes, I can do that. However…" The Charlotte business had to be addressed and resolved soon, Homura knows this. She returns to her normal state, back to her school uniform. "I mentioned an unstable source of magic before. It would be very dangerous for someone to stumble upon it by accident, so I would like to ask you to not let anyone near the forest for a while, at least until I say it's safe again. And I mean it, don't send someone looking after it, it won't end well. Just give me a couple of days to deal with it, I can get it done over the weekend."

After considering it for a moment, the principal chooses to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Well, you agreed to come here today in the first place, and to show us what you can do later on, so I'll concede on that. We'll be doing some renovations around the campus during the weekend, no one should be wandering around the forest at that time."

"Thank you." That brought some small peace of mind to Homura, not having to worry as much for an unfortunate encounter.

"With that said, according to what the detective here managed to not find about you, I figure you don't have a place to go to right now."

"That would be correct."

"So, if it's not too much trouble, could you keep hosting Akemi-san in your place for the time being, Midnight-san?"

It took Midnight a few seconds to process that the question was addressed to her, startled by everyone else focusing on her. "Ah, well, I mean…" She turns to look at the girl again. "I guess I don't mind it too much." 

Homura just nods at that in acceptance, while Nezu brings the reunion to an end. "Very well everyone, that would be all for today. We all have our tasks to do, I hope we can all be ready to face this new challenge with our best efforts. Let's get to work!"

The members of the council leave the room, some thinking more about the second part of the meeting rather than the original motive for the gathering. One of those still trying to come to terms with Homura's story was detective Tsukauchi, who had been taking notes since her introduction. He was still a little baffled about it, the whole idea seemed too out of place.

Then again, she was non-existent within their records, they were all dead ends, which was unbelievable with a quirk (no way he was going to say magic) that could possibly allow her to have such physical improvements. Someone, with either good or bad intentions, would have noticed her by now, but so far she hasn't even asked to call anyone for help. So maybe she was mostly alone, moving from one city to the next one, without settling in, and just now she happened to not be able to run away. Whatever the case might be, she can't stay as a ghost anymore, that's for sure.

After all the heroes but Midnight and Nezu leave the room, he informs Homura what he plans to do. "Now that we're done here for today, I would like you to come with me to the station, Homura. Given that there's no documentation on you yet, we can't really explain you popping out of nowhere. I'd rather avoid people asking too many questions, so if you can fill out some information at the station, we could come up with something to tell everyone should the need arise."

"YES!" Her response came out a little stronger than intended, as this was the perfect chance to restock. "I mean, yes, I'll go with you, detective."

"Ok then. But maybe we should have lunch before that, it may take a while to be done. I know a place close to the station we can stop by." He signals Homura to follow him, but before leaving he turns back to speak to Midnight. "And don't worry, I will keep an eye on her. I'll contact you when we're done and I'm dropping her back at your place."

"Sure, I have to stay here and help with the press conference, but I'll be there soon after."

"Let's go then." Tsukauchi tells Homura as they walk out of the room.

"Great. Now I'll just have to get around you once we're there."

Chapter Text

After an exhausting afternoon filling out paperwork with made-up details that could go under the radar, Tsukauchi accompanied Homura to the house entrance and rang the doorbell. They were both surprised to find Midnight out of her hero costume, receiving them in casual clothes. He says his farewells and returns to his car, while Homura follows Midnight into the house, stopping in the living room. 

The hero asks her jokingly while leaning on the sofa. "How was your trip to the police station? Got to feel a little at home?"

"Yes, I like having easy access to so many different guns at once." Homura expressed seriously, Midnight being unable to discern any hint of sarcasm at all in that answer. Before she can ask if she actually meant that, Homura defuses her worry. "A joke, if you couldn't tell."

A few more seconds of unbroken stares. "Ha, ha. Hilarious. Are you always this funny?"

"Only with the ones whose company I enjoy. Or that I couldn't care less about what they think of me."

Midnight loses the staring contest as her right eye twitches at that comment. She sighs, turning around to enter the kitchen, get some dinner ready. With the tiny sight of a smile rejoicing on that small victory, Homura sits at the table just like in the morning.

After heating up the stove, Midnight speaks out loud from the refrigerator as she looks for leftovers. "So, magic. That's what you're gonna go with? The average person wouldn't hesitate so much to let others know how their quirk makes them superhuman, you know."

"Well I'm not-" She caught the rest of that sentence before it could leave her mouth, almost letting slip that phrase she'd had to repeat so many times to a distressed Kyouko carrying Sayaka's body, when she would reprimand her for not telling them the truth about witches earlier, or for her lack of empathy to the other girls once they found out. Homura came to terms with their inhumane nature a long time ago, there was nothing they could do to change that, it was always better to just get over it soon and carry on. But that's not something she'd want to discuss with Midnight, and so Homura continues. "I'm not exactly the average person. Even for your standards."

"Is that so…"

The rest of the evening went on as they ate in silence, only interrupted by the cutlery scraping against the plates. Now with

dinner out of the way, Homura starts talking while rising from her chair. "Before I go to rest, I have to ask something from you." Looking up from her now empty plate, Midnight wonders what it might be as Homura proceeds. "I need you to take me to the sector of the forest where I told you to stop by. Tomorrow. At your earliest convenience, of course."

"So you really want to recover… whatever it is that you hid in there?" 

"That's my first priority as of now."

Midnight considers her request, realizing they might get some information about what she claims to be able to do if they let her do it, under their supervision. "Sure… I'll talk to the principal in the morning, then."

"Good. The sooner I close that affair, the better for everyone's safety." She wishes Midnight a good night before disappearing into the guestroom, leaving the hero thinking about what tomorrow will bring.

Homura didn't expect to be given another ride to the U.A. on detective Tsukauchi's car. "Why are we going with you this time, detective?"

He answered without taking his eyes off the road. "Well, you're still the subject of an ongoing investigation I'm in charge of, I have to be aware of where you are and what you're doing. Since you described that thing in the forest as 'dangerous', I'm not letting you go find it unsupervised."

"And I remember saying that I can take care of it on my own."

"We don't care. You're not doing anything without us knowing." Midnight barged in, looking back through the rear-view mirror at Homura rolling her eyes in exasperation.

As they drove inside the campus, Homura saw several groups of construction workers mixing concrete or leveling patches of terrain. What exactly they'd be building, she couldn't figure out, as they all had very few materials and tools to make something that demanded so many spots of land. Noticing this, Midnight answers the question on Homura's mind. "It seems like the renovations are already under way, just like Nezu requested."

A few more minutes go by, now driving through the road leading to the area of the forest of a couple of days back. As the detective brings the car to a stop close to another vehicle, Homura sees a group of people standing around it, waving at their arrival. She recognizes the smallest figure as principal Nezu, next to the other shorter person, Recovery Girl. Both of them are minuscule compared to the two teachers towering over them that she didn't get the names of during yesterday's meeting.

"What the-"

Stepping out of the car, she's once again welcomed by the cheerful greeting of the principal. "Good day, Akemi-san! I hope you had no trouble yesterday after you departed with Tsukauchi-san! Did you rest well enough?"

Homura responds while looking around to count all the people that were there. "Yes, I did, thank you. What… Why are all these people here?" She doesn't like what the situation is turning into.

"When Midnight called this morning to notify me that you wanted access to this area to look for what you… lost, I had to tell the detective what you were planning! And it was his recommendation that I bring a couple of professors that can make sure we don't run into unnecessary problems."

Tilting her head to her left, Homura gives both Tsukauchi and Midnight a look that clearly illustrates how annoyed she is about this. "Of course, the moment I think people are actually listening to me, they do exactly what I tell them NOT to." She turns her head upwards with her eyes closed as she exhales in defeat. "This is why I have trust issues."

Homura addresses the group around her with some indignation in her voice now. "I'll say it again, because apparently no one ever listens to me when it matters." She points to the forest with her right hand while clenching the other. "No one is going in there until I say so. And that means that everyone is going to…" Moving her hand to point to the ground. "...stay here until I come back. It will only take me about an hour or so. I would expect full grown adults to be able to follow such simple instructions from someone that knows best."

Not wanting to give them a chance to retort, she marches on towards the forest. Before she steps into it, Tsukauchi shouts at her from the back of his car. "Homura wait! Just a moment! Please!" She considers ignoring him and to carry on, but ultimately halts already a few meters into the groove, allowing him to approach a bit. "I'm sorry for going behind your back on this, but you have to understand that-"

"Last warning, detective. Do. Not. Follow me."

He can tell from her impatient tone that she won't lose any more time trying to argue with them. "Very well. But take this with you, at least." He hands her an earpiece from a bag with the police logo on it. "Put that on. You talk to me if something happens, alright? Don't do anything too rash."

Homura stares at the equipment for a second before glancing back at him and taking the earpiece. With no words, she resumes her jog into the depths of the forest. Watching as she disappears, Tsukauchi walks back to the group of heroes who were listening attentively to the short non-conversation.

"Well that went south much faster than expected! HAHAHAHA!" Nezu laughs off the failed attempt to supervise her activity. "At least you managed to give her that before she bolted out of sight. Let's hope she trusts you enough to actually use it should the need arise. On the other hand…" He calls for one of the teachers that Homura failed to identify. "Hound Dog! Did you manage to get a grasp of her scent in that short amount of time?"

"Yes. I noticed some strong hints of lavender as soon as she came out of the car. Same brand and line of shampoo and conditioner, I imagine." The lifestyle guidance counselor explains, looking at the place where she entered the forest.

"Excellent! Now, Ectoplasm!" The principal turns to the math teacher standing in front of the car they'd use to get to this location. "Give Hound Dog a couple of clones for support, spread the rest to cover the area and ensure she doesn't try to leave school grounds." Nezu only gets a nod from him as he produces 3 clones to accompany Hound Dog and 12 more to scout the forest.

Tsukauchi walks between the clones to hand out both heroes an earpiece each for status updates. "Very well. We're all set now. Remember to keep your distance, if possible, but don't hesitate to intervene."

Another affirmative nod, and he sees the heroes venture into the forest after Homura. The detective joins Midnight and Nezu in the space between both cars, the other one's trunk open wide for Recovery Girl to sit on, avoiding the midday sun. They would just have to wait for anyone to contact them every now and then.

After giving it some thought on her own, Midnight gives a remark on what Hound Dog said that prompts her and the rest to have a puzzled look. "Did you know that… none of my hair products have a lavender scent?"

Homura had been coursing straight through the sea of trees for a few minutes by now, with no sign of the grief seed or a labyrinth's entrance yet. "I couldn't have thrown it so far as to not have stumbled upon it already. Which means that it's been on the move, probably since a few hours after it didn't find anyone nearby two days ago. And I didn't feel it close to the road either, so it must still be wandering around here."

She stops for a moment to turn her soul gem into the egg form, observing how the dark mist dancing inside it is now starting to visibly overtake the purity of her purple spirit. She frowns with slight worry at her condition. "I have to find it today, even if it takes me all day."

Homura takes out of her skirt pocket the earpiece Tsukauchi gave to her. "And if that happens, I guess I'll have to let them know it's gonna take me longer than I anticipated." She considers to start wearing it already, just in case he tries to communicate with her after a while, but decides not to as that might take away from her focus.

"Time for a good old-fashioned witch hunt, then. Track it 'til you crack it, I think Kyouko once called it." Using the soul gem as a compass signaling to the nearest source of magic, Homura walks at a steady pace, looking between what's ahead and the soul gem's response from time to time.

After a while, during one of those instances where her eyes move between her points of interest, Homura notices a blur in the left periphery of her vision. Some more steps, and the shadowy figure hasn't disappeared yet, barely remaining inside her field of view. She would have disregarded it already were it not for the other silhouette behaving in similar fashion at the right corner of her perception.

Slowing down her rhythm, trying not to rattle the foliage and ground leaves too much, she catches a few branches cracking behind her. "And there it is. Those idiots really insisted on following me here."

Hasting up again, Homura puts on the earpiece while transforming into her magical girl attire. Expecting her chasers to notify this, it doesn't take too long for Tsukauchi to start talking to her. "Homura? What's happening? Did you find it?"

"Not yet, but it would be easier to find if I didn't have to worry about this kindergarten I'm apparently running."

"..."

"And your silence proves me right. You have failed to heed my warnings, again."

"It's for your own protection."

"I'm not the one who needs protection right now. I can take care of myself, I'm not so sure about them."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"That either you tell them to stand down and go back the way they came from…" Homura comes to a full stop now, turning on her heels to try to find as many of her pursuers as possible. "...or I will."

She counts the seconds go by silently, waiting for someone to make a move towards her. 10… 20… 30 seconds.

Nothing happens. All the 5 spectres she managed to distinguish are standing still, not going back. Homura lets out a disappointed sigh. "Very well. Have it your way, then." Reaching inside the buckler for something to get a head start, she removes its pin, tossing it towards the figures that would be in front of her. She shouts only a small warning as she covers her eyes and ears.

"FLASHBANG!"

"Hound Dog here. Can you hear me? I have eyes on the girl, around 100 meters ahead. Should we get closer?"

Finally getting an update, Tsukachi puts the conversation on the control unit's speaker for everyone to hear. "We hear you, Hound Dog. Is there enough cover for you to approach?"

"If we spread out more, yes, the trees can hide us."

"Very well, cut the distance to 50 meters. Let me know if she does anything."

"Both of you are so dramatic. You, for soliciting an escort party when both of us would have sufficed, at least she’s used to us being around. And her, for acting like she’s in charge here."

"I don’t know what we could do against whatever her magic is, I’d rather have more specialized people handle it. Hound Dog can find her as long as he doesn’t lose her scent, and Ectoplasm provides incredible support from all directions."

"Huh… So you really buy into that whole 'magic' thing she has going on?"

"Until she’s comfortable with taking more tests to determine her capabilities and properly name her quirk, I think it’s better to just go along with it. Some kids mold how they see the world in a way they can comprehend, and if that’s how she sees it, we gotta help her-"

He’s interrupted by a new communication coming through. "She stopped on a clearing. She has something on her hand, I can’t tell what it is, but it’s small, maybe a rock... Something about finding it even if it takes the entire day… And she might contact you about a possible delay… But she’s not wearing the earpiece yet… She’s on the move again."

"Alright. Remember to stay out of sight." 

Taking the opportunity to keep talking, Midnight picks up from where she got interrupted. "So, you were saying we have to help her…?"

"Ah, yes. By showing her how her abilities really work, her perception of what she can do will evolve to something more akin to reality. We just have to help her through that journey."

Nezu throws in his piece of mind as well. "That’s a great observation, detective, I have one issue with it. She doesn't strike me as delusional in any way, from the brief interactions I've had. Very determined, and goes straight to the point, she didn't even give us a chance to convince her about the escort. Let me ask you and Midnight this. Has either of you noticed her being anything but calm and collected?"

Another notice from Hound Dog comes in. "Something happened. Her clothes are different, and she put on the earpiece." 

Nodding at this development, Tsukauchi prepares to talk directly to her. "Maybe she found what she’s looking for, I’ll ask her… Homura? What's happening? Did you find it?"

The explosion in the distance further resonated with the screeching noise that came out of the speakers. Once the high frequency dissipates, they hear Hound Dog howling through his words. "AAAARGH! Where! Did she… pull that out from?!"

"Hound Dog, what's going on?!" Tsukauchi asked.

"I was looking straight at it! I need a minute!"

"Stay where you are!" Going through the menu of the equipment managing the communication, Tsukauchi makes contact with Ectoplasm, the tracking signals of the earpieces starting to appear on the holographic map being displayed. "Ectoplasm! Get all of you over there and protect him!"

"Already on it." Said the pro hero.

"Oh yes, calm and collected." Midnight pointed out the irony of that statement just a few moments ago, Nezu looking down regretfully.

Finally arriving at the location, Ectoplasm finds Hound Dog sitting against a tree and informs them of the situation. "I'm here now. Hound Dog is OK, knocked out but unharmed. I don't see her close to us, and the clones around here were defeated, they didn't get a chance to see her either." The 10 other clones surround them to cover all angles.

Looking for her signal on the map, Tsukauchi finds it circling around the heroes, encroaching and receding from their vicinity. "She's encircling you. Clockwise. 20 meters. Do you see her?"

"Negative."

"She's about to cross between our positions, put all your eyes around there." The ectoplasmic copies turn simultaneously to observe that side of the forest, focusing on any movement they might catch. "There, right at your 12. She stopped."

A few breaths pass through the comms before a reply. "I can't find her… Wait, I hear something. Like, a voice. No, several, like children signing." Before he can discern what the melodic choir is performing, Ectoplasm notices the sound of metal cackling against the tree next to him. Soon enough, the area is shrouded in a pale fog, hindering his field of view. "Smokescreen! Where is she?"

"Where the hell did she get all that?" Midnight questions before Homura's signal starts closing in fast on the heroes. "She's running towards you!"

What they saw on the map looked to them like a malfunction. The pointer marking Homura moved erratically over Ectoplasm's location, but not continuously. Instead it flickered in and out of whatever spot it appeared on next, like a firefly randomly gravitating around a pond as fast as it could fly.

"She's using the smoke to take down the clones! I'll merge them together to-Argh!" Suddenly interrupted by a strike to the back of the head, Ectoplasm collapses to the ground with a thud.

Tsukauchi sees that Homura has stopped, standing right next to the heroes as she speaks out loud, knowing he can probably still hear her. "For the record, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid!"

He opens up again the private channel broadcast to her, asking as sternly as he can muster. "Homura, what did you do?"

"What I had to. The situation has changed, I can't have them following me around anymore, they would be more like bait instead of escorts."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She hesitates whether she should just tell them what's really going on. However, the chants of the witch are getting louder, approaching the area as it probably felt the disturbances of their small play of catch. Homura can tell the labyrinth is about to manifest any second now, and that she's gonna have to enter the maze guns blazing in order to draw attention to herself, so that any familiar guarding the outskirts will come after her instead of the unconscious heroes. "No time for explanations now."

This previous demonstration of her capacities might be a good deterrent, and so she puts her foot down again. "I'm asking you to stand down for 15 minutes. Just wait. Give me 15 minutes alone, and I'll be back with you. Don't worry about your friends, they're fine." She takes one big inhalation before the next statement, now a little more than annoyed at how much she's had to say this. "And just for once, listen to me and don't come here. I'll be done with this shortly."

Before Midnight can start reprimanding her, or Tsukauchi tries to get her to say more, Nezu raises one of his paws towards them and speaks up. "Akemi-san! Very well, you want to be alone right now. I understand… We'll give you the time you're asking, alright?"

There's a few moments of silence, everyone looking at each other waiting for an answer. And it comes in the form of a sigh, followed by a rather resigned, "Thank you."

Just a couple seconds after that, they turn their eyes to the map, seeing the trackers that were displayed there disconnect at once. With no way of knowing what happens inside the forest now, Tsukauchi questions Nezu. "Principal, why did you agree to that?"

"While I agree she may not be as 'calm and collected' as I suspected," glancing at Midnight as he says that, "our tactics just now have proven to be quite destabilizing for her, don't you agree? Let's give her some slack, see if she relaxes a bit on her own." Nezu turns to the open trunk of the car, joining under the refreshing shadow a sound asleep Recovery Girl. "Besides, she just took down two very capable pro heroes on her own, without that much effort. Now, this wasn't meant to be an actual evaluation, but after all my years as head of this school, I recognize potential when I see it, detective."

That made Midnight gasp a bit as she understood the implication, turning to address the small animal. "Principal, you're not seriously considering-"

He interrupts her, already determined on his decision. "Yes, I am. Especially you, as a teacher here, know that even the most rebellious and temperamental students can become fine heroes… With the proper guidance we are so proud of being able to procure."

She rolls her eyes at that, crossing her arms around her bust and turning back to the communications device to see the timer Tsukauchi set up ticking down. "And what do we do when there's no sign of her in 13 minutes? Who knows what else she's hiding… How did she get her hands on that stuff anyway?"

Clearing his throat to call attention, Tsukauchi interjects back into the conversation. "Well, I just thought of something, there's nothing to prove it but…" The other two pairs of open eyes turn to him, still confused about that exact reason. "Earlier today, an officer did a scheduled inventory check of the station's law enforcement equipment and there are apparently some things missing. They're doing a more exhaustive recount of everything in that warehouse, but I don't know much of the details yet." Seeing the others couldn't help the surprise on their face after hearing that the police might have been robbed by a teenager, Tsukauchi hurriedly tries to shut that option down. "I'm not suggesting Homura is somehow responsible! It's a dumb idea I just had. There's no way she did that, she was with me the whole time! We weren't even close to that place!"

Nezu tries to bring them back to what's most relevant at the moment, himself still debating whether what the detective said is just a coincidence or something to look more into. "Let's not jump to conclusions right now… As for your previous question, Midnight, I think you'll be more than happy to hear that, if she fails to show up, we'll go recover Hound Dog and Ectoplasm ourselves. And, should she remain uncooperative, I'm authorizing you to put her to sleep."

"HAHA!" She loudly exclaimed with callous resolve. "Well, I won't deny a chance to learn a lesson to someone who's been asking for it."

Chapter Text

Without taking her eyes off the timer for the last minute remaining, Midnight finally voices eagerly. "Aaaaand time's up! We're going in."

With a heavy sigh, Tsukauchi takes the mobile projector of the holographic map and prepares to venture into the forest. Nezu jumps off the trunk, looking over to the treeline. There, he sees someone coming out of the forest, moving slowly through the grass that separates it from the road. "That surely is a sight to behold."

Turning to see what got the principal so surprised, the detective and Midnight silently agree to his statement. They could clearly see Homura dragging Ectoplasm and Hound Dog with little effort across the terrain, pulling them from the neck of their costumes, one on each arm. With no words, they waited until she got close to them.

As she finally reaches their position, Homura stops in front of Tsukauchi and Nezu. She slowly lowers herself to lay down the knocked out heroes. Rising up again, she sees Midnight join the other two, just as confused about what's going on. As matter-of-factly as possible, she declares her victory. "The forest is safe again."

The detective is the first one to address his concern at her current state. "Wh-what happened out there?"

Looking down, Homura sees all the gashes on her costume, revealing some wounds on her skin as well. Sections of the fabric are dark and damp from the blood pooling on it. It was like she'd been attacked by a clawed beast that failed to finish the job properly. "I may have neglected to specify why exactly the source of magic I mentioned before is dangerous. As you can see, it's not just something I can use. It... fights back. It's alive… from a certain point of view."

"A certain point of view?"

"It's complicated."

Still troubled by her ragged looks, Nezu offers their assistance. "And we can sort that out later, in a place better suited for it. For now, why don't you take a seat? I'll go get Recovery Girl to tend to those wounds." He barely took a step back before being stopped by her words.

"That won't be necessary." Putting her hand behind the shield, she takes out a black orb encrusted in metal casing. The trio looks at it with amazement as it unnaturally comes to balance itself on her palm. "I'm not supposed to show this to non magical people, but circumstance forces me to do things differently here, so pay attention. This is what I was looking for. With this, I can now…"

She extends the other arm, palm down, displaying the engraved soul gem in the back of her hand in its diamond shape. Most of the stone's violet glitter is overshadowed by a pool of black poison eating her into despair the longer it stays that way. She moves the grief seed to make contact with her soul gem, making a short clink sound that the adults can barely grasp, followed by a sharp inhale, shutting off her eyes.

Focusing on what Homura is apparently trying to show, they see how the color of the piece in her hand slowly changes. In a matter of seconds, the object has fully turned into what might as well be high-grade amethyst.

They hear her finally let out that breath, relaxing as if she just got a heavy weight off her shoulders, reopening her eyes. She traces the shape of her soul gem with her thumb, checking for any noticeable changes. Feeling nothing to worry about, she can't help the signs of a smile forming across her face, glad to be fully restored again after everything that's happened.

"What was that?" Midnight wondered out loud, pulling Homura out of that small corner of bliss. 

"Ah, yes. What I did was restore my magic, entirely. I'm back at full strength. Therefore, I can now heal these scratches off." The gem on her hand shines bright as neon light while she says that last part.

For Midnight, Nezu and Tsukauchi, her healing looked somewhat similar to what they had seen before at the hands of Recovery Girl. Instead of a green glow covering her whole body, only the abrasions glow for a moment in what seems to be her typical violet tone. Once that's done, there are no marks left to suggest that she was hurt just a minute ago, and the brightness on her hand fades again.

"So that's how that works." The detective said along with Midnight, getting an answer to that question about her time in the hospital at last.

"Yes, and I don't need to be transformed anymore." Another flash of light around her and she's back into her usual uniform. "So, while I suspect that you will have more questions, I agree with the principal. Let's do it somewhere more comfortable for everyone." Not waiting for confirmation on their end, Homura walks to the detective's car, opening the door to sit back in the same spot as when they left Midnight's house in the morning.

Realizing they've just been left standing there, Nezu addresses Tsukauchi and Midnight to help get the other heroes (still knocked out) into the car they had used to come to this sector of the campus. While they do, he wakes up Recovery Girl so that she moves back to the passenger seat, unaware of the developments of the last hour.

"This will certainly be a very interesting conversation." He thinks as they start driving back to the main building of the U.A.

After getting Ectoplasm and Hound Dog over to the infirmary for Recovery Girl to take care of while they wake up, Nezu guided the rest of them to his office.

"Only a day later and I'm already back here." Homura remarked as she strode to the same couch as yesterday. This in turn pestered Midnight into giving her a sarcastic scowl, taking a seat in front of her across the table on the other couch.

"Oh, I wonder why that's the case!"

Without betraying emotion towards that comment, Homura shifts her attention to the principal looking for something in the drawers of his desk, while the detective stands next to it. Nezu comes from behind the desk with a few teabags. "Would you like some tea, Akemi-san?"

"If you are so kind as to offer, I won't refuse." She says with a slight bow. "Hhmm, that's such a Mami thing to say. Damn her and her tea parties." The thought crosses her mind as he goes to grab the pitcher with hot water from the back of his office.

With enough cups and tea bags for everyone at the table, Tsukauchi comes to take the unoccupied seat on her right side, while Nezu brings his own chair to her left, at the end of the table.

The principal starts pouring the water on her cup first. "You know, we were just about to go looking for you and the other teachers before you came out of the woods with them." He moves to serve the other female in the group, still looking at Homura. "Professor Midnight here was very much looking forward to testing your resilience against her quirk, as well."

Glancing at the woman after that revelation, she finds Midnight winking at her with an air denoting some sense of superiority. So Homura jabs back just as condescending, sipping from her cup. "Is that so… Then I would've had to make two trips, I can only carry two people at once." Which was enough to erase the smirk on Midnight's face, the same right eye she had used before now trembling a bit. 

Nezu cuts in while passing behind her subordinate's seat, realizing how she might take that comment out of proportion. "HAHAHAHA! I'm glad you have so much confidence, but be careful! Hers is a fast-acting gas that will put you to sleep in seconds!"

"That is… interesting." While Nezu reaches the other side of the table to serve the detective, something clicks in Homura's mind. "Is that the reason why your bodysuit is so… thin?"

Completely aware of how some people think of her because of the way her costume works, Midnight is quick to reply. "Yes, it's easier to rip a section off that way, so I can use it almost immediately." To which she adds with a little bit of contempt, playing with the cup in her hands. "Of course, not having to tear the fabric every time I need it would be better… but alas, costume regulations for 'the sake of public decency' demand it."

The detective had to pause bringing his tea up to drink, chuckling a bit. "And who do we have to thank for those rules again?"

Midnight turns slightly only to scowl at him for that. "Shut it, Tsukauchi."

The principal settles on his chair, taking the tea in his paw. "Now, now. Let's not sour teatime, my dear." He now turns to Homura confidently smiling. "In that same spirit, Akemi-san, I would like to apologize to you, on everyone's behalf, for the rather… unlikable approach we took back there. We simply wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any inconveniences, but it turns out we burdened you instead."

Homura remembers some of the most troublesome events in recent timelines. She tried to offer Mami her assistance in taking down Charlotte, knowing it would've been easier together, only for her to refuse and bind Homura with her ribbons instead, which in turn got her killed right in front of Madoka and Sayaka. The incredibly stupid incident with the stray cat Amy that an uncontracted Madoka saw about to be run over by a car, so she jumped without second thought to save her, but nonetheless failed to roll out of the way. The time Sayaka and Kyouko were bad-mouthing each other so crudely, they ended up stabbing through the other's soul gem, ignoring it would kill them. The memory still haunting Homura of the loop when she kept away from everyone, but Mami found out the truth about magical girls, prompting her to shoot down the others and then herself.

So not very fond memories for her, which she tries not to give away too much of in her response. "I'm used to being inconvenienced quite often, unfortunately. I have learned to deal with far worse than this, even if I don't always come out on top… But yes, to be notified beforehand would have been a better course of action."

"Let's agree to… leave it in the past, then? No hard feelings?" Says the principal, hoping to get any tension between them resolved and forgotten right now. 

Homura takes another sip before answering with a simple, "Agreed."

"Great!" Nezu puts his cup of tea on the table, gearing up to change subjects. "Now, I was wondering on our way here, how you managed to get the upper hand against two very prominent heroes? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"I already told you yesterday, magic enhances my physical abilities. I just hit them with enough strength to knock them out… The first clone I encountered worried me though, for a moment I really thought I had obliterated an actual person, because it dissolved the moment I hit it, as if it was made of… some sort of…"

Tsukauchi helps her identify the substance, clearly unfamiliar with the hero of the same name. "Ectoplasm? Yeah, that's pretty much how he works." At that moment, his phone rings with an incoming message, so he takes it out to read.

"It's not that great of an ability if the clones go down with one strike."

"HAHAHA!" Exclaimed Nezu once more at her remark. "An unexpected, strong and I bet well-positioned strike, mind you. From what we could hear, you blindsided both heroes! Because of his quirk, Hound Dog can be very sensitive to the disruptive effects of a flashbang, and Ectoplasm apparently couldn't see you coming because of a smokescreen. Which reminds me, how did you come into possession of those?"

Before she can try to come up with an excuse, Tsukauchi hijacks the conversation, the severity of his tone reflecting the indignation on his frown. "Yes, Homura. How did you get access to those? Was it yesterday afternoon during our visit to the police station, between 2:49 and 3:02, when you asked for a moment to 'go to the restroom'?" 

Holding up his phone for everyone to see, there are two pictures from a security feed with the aforementioned times, showing Homura at the open metal door of the storage room. With his discovery coming out of the blue, Nezu and Midnight focus on her with utter disbelief across their faces. Homura can't suffocate in time her shock, without a chance to properly gauge her demeanor, her already pale skin somehow loses even more its shade.

The detective pressures on, expecting all kinds of pretexts from a teenager. "So?" 

Realizing there's no way to shake this off, Homura drops the surprise from her face, sighing in shameful defeat. "I thought I was thorough in avoiding detection."

"Well, you missed the one hidden inside the room, right at the top of the first shelf on the right. Perfect to catch intruders."

"Yes, I can see that."

Noticing how she didn't even try to cover herself from his accusation, Tsukauchi calms down in some measure. "So you're not denying it. You actually stole weapons from the police."

"I need them."

"Why would you need-"

"Because I can't do what I do with my magic alone!" She stays dejected while she's reminded again of her inadequacy. An aspect of her condition as a magical girl that has always bothered her, especially so in the beginning of her journey. The advantages that time manipulation gives, a body that can perform beyond the limitations of human prowess, an infinite storage capacity at hand's reach. All that turns to nothing if you don't have the means to actually carry out the task you're forced to do in order to survive: kill witches. Which becomes very hard to do when your designated magical artifact is not an actual weapon, but a shield that doesn't even give that much physical cover on its own.

"I said what I was looking for earlier is alive in some way, that it fights back. When it does… Look, I'm not gonna bother with excessive details that none of you could ever truly understand, so I'll just say…" Feeling the cup still in her hands, Homura chugs down the rest before giving one final answer, looking down into the now empty glass. "Being stronger than average is not enough to take those things down, in my particular case, so I have to resort to mundane weaponry to deal enough damage as swiftly as possible."

The silence that befell the room couldn't have been a better opportunity for contemplation. Although for detective Tsukauchi it seemed like child's play at first, her story of magic being the source of her abilities suddenly started to sound a little less absurd. It would explain some of the things he knew for sure now. Her quirklessness, an incredible healing capacity, reaching that area of the police station without being noticed by other officers, pulling out flashbangs and smoke grenades she definitely wasn't carrying when entering the forest, even that disturbance in her tracking might have been because of it. "When you used the smokescreen to hide from Ectoplasm, were you using magic to somehow move between the clones?"

"Here we go." Homura muses as she moves to grab the pitcher and a teabag, serving herself another round. "That's what it usually looks like to everyone else, yes. The 'creature', if I could call it that, was approaching fast. I couldn't risk them getting caught in the crossfire." She pauses to have a quick drink before dropping the bombshell. "So I had to use my magic to stop time for myself, one second, every second, so I could incapacitate them before it showed up."

Midnight, having been quiet for a while now, is the first one to process this information. "I'm sorry, did you say you-" 

"Stop time, yes. That's what my magic is, at its core. Some kind of time manipulation. To a certain degree, of course. I can't do whatever I want." She takes another long sip, hoping they can all maintain their composure.

Eventually, Nezu breaks off the stupefaction that Homura caused, gazing intently at her, his mind racing as only High Spec could allow it. "Fascinating. Truly, fascinating."

She notices this at the corner of her left eye, turning in his direction somewhat annoyed. "Stop staring."

"AH! My apologies, Akemi-san, sometimes I can't help it! HAHA! You have completely piqued my curiosity now!" The principal reaches again for his tea, gulping it down to the last drop. "And I totally understand if you don't want to, but would it be possible for you to show how that works?"

"Yeah, no. I'm not taking anyone non magical into a time stop if I can help it, I did that a few times already and it's a headache." Homura somewhat frowns, both from her previous thought and what she says next. "You wouldn't see anything, only the aftereffects of whatever I do."

"Well, can you do anything we could clearly understand as a consequence of your actions?" 

Glancing down to her cup again, she tries to come up with something that could speak for itself. While focusing on her drink, an idea pops off her head. Quickly looking around, she sees all four of them have their cups pretty much cleared, with the detective and Midnight having put theirs on the table. The pitcher seems to be half-full at the moment, and they've already used all the teabags Nezu brought with him. "It's simple, but it works for this purpose." Ruffling up her hair a bit, Homura changes into her magical costume.

While it took Homura a little under a minute to grab the tea bags from Nezu's desk and go around filling everyone's cup, to them it seemed as if she hadn't moved at all. She raised her glass now full of tea as if to share a toast before drinking.

It takes Nezu a second to realize the increased weight of the cup he's holding, now almost filled to the brim with more tea, when just a second before there wasn't any. With genuine amusement in his eyes, he brings it up to confirm through its taste and smell that it's the same brand he keeps stashed away in his middle right drawer. Watching the principal's reaction, Midnight and Tsukauchi turn to see their own cups on the table ready for them, choosing to leave them there instead. 

Satisfied both with his tea and the proof that she can indeed do things in the blink of an eye, Nezu can't hold his enjoyment back. "HAHAHA! Extraordinary! Absolutely incredible, Akemi-san! I couldn't even tell anything happened at all!... What is it like to you? Are we just like statues, frozen in space?"

"The first non magical person that's actually thrilled by this when they learn about it is not even human, of course." She takes one more sip as she replies. "That would be an accurate description, yes. But before anyone starts getting any ideas, I will say right now that I use it sparingly, and only for purposes I consider worthy of using it on. This was just a short demonstration, I don't waste magic on trivialities."

"And I understand why you'd take such a conservative approach. It could be taken advantage of under the wrong hands."

Midnight jumps off her seat, reminding the two of them that they're not alone in the room. "As she clearly has done already! Sir, she just admitted she stole police equipment and attacked two faculty members with that same equipment! You can't still be seriously thinking about-"

"I'll stop you right there, Kayama-san. If we discuss this any further, it will be in a cordial environment. So please, take a seat." Not one to go against the principal's orders, Midnight reluctantly sits cross-legged on the couch, evidently not enjoying being labeled as the irrational one in this situation. "But I'll still give you an answer! The fact is that I've made up my mind already!"

With open arms in welcoming fashion, Nezu enthusiastically proclaims his invitation. "Akemi-san! An outstanding ability like yours should not be hindered by a lack of proper assistance to access its full potential! As the most prestigious hero school in the country, and dare I say, one of the finest in the world, I can guarantee you that we can provide all the support you might need! Therefore, I am officially extending to you the chance to join us here at the U.A. as one of our students."

Giving him back a slight frown after such an unexpected proposal, Homura takes a moment to go through his words again, coming up with a wondering "What?"

"Just like you heard! I know some may see it as a reckless decision, but if natural talent suddenly drops on my backyard, am I supposed to let it go to waste? Not try to nurture it into a force of good in this world?"

"I'm already a force of good, technically. I'm just discreet about my activities. So what's the catch? What do you gain by keeping me here?"

Putting one paw to his heart (where it might be), Nezu plays on being hurt by the suggestion of having ulterior motives. "Oh! Naturally! We were just talking about the possibility of someone taking advantage of your power. You would expect me to have an agenda as well… Let me assure, dear, that I hold no secret intentions, beyond the betterment of society! For as much intelligence as my quirk provides me with, even I still have to bear the consequences of being a chimera at the end of the day. Fortunately, one of those happens to be the lack of excessive greed that the human species has displayed over history. Not that I can't be greedy sometimes, of course, but that's just the animal instinct in me."

Judging by her stern expression, the girl would need something a bit more tangible in order to seriously consider his offer. And so would Midnight and Tsukauchi, who have been exchanging disapproving and doubtful looks while he speaks. "Maybe you all think I'm overstepping my authority as principal, but let me guide you through a certain perspective I've been thinking of, one that can very well help us deal with this situation."

He comes off his chair, standing in front of the table to deliver his prospect. "A group of thugs calling themselves the League of Villains shows up inside the school during a training exercise of one of the first-year classes. They come after the students, thinking they will be easy targets, but soon realize something isn't right. The students turn out to be very capable quirk users, refusing to be intimidated into submission, keeping them at bay long enough for the Symbol of Peace to arrive. All Might fights the strongest individual in their ranks, a mindless goon, and sends him flying out of the building. Clearly, the plan failed! The leaders order a retreat, but the faculty of pro heroes are also at the scene. How can they get away now? Easy, just bargain your escape with a hostage." He signals with his right arm at Homura.

Piecing together what Nezu was saying with the possibility Tsukauchi himself had considered when he was first informed of Homura, he could already see what the principal's line of thought would be. Reasoning that didn't go unnoticed by her either, not at all amused at his depiction of her as a victim of something she was never a part of.

But Nezu wasn't done yet. "In a desperate attempt to both prevent capture and prove their worth as villains, they threaten to further hurt the young lady, whose terrible wounds require immediate assistance. With a life at risk, the heroes are forced to let them go to avoid putting her in more danger. The emergency services are already outside the U.S.J. so she's taken to the hospital, where she would make a satisfactory recovery. But the girl doesn't know where she is or what's going on. She doesn't know anything! There's no missing person report, the police have no clue of where she might have been abducted from. What should be done about this?"

He lets the question linger in the air for a moment before clasping his paws together making a clap sound. "The school lends a hand! Keep the girl under supervision of one of the professors, so everyone can have a little peace of mind. And since there's no documentation, the school nurse must fill out the corresponding forms related to her quirk for registration purposes. But as the basic tests for several types of quirk are run, they reveal that this girl exhibits exceptional traits that demand further evaluation. And the results speak for themselves!"

So far this rundown of the events of the last days had been nothing but set up for the quirked animal to steer the landscape to one that favored them the most, should anyone start poking around how Homura ended up with them. Some recollections would have to be readjusted for consistency's sake, but the heroes involved would understand the reason why.

The principal ends his monologue with a prediction for the upcoming future as well, one he thinks is almost guaranteed. "And after much consideration, the girl is allowed to enlist in the school as if she was a recommended student. Of course, due to the circumstances born out of the villain attack a few days earlier, she moves in along with all the other students to the newly constructed Heights Alliance."

Homura certainly didn't see this proposition coming, it went against anything she could have predicted. She was betting on them to give up searching for anyone that might know her in a few days, eventually just setting her up in her own place, which no doubt would be much smaller than her previous apartment. Now she was offered a chance to actually go to school, something that had become so monotonous to her, effortlessly transcribing from memory either the exact same or very similar assignments, only being present to maintain appearances and keep an eye on… 

The others. What was she going to do with them when the time comes? They will all have different perspectives on this new world they'd be thrown in. Homura can see the chance to start anew, all the worries about getting past Walpurgisnacht now gone. And she can imagine Kyouko and Mami moving on as well, having being living on their own giving the three of them an easier time to let go of whatever attachments they might have had. Mami would also very much appreciate having a school routine, one of the only things that kept her going sometimes. The structure and discipline have also helped Kyouko in the past, even when she would grumble whenever she fell behind in some areas. 

However, Madoka and Sayaka still had their families very much intact. Perhaps Sayaka didn't see her parents as often as she probably would have liked, but from what Homura could remember about the few times she actually got to meet them, they all loved each other. It would be a hard pill to swallow for the cerulean knight, too much of an idealist for her own good. On the other hand, Madoka was very much in contact with hers, they would have been described as a perfect family of four in Homura's eyes, sometimes even wondering if her life could have been like that. Always the selfless, kind and loving soul, the fluffy archer will undoubtedly be the hardest of them to walk through what the reality would be.

So Homura won't make that choice for them. Not again. Not like all those countless times she went behind their backs, expected them to unknowingly follow her plans and move around like chess pieces, or outright disregarded their opinions when voiced. This time she was really trying to overcome those flaws she had come to self-impose after her many repetitions.

Knowing how she must approach this now, Homura gives her answer. "You make for a very compelling argument, principal, I see you've put a lot of thought into it. And although I've never had a true need for standard education, I do have a few good memories about it. So, personally, I can accept your invitation." She stops for a moment to allow Nezu a small sense of triumph, the smile forming on his face (snout?) proof of that, before hitting him and the other two silent observers with some more unexpected news. "But I cannot do so on my partners' behalf, not without their inputs. So I must put a non-negotiable condition on this agreement."

A girl that doesn't immediately stand out in any way trying to broker her way into the U.A. with none other than the principal himself, would obviously be a ridiculous idea. Yet that's exactly what was going on in the middle of Nezu's office. But nevermind that, she just suggested that there are more like her out there! That's the thought that went through all the adults in the room, startled looks all around.

Nezu falls back on his seat, head tilting curiously. "Excuse me, Akemi-san. Are you suggesting that you know of others with similar faculties to you?"

"Yes."

"And would that include-"

"No, only I can do that." She said, already anticipating his idea that the others are also capable of manipulating time. 

"I see… And what kind of condition do you have in mind?"

"To extend to them the same offer you're giving me, once they're here. And should any of them refuse, still provide them with enough support to get by, no strings attached. Otherwise, we walk away."

"Huh… Well how likely do you think they are to accept?"

"I can't say for sure, you'll have to wait to hear from them."

"Ah, a gamble!" It certainly was a bet on how approachable these other individuals would be, especially because she wasn't vouching for everyone to be on board with it. But if they are remotely as analytic and observant as she's proven to be so far, surely they'll see that this will benefit them. "Well, I'm already doing that with you, so why not go all-in?"

Nezu brings his right arm up again, this time extending it to Homura in expectancy. "Do we have a deal, Akemi-san?" She moves a bit forward to her left to reach out with her hand and shake his paw, hiding beneath her indifferent façade a triumphing feeling.

A few seconds pass in silence, only for Midnight to bring back her one issue with this whole ordeal, again. "This is all so sweet, but do I have to remind you, principal, that she took guns from the police?"

This gave detective Tsukauchi the perfect moment to get back into the conversation. "Yes, Homura. For as much as this is a great opportunity, since you are still under a police investigation that I'm directing, all permits for you to do anything have to go through me. Breaking into restricted areas and stealing weapons is not gonna look nice on record, and will most likely land you in a juvenile detention center."

"Only juvy, Tsukauchi? I'm pretty sure that if she starts saying 'magic made me do it', she's going straight to a mental institution." Midnight added in order to emphasize how screwed Homura would be.

"Exactly, which is why there are no references to that written down anywhere." Tsukauchi changes into his most serious attitude, hoping the shift makes the gravity of the matter more evident. "So where are the weapons, Homura?"

"Here with me." She says with that calm tone of her voice, which only paints more confusion on the faces of the rest of them, ignoring how she could have any on her. With a heavy sigh, seeing that she has to demonstrate yet another secret of hers, Homura puts her hand behind her shield. "Just, don't freak out."

Despite the warning, she can see Midnight almost jump out of her seat, while the detective flinches back due to the surprise of watching a Beretta 92 materialize on her hand out of thin air. "Calm down. It's empty." Homura removes the magazine of the gun, showing it to him so he can verify that.

Still startled from that, Midnight mumbles out a question. "You-You're just… carrying them all… in there?"

"Where else would I keep them?" Homura asked rhetorically, putting the gun away, back into the void of the buckler and undoing her transformation.

With the shock dying out a bit, Tsukauchi addresses what to do next. "OK, so you have them on you. Alright, that way you can come with me to the station, again, and we'll discreetly put them back."

Registering that, Homura puts on a more visibly annoyed frown towards him. "I thought I had made it clear that I need them."

An uncomfortable silence drops between them, and Tsukauchi knows he must stand his ground in this situation, no matter what. Projecting an aura of ultimatum as he stands up, he gives the command. "You are not going to be running around the city with those things. You will come to the station, where I will personally make sure that you put every single gun that has been reported missing back to its place. And that is the final decision, young lady ."

For all the orders he was throwing at her like she could be bossed around, for some reason it was that last address that really got under Homura's skin. It somehow reminded her of Mami's way of speaking down to her when she approached her to give cautionary advice, which of course was always ignored. One of the most infuriating aspects about Mami, she insisted on playing her perfect senior act at all times, thinking she could shoulder all burdens, until she inevitably crumbled under the weight of her own expectations.

Why was she getting upset about that now?

Homura stood up to match him, feeling a sudden urge to answer with more severity than any of the presents have ever heard from her, her voice raised to a volume she had never displayed before, with some noticeable disdain in her words, a mountain of sentiments released all at once. "Don't you ever PATRONIZE ME AGAIN ! "

"..." 

If the previous silence was awkward, this one was unsettling to all. For how calm she has usually presented herself, to hear such a vocal complaint from Homura was shocking to the spectators. It was most surprising to her especially, realizing how fiercely she just talked back to the detective, not even about the real topic at hand. For just a moment, her drowned emotions got ahead of her rationale.

Gulping those feelings down, her own face showed her confusion about the short outburst, looking down and away from the detective's perplexed eye. Some sense of regretfulness comes out between a worried stutter as she drops back to the couch. "I-I-I'm… forgive me, I… I just… I don't… I don't know what… overtook me… right there."

Still a little stunned after such a strong response and the subsequent apology, Tsukauchi suggests an alternative. "Alright. How about… we make a deal, too? You come with me to return the weapons today… and I will let you take Nezu's offer. We can all just… forget about that incident."

As the wave of emotion starts to freeze again under her cold sapience, Homura considers the detective's proposal. The armament she acquired had proved good enough to handle Charlotte, even when the witch turned out to be much more resilient and ferocious than its previous iterations, including this one, when they encountered it at the hospital. She was low on grenades now because of it, having had to basically feed the witch with them. If anything, she eventually has to go back to the station to restock, as she will have to start patrolling this city soon if she wants fresh grief seeds.

But this isn't just about her, she’s not alone now. Giving back those guns would certainly reduce her already limited offensive capabilities, even if they most likely act as a deterrent against others. Should a local magical girl show up, Homura now has all the odds in her favor, as even without heavy weaponry she can just hit and vanish. And as it stands, getting these people to start trusting her to some real degree would help a lot once the rest arrive. Scouting for witches freely doesn’t seem like an option right now, and as today showed, having people around only obstructs the process. Perhaps she can go to the places that are guaranteed to have a witch close by and again, just like today, be left to her own devices for a while.

Having contemplated this route, Homura accepts to compromise, with just one caveat. "Very well, I will give them back… It doesn't matter, really. When I need them… and I will… I can just go and take them. I have the time now." She pauses right after that, letting on the ominous feeling that at any minute, she could just storm the station and no one would notice, powerless to even try to stop her. The last word is hers, getting up on her feet and looking once more at Tsukauchi, pressuring for this surprisingly strenuous reunion to be over. "If there's nothing else to discuss, let's get done with that, then."

In silent agreement, Midnight and Nezu rose from their seats. After all the troubles the girl has given them, the hero decides to come along to the station so Homura can’t try any funny business, else risk getting gassed in that room. Nezu on the other hand, with the small argument having quickly resolved itself without further issue, also finds no other motive to continue their chat, dragging his chair back to the desk.

As the detective opens the door, letting Midnight go out first, the principal shouts at Homura, who turns around after his call. "Akemi-san! I would ask you to come back tomorrow, so that Recovery Girl can fill out those forms I mentioned. It's mostly protocol, nothing too complicated, really. I expect to see you again on Monday morning!"

With a respectful bow, she says her farewells to the principal and exits the office for yet another trip to the police station, a humorous idea crossing her mind. “I’ll never hear the end of it once Kyouko learns about this.”

Chapter Text

It had been a really long day for Midnight. First, Homura had asked for a visit to the area where the ambulance incident took place, claiming she was going to finish whatever that whole show was about. Then, once at the place, she refused to be helped by any of the people gathered for the task, who followed her into the forest regardless and, in consequence, got their asses kicked by a brat that apparently can manipulate time at a whim. So of course, supported by his unnatural intellect, principal Nezu made the sound decision of enrolling her in the school after such a performance, for what he saw as 'talent'. Even after they learned that she had broken into the police's armory and stolen an absolutely stupid amount of weapons!

What Tsukauchi had expected to be maybe an hour-long trip to the station became a ridiculous inventory assessment that went through the rest of the afternoon, well into the first hours of the evening. When they arrived, he asked for the list of items that the examiners reported as missing from the storage room, and was very much agape at being handed what was close to the entire catalogue that they had access to.

Some of the lots were just missing one or two units, which wouldn't be too hard to replace if he hadn't convinced Homura to return them. But the problem couldn't be overlooked once the sheer amount of explosives and ammunition gone was detailed, and judging by their potency and some being high caliber, neither could be the fact that she was a one-girl army walking around with stuff that would make any civilian run away in terror if they randomly saw it on the streets.

After quickly going over the whole portfolio as well, Midnight couldn't help but ask, "And you said you need this? Are you crazy?"

"Yes, I need all of it. Had I not been recorded, no one would have noticed their disappearance. Not for a while, at least." Homura responded with a totally out of place calmness for this situation, but seemed to hesitate for a second on the next address. "And no. I'm not… crazy."

Midnight paid no mind to that as it clicked on her that the supposedly short visit would be anything but that. Tsukauchi was given the keys to the armory and instructed them to follow him. It would only be the three of them, to avoid the issues of having another set of eyes in the room.

As it turns out, the camera that had caught Homura was the only one there, just meant to keep track of who came in and out, a back-up for the written logs. Once at the door, yet another detail dawned on Tsukauchi, asking Homura with honest curiosity. "This is a security door with three locks. How did you get past all this?"

Midnight answered unamused in her stead. "Let me guess. Magic?"

Given how everything has developed so far, and how weird it could get when it comes to magical girls, Homura declares just as blank. "It would be easier to get used to that being the answer most of the time."

Shaking his head, resigning himself to accept that she was probably right, Tsukauchi opened the door. Once inside, Homura walked along the first corridor, stopping down the middle to transform. The detective and hero saw as, in one swift swoop of her shield, guns and magazines filled the empty slots of the shelves at both sides, the violet glow that covered them slowly fading after being put in place. She started walking back towards them, intending to do the same on all the other rows.

Tsukauchi stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder before she went past them. "Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing? We have to check everything is back in its place!"

The gesture was not appreciated, Homura quickly swapping away his hand and retreating the shoulder. "My way is faster. Trust me, it's all there."

And so another staring contest began. "I told you I have to make sure you put every single one back. Individually, by hand . No tricks."

Homura stated the obvious problem with that. "It will take hours to go through each and every one of these weapons."

To which he just casually shrugged in response. "Do you have anything else to do? Somewhere else to be?"

They kept the stare up for a good minute, and Midnight didn't really know what she was supposed to do, if anything. Soon enough, Homura understood they were at a standstill that served no one, contributing to nothing but making her look uncooperative. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it with a heavy sigh full of exasperation.

Returning to the previous alley, she recalled back to her shield the items that had just flown out of it, the magic that had permeated them still enough for such manipulation. She turned to the detective and hero as they approached. "Let's get started, then. I'll put them one by one in their stands, but you will have to keep track of all this stuff on that list of yours. I'm not slowing down either, so you better keep up." After both nodded in response to her, Homura pulled out several articles and placed them on their corresponding holders. "Eight 9-millimeter magazines..."

And so the hours went by, until Tsukauchi reviewed the whole list a couple times just to be absolutely certain that he had marked as returned every weapon on the list. At least, all that could be returned, a few empty magazines and a couple dozen unrecoverable grenades were still gone, but Homura clarified she had used those back in the woods in the hunt. The specific use of the word 'hunt' not going unnoticed by Midnight, completely drained after the tedious task she now fully regretted signing up for.

With no more business for the day, the detective dropped them off at the hero's place. No one was in the mood to bring up further discussions, so it was a very quiet, if not awkward ride. Not another word was exchanged between Midnight and Homura once left alone in the house, the former serving dinner for both and swiftly retiring to her bedroom. The latter did the same a while after, the tiredness of this grueling day finally catching up to her as well.

As Nezu pointed out right at the end of their meeting, today Homura has to fill out some standard forms for the Hero Commission with Recovery Girl's assistance. So here she is in the infirmary of the U.A., standing in the middle of the room, going over what information she could relay honestly and what would be better to keep to herself. But aside from what she has already explained to them or got found out at the hospital, there's not really much she can comfortably disclose.

"No mention of souls or how exactly magic works, the less anyone knows about it, the better."

Soon enough, the door opens and the Youthful Hero slowly approaches her desk and welcomes Homura joyfully. "Oh hello, darling! I was told you were coming by today, how are you doing?"

In light of being alone with an elderly, Homura tries her best to give off a less stern, heavy aura than usual, putting on a rather awkward smile every once in a while. She even manages to bring back from the past her meek, fragile voice tone for a while as she elaborates on the nurse's question. "Yes, from what I've learned so far, it would seem that the best way to pass off my magic is as a transformation type quirk. I'm not quite sure what exactly the qualifications for the emitter type are, I read about very different, conflicting examples. There's no irreversible, permanent alterations to fit into the mutant category, and I can turn it on and off at will, which I know other people see as me sparkling for a moment."

"True, I've seen that a couple of times already." Recovery Girl is constantly typing on her computer, documenting whatever additional details she can get from the girl, as she was instructed to do, discreetly. "Do you know your own limitations on how long you can keep that state? And how about recharging? Do you need some down time to be able to activate it again?" 

"There's not a set limit for how long I can transform, but it expends the magic I have available, I'd rather economize. If I remember correctly, the longest I've had to stay like that was over 12 hours." The conversation so far wasn't so bad, unlike what Homura expected at first, an outright interrogation. And the woman showed such sweet, innocent fascination and enthusiasm, it was hard not to open up to her even if just a little. It honestly reminded her of that one nurse back at her hospital stay in the beginning of the cycles. "And usually there's no need to transform again shortly after doing it, but I'm confident it wouldn't be an issue to do so."

"Huh, interesting, so no cooldown? Maybe we can test that out later on." After adding that comment to the file, Recovery Girl goes through the pages on the folder she brought with her. "Now, from the notes the principal gave me this morning, and what you just said, you have to replenish this magic of yours, which is why we were at the forest yesterday. Isn't that a limitation in itself? How often do you have to resupply such a mysterious resource?"

"That depends, too. The less I use it, the longer I can go without the need to renew it. For example, since I did that almost a full day ago, I'd say I'm OK for the next month."

"And that's without even using it, right? Does it dissipate or fade away on its own?"

"No, it's because maintaining a body alive passively consumes a small amount of magic, so even doing nothing requires it. Because of course the rat needed another failsafe on this stupid system." Homura remarks to herself one of the most discouraging aspects of magical girls she's come to realize in her journey. The fact that most girls either die to a witch or live long enough to become one.

The somber reminder brings her down from the somewhat cheerier mood, dropping off her voice back to its usual stern tone. She can't reveal that part of being a magical girl, so she goes with the explanation that Recovery Girl so kindly handed to her. "Yes, in time, it just dissipates."

The sudden change in demeanor did not go unnoticed, making the hero frown (even if you couldn't tell from the wrinkles on her face), seeing that she had suddenly struck a nerve, apparently. Maybe there was room for further discussion on that topic in the future, but now it'd be better to just cover what's left of the Hero Commission's forms.

The conversation pretty much turned into a questionnaire. Homura would answer resoundingly, in a few words, straight to the point. Even the showcase of her 'catalyst' (what she's gonna start calling her soul gem in front of non-magicals) that 'helped her better control magic' was brief, only for illustrating its transfiguration at will from a simple ring into an egg-like accessory, and finally the diamond incrusted on the back of her left hand after a full transformation, claiming that way it sticks to her while in action. "Yes, I totally chose to engrave it on myself during combat."

Just a quarter of an hour after the shift in atmosphere and they were already done, only one matter left to settle. Recovery Girl never was one of the doctors that handled kids' first manifestations of quirks, and therefore their naming, so this was a unique opportunity. She tries to lighten up the mood a bit, to end on a good note. "So… What should we call this new quirk of yours? And I'm sorry, but unfortunately 'Magic' is already taken, so we have to think of something else."

The idea of actually naming magic anything but that hadn't crossed Homura's mind yet. She's aware of some very extravagant, unconventional names quirk users have come up with, and if that didn't match what a magical girl was… "No. Absolutely not. There's no way I'm unironically calling it that. It goes against the very idea of keeping a low profile." A clear word to quickly portray her abilities without outright saying they come from magic, what a riddle this was.

The girl didn't seem to have an answer right away, unlike almost all teenagers would if they could rename their quirk, or as they would soon find out, coming up with their hero names. Recovery Girl puts herself to the task as well, going over the general description of what Homura can do. "Let's see… You claim having enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, stamina and healing. That last one can be pretty drastic if necessary, certainly as strong as some known regenerators… Hhmm… Which would you say is the major aspect out of those that you find yourself using the most?"

For Homura, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of others became an important tool for dealing with other hot-tempered, ill-informed girls (read: Sayaka, Mami, Kyouko, in that order), but running that through herself wasn't so easy. She accepts that she's naturally biased to thinking her way is the only one, which in retrospect might have caused some of their needless altercations.

Going over the woman's question, she has to consider how others see her and what she does during combat. "That's the issue, no one sees me do anything, it's all over by the time they get to react… To them, a time stop looks like I move at lightning's-"  

"Speed. That's the most obvious aspect. And after a while, people would guess correctly that I have high stamina."

Recovery Girl crossed her arms and hung her head low, almost as if she had fallen asleep on her seat, but she was just taking a minute to put together the pieces of this naming puzzle, and she thinks she solved it. "Alright, how about this? We can argue that your main aspect is actually the high stamina, which can be used either for speed, and therefore reflexes, for strength or even for healing. That way, we can encapsulate in one general descriptor all of this. What do you think, dear?"

"I think that you're very accustomed to dealing with quirks that are harder to ground than usual, given your position."

"Hahaha! I've been doing this for longer than you've been alive, Akemi. I encountered many odd quirks in the past and I still tend to some rather problematic ones, especially here at the U.A. with all these trainees still learning how to properly use theirs."

Homura looks away for a moment after the mention of 'longer than you've been alive'. She would always claim that she's still just 14, not having celebrated a birthday in forever. How could she? She was so caught up in her mission that the date wasn't important to her anymore, just a number she might have easily forgotten already and randomly picked another instead.

Aware that the conversation had already turned cold a while back, and that this was supposed to be the end of it, Homura tries to respond to the question with a bit of a smile. "I agree, high stamina seems to be the most adequate way to describe my… quirk."

Recovery Girl smiles back at her before turning to type on the computer once more. "Very well, I'll add it to the form, then… Description? What we just discussed. And finally Quirk Name… High Stamina."

All matters settled, Homura stood up and politely thanked Recovery Girl for helping her before bidding farewell.

"How did it go? Were you able to complete the forms?" Detective Tsukauchi asked from the driver's seat, looking back at Homura through the rear-view mirror.

"Yes, it's done. High Stamina is what my magic is supposed to be called now."

"Huh, I like it. Doesn't give away too much information, but it states that you have great capacity. For what exactly? Let them find out, am I right?" He says playfully, trying to move on from yesterday's ordeal at the station into more cordial terms.

"Quirk type?" Midnight questioned from the passenger's seat, eyes still on the road.

After sighing with somewhat reluctant acceptance, Homura confirms Midnight's suspicion. "Transformation… You were right, it's the better fit."

That made the hero almost jump out of her seat, presenting her left hand to a man not at all happy with the verdict. "HA! Pay up, Tsukauchi!"

In silent defeat, the detective grabbed a bill from the dashboard and handed it to the victorious side. Homura is looking at both of them with a raised eyebrow, so he explains what just happened. "We bet on whether or not you'd name it something pertaining to magic and which type it would be. I said 'emitter, related to magic', she said 'transformation, more grounded in reality'. You just made me lose 1000¥, kid."

" I'm the kid?" Homura commented on the supposed adults betting over her quirk status. OK, that actually made her chuckle a bit.

The minutes passed and Homura noticed they weren't taking the usual route back to Midnight's house. "Are we going somewhere I wasn't informed about?"

Now Midnight turns around to address her. "Ah, right… The principal called me this morning, said you'll be allowed to move into the Heights Alliance dorm on Monday. The place has all the basic accommodations, but you have nothing of your own to bring there. I mean, you're still wearing that same uniform." Pointing it out like that made Homura consider the fact she really doesn't have much in the way of clothing aside from the couple reserve outfits she keeps inside her shield, and even those would have to be washed eventually. "So, he asked us to take you on a little shopping spree. Within a budget, of course. Try not to spend it all at the first place you enter."

And it has been forever since she's had to buy new clothes for herself, her old apartment had everything she needed so it was never an issue. But that's all gone, so it is a problem now.

After parking somewhere in the middle of the sea of cars that was the parking lot, the three of them walked into the mall. To an outsider viewer, they would look like a family hanging out for the weekend. Some might think the woman was at the very least the teenager's older sister, if not her mother, judging by the man beside her dressed as formally as he was.

Midnight said they could start on the second floor, so they walked around with Homura deciding whether it was worth getting inside a shop by looking at the exhibits on display at the windows. Nothing so far really seemed to match her taste, and soon they were back at the escalator with nothing to show yet. "Yeah, maybe we should've skipped this one entirely, too flamboyant designs." Midnight added as they were about to go up to the next floor.

They were next in line before realizing Homura had stepped out of it, slowly walking towards the railing looking over the food court area. As they approach her, they see her fiddling with her ring and frowning sternly into nothingness. "Homura? Something wrong? You don't like the crowd?" Tsukauchi wonders if she's not used to having so many people around, as per the reserved manner she tends to give off.

After a few moments of no reaction, Homura starts pacing around looking in all directions. With just a flick of her hand, the soul gem materializes in its golden enclosure, shining purple. "I feel something, like the one I was chasing in the forest. It's around here." She turns to the escalator again, this time going back to the first floor.

"What do you mean like in the forest? Didn't you catch… whatever that was yesterday?" Midnight questions as they walk down the moving stairs.

"This is a new one. I don't recognize it exactly, but I know it is." A few more steps into the food court and Homura stops, holding up the soul gem as she scans the area. "There's a trail all over this place. It might have taken someone already."

Now Tsukauchi was getting alarmed. "Taken? Homura, tell us what's going on!"

His raised voice called her attention, making her look back at them, confused and worried over whatever she's talking about. She turns to him after a moment of consideration. "Detective, I don't intend to cause any problems… But I'm going to have to ask you to lend me your gun."

Chapter Text

"Excuse me?" Said the baffled pair in unison.

Given the situation could turn for the worse at any moment, Homura makes her stand on this very clear. "I require your gun now because I kept my part of the deal and returned everything I took yesterday. I honestly didn't expect to find another one of these things so quickly, especially in an area this full of people. That's not how they usually work. But now that I've sensed it, I'm gonna go after it and eliminate it. And for that… I need your gun."

Tsukauchi can tell she's being serious about this and won't back down, but he also cannot ignore the circumstances. "I'm not drawing my weapon in the middle of a food court, Homura. We are not creating a panic while everyone's having lunch for something we cannot verify. I'm sorry, but for as willing as I am to follow along with you, we haven't seen any of the threats you talk about so far."

"And you really don't want to see them, trust me on that." Turning around to examine the crowd enjoying the day, blissfully ignoring the danger looming over all of them, Homura feels the traces left all over the place by something looking for fresh prey. She considers the way the trail seems to have no direction, as if it has just been wandering around expecting to stumble upon an unsuspecting victim.

She talks over her shoulder to state her resolve to Tsukauchi before passing in between the first sets of tables. "I will find this thing soon, and if you still refuse to give me the gun then, I will just take it."

Next to him, Midnight expected Tsukauchi's authority to deter Homura, but turns out she's having none of it right now. Looking at the girl get away and then back to the detective, who's still astounded by what came off as a threat, Midnight lets out an exasperated growl in annoyance as she begins to pace behind Homura. Tsukauchi shakes off the incredulity that struck him and follows, too.

Putting her soul gem back on her finger, Homura shifts through the tables with entire families sharing an afternoon together. She moves swiftly from one group to another after confirming the familiar is not hiding among them, looking for the signs of a person already marked to be taken or in the process of.

A moment later, Midnight starts talking as she approaches her from behind. "Don't walk out on us like that, kid. And stop making it harder to deal with you, already! We can only help if you're actually willing to cooperate with us." She tries to stop Homura's movement, putting a hand on her shoulder to force her to turn around.

At that, Homura feels a fit of anger rise within her and can't stop herself from letting it out, batting away the woman's hand. "DON'T GRAB ME LIKE THAT! JUST LIKE I TOLD HIM WHEN HE DID IT!" She points behind Midnight to the detective, now coming over to them faster. "YOU WANT TO HELP? FINE! YOU CAN BE BAIT!"

"The WHAT did you just say?" Midnight asked, already well fed up with this girl. 

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? Why are you shouting?" Tsukauchi comes in between the other two, seeing the tension had suddenly cranked up to one thousand. 

At his question, Homura finds people from all tables on this section looking at them. The heat of the moment wears off as fast as it surged, taking deep breaths to calm down once more. "Excuse me, I… I…" "What's wrong with me? Why am I exploding on them like this?"

With the commotion already over, people carry on with their businesses. Homura brushes off the awkward feeling of putting herself on the spot, focusing on what's important right now. "Listen, we are running out of time. If you really want to help, watch out for anyone that looks depressed or confused, maybe acting without care for themselves."

Homura resumes her movement and Tsukauchi holds Midnight back for a bit so she can calm down as well, seeming very much upset for being confronted by a kid in that manner. "Are you gonna let her get away with that? That brat really needs to learn some social skills, she can't just go around prying on what all these people are doing, then start screaming unprovoked and expect us to pretend like nothing's happening!"

He turns to look where Homura is, standing a little too close to another table, only to keep walking a few seconds later but not without getting some glares in response. "You're right, people are already giving her bad looks." He brings Midnight to an available table close to the food court entrance. "Let's do this, then. I'll go with her, to calm her down from… whatever she thinks is happening. You stay here, wait until we come back, maybe ten minutes. Is that OK?"

"Yes!" Midnight exclaims as she sits on a chair, hands up in the air. "You go handle her antics. I did not sign up for any of this."

"You kind of did when you offered to host her." Tsukauchi counters as he leaves.

After an exhaustive search around the food court, Homura started backtracking her steps to where she had separated from her custodians. "There's no path heading away from the area to indicate where the witch could have gone to… Perhaps it wasn't even a witch, maybe just an immature familiar that strayed. It might explain the trail being so erratic, it probably panicked after being left alone."

She can see the detective looking around the place from a central position, probably expecting to find her. She waves a small hand in the air when he glances around her general direction, which Tsukauchi acknowledges and moves to meet her halfway.

Seeing her back to what's come to be her normally nonchalant disposition, Tsukauchi goes for a less antagonistic approach. "Hello again, Homura. I hope you had enough time to calm down after what happened back there. Think we can go back to the way we were talking before that?"

She wasn't expecting him to go so easy on her, now that the topic was brought up, but it was a place to start on. "Yes. My apologies, I don't know what made me react the way I did. It won't happen again."

"That's good to hear. But I'm not really the one who needs to hear that, am I?"

Homura gave him a contemplative look, huffing at the not-so-subtle suggestion that she had to apologize to Midnight as well, and probably with more meaning behind it. Yes, she shouldn't have responded how she did, but at the time she was more concerned about a witch possibly about to feast on a random person.

They began to walk back to where they came from, as the detective pointed out that maybe they should postpone trying to find her a wardrobe for tomorrow. On their way, he asks Homura about what she had felt, to which she admits coming off empty-handed. "I thought what I felt was recent, but I couldn't find anything, no other trail that could lead me anywhere else."

Tsukauchi wasn't looking forward to what would most likely be a very awkward conversation once they meet Midnight, then while they go back to the car and as he drives them to the hero's place. Hopefully, they would both agree to put the incident behind them. That is, if Midnight was actually still sitting at the table.

Which she was not, as both detective and magical girl realized. "Great. Where could she have gone?" Tsukauchi said, as he was getting a little exasperated after all the problems these two were causing him today.

"The car?" Was Homura's suggestion.

"I have the key, and there's no way she would wait there under the sun."

As they looked around for any sight of the woman, when Homura approached the misaligned chair Midnight must have sat on, she felt that lingering sensation pulling at her magic again. Bringing out the soul gem once more, it finally worked as expected. Like a compass to a magnet, it pointed her straight to a maintenance door next to one of the fast-food restaurants. 

Once he turned from looking over the way they entered the building, Tsukauchi saw Homura walking away once more. He jogs over to her right side, while trying not to raise his voice too much. "Hey, hey, hey. Where are you going? We should wait for her back at–"

"I know where she's going. I don't know how they sneaked past me, but I'm following them now." Homura breached open the maintenance door, entering a hallway meant for staff to move around the backside of stores, or restaurants, as was the case for that specific floor. Another glance at her soul gem and she took to the right.

"Wait. How do you know where she's going? And who did you say she's going with?" The detective could see the girl had done a 180, strolling with complete disregard to the 'only authorized personnel' signs they were passing by.

"Not a good time for questions, so I'll be brief. This artifact allows me to sense other magical sources, including the remnants that creatures like the one that just took Midnight leave on their path." After a flash of mauve light flooded the hallway for a second, Homura was in her magical attire.

Tsukauchi remained quiet for a moment while he processed what she was saying. "Alright, sure, I can believe it works like that. Is that why you insisted so much on going to the forest? This thing is trying to hurt people?"

"In simple terms, yes, that's how it thrives." Taking another right, Homura came to a sudden halt as she saw a waving veil of flashing colors.

The entrance to a labyrinth.

"What is it? What are you doing?" Tsukauchi notices how she approches the wall far more carefully than all of her march up to this point. He can't help to instinctively back away after a press of her hand reshapes the surface into the painting of a monochromatic kaleidoscope.

"This is the entrance to the creature's domain, invisible to the naked eye without magical influence. You can see it now because I interacted with it in order to get inside."

"Wait, you mean they are behind this wall? Or that this leads somewhere else… like a portal?" The reports about the villain Kurogiri from the attack at the USJ came to the detective's mind.

Catching his uneasiness, Homura glosses over an explanation. "In a way, yes, it's a portal, but it doesn't lead to another place. This works as a secluded space for the creature to inhabit, undisturbed by most of what happens here on the outside."

"So it's like its own dimension…" 

"You can see it that way."

After considering the best possible ways to act on this scenario, Homura presents her plan to rescue Midnight. "This is what we are going to do. Given that I'm in no condition to engage in a fight, I'll use my time stop magic once I'm inside. It will have to be as continuous as possible, unlike the few times I've used it before. The more time and magic I spend in there, the quicker will I get noticed, and without proper offense, I can only evade for so long, especially if I have to carry her around."

"Alright, then I'll carry her. That way you can–" 

"You're not coming with me." She says with certain finality in her interruption. 

"Yes, I am." He replies loud and clear. 

"No, you're not. You would be a distraction. I move much faster on my own… And I don't want anyone else getting lost in there." She extends her right hand to him, expecting his cooperation. "Now this is when I ask for your gun, and you give it to me without complaint."

Tsukauchi quickly looks at her hand and back at her, shaking his head in denial. "No, Homura, I'm not going to let you go on your own. If this is as dangerous as you say, I'll call for reinforcements and a special task force to retrieve Midnight, and we will ask for your assistance only if–"

He barely felt the smack on the back of his head as he began to fade into unconsciousness. Catching him while still standing, she brings Tsukauchi down to the floor before taking the gun from the holster covered by his overcoat, along with the extra magazine. "I'll apologize later, I can't keep wasting time here."

As she makes sure that the detective's weapon is ready, she wonders how things have derailed so badly. "I call her bait out of a stupid impulse and she immediately gets taken, why can't I escape this horrible bad luck?"

Chapter Text

Something was very wrong with this labyrinth, Homura could tell so from the moment she walked inside. A paranoid feeling started to crawl under her skin, the unsettling sensation of being watched, preyed on. Just a few seconds there and she was already dripping cold sweat, her breathing as jagged as in Physical Education class before contracting. Never had she felt such a negative reaction to a witch's lair, let alone from the instant she ventured in.

Leaning on her knees for support, Homura tries to calm down from the likely magic-induced panic. She tries to take in the initial composition of the maze, but aside from the lack of color that seemed to engulf her, the area was just an empty corridor extending beyond her vision, the tiles on the floor following a checkered pattern.

She took another deep breath before straightening up, now a bit more relaxed yet still unable to shake off the restlessness. "This has to be some kind of trick meant to wear us down, and make us incapable of defending when the time comes… Something to consider when I come back to actually kill this one. The faster I get done with this, the less it will impair me. Time to go."

At her command, magic pours into the clock mechanism of her shield, gears start spinning. The sand reservoirs uncover and both start filling up, a complete contradiction as to how it operates. And the sands are not their usual magenta hue, they turn instead into a granular darkness.

It all happens in under a second. Long enough for Homura to see the difference, but not enough to do anything in response.

A primal scream was heard throughout the entire barrier. It came from the far away edge, the more stern familiars notice while the meeker ones seek refuge with their queen. The witch had been resting at the time, being woken up by the sudden outburst of emotion that flooded its residence. A guard of rooks departs at once.

Arriving at the farthest point of the labyrinth, the dispatched familiars are greeted by what should be an impossible view, to their standards. There weren't supposed to be any colors like the ones the pawns described from their expeditions in this place, and yet this dead-end corridor had been painted 'red' and 'violet'. A truly dantesque scene. They followed the streaks on the floor that lead to one of the main sections of their home, the barracks of the pawns. But no pawn was found there.

On to the next area, the bishops' chapel. Some of said pieces were flocking around the building, rushing to meet the party of rooks that just arrived. They were all in disarray, none could explain what happened. Suddenly, another imposible patch of color appeared close to them. Two figures, one painted the same way they found the corridor, the other one matched their preference much better. The former turned to point to one of the bishops, and then said bishop's head got blown off. Then another one, then a rook.

Chaos among them ensued as they tried to fall into a tight defensive formation. Once all remaining pieces were in position, the figures were no longer there. Only streaks of color on the floor going back the way the rook guard came from remained.

The newly formed unit retreated to the queen's grounds. She was not happy with their report.

If something could even remotely come close to what countless others must have gone through as they turned into witches, Homura would later say this had to be the most similar experience.

Absolute pain exploded from the inside, an unbearable agony spreading through her body. Her senses fire indiscriminately. Seeing ultraviolets and infrareds and then nothing at all. Hearing her own howling on varying frequencies and then none. The taste of an ever-changing sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami coctel. The most delightful fragrances competed against the foulest stenches. It felt like standing over a freezing pyre, or being submerged on a boiling glacier. No way to tell up from down, left from right. Was she free falling or completely static?

Her body was so itchy she just had to scratch that bother away, but it didn't stop. Not as she drew blood all over her arms and face while struggling to move forward through that corridor, marking it as she advanced. Her hands were so busy trying to get rid of this ache she couldn't use them to treat their own, and the blood only made it worse.

"stopitstopitstopitstopitstopit"

Her left hand was trying to pull off part of her cheek as she stopped for a moment to see the right one pulling her hair.

"howdarehowdarehowdarehowdarehowdare"

She forced it to give up its attempt and gravely punished it.

"paypaypaypaypay"

She had no idea it would feel so good. Not only did the itch subside on her right hand, but chomping off its skin, fat and muscle was the most pleasure she had felt in forever. She stared mesmerized at her falanges, pristine white.

"prettyprettyprettyprettypretty"

It was a huge contrast to the abominable appearance of the rest of her. She must correct this.

The skeletal hand worked from the shoulder all the way down to her forearm, ripping off tissue without much trouble, interrupted only by the metal she hadn't noticed until now, but it wouldn't budge, so she left it alone. Biting off her other hand's disgusting cover brought back that elation from before, it numbed all the pain for a moment. This was no small feeling. Exhilarating, wild, fulfilling. Just… incredible.

It was so much easier to get rid of the mask that covered her true face with both hands. This she did slowly, being careful to pick any and all pieces of flesh off her visage. The contact of her fingers against her cheekbones was so smooth, so soothing. Once she was cleansed from the impurities (she couldn't see the rest of her body was still sullied), the pain returned to haunt her. She couldn't let this go on much longer, it was driving her insane. Not that she knew who or what she was to begin with, she had just been reacting to whatever was happening to her.

"stopfeelingstopfeelingstopfeelingstopfeelingstopfeeling"

How can she stop this? How can she stop feeling this insurmountable pain, this hunting dread, this drowning anguish? If only she could detach her mind from all of this…

Detach?

"detachdetachdetachdetachdetach"

Mind?

"mindmindmindmindmind"

Of course! It's so simple!

She brought her fingers into her mouth. Her left hand gripped her jaw, pressing it downwards, while the right one grasped her maxilla and pulled upwards. But it wasn't working. She only had so much strength left in her after all this suffering, her arms were not enough to detach her mind. How sad. The black, muddy tears came out once she realized there was no escape from this hell. She hoped this intolerable torment would end her already.

As she sobbs and writhes in her despondency, something comes up to clean her tears from behind her. She takes both in her hands and they're so soft, so silky, so gentle. She would have cried if she wasn't already.

"helpmehelpmehelpmehelpmehelpme"

The hand-like fabrics move to hold her head, the left one from behind, the right one to her forehead. She couldn't help shuddering at the implication, they will help her gain her release. And so she performs the same movements as before, her new assistants adding the much needed force she didn't have.

Almost there.

Keep pushing. Keep pulling.

It will all be over soon.

"pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease"

She could feel the cracks start to form around her frontal bone, she was so close. She just had to make one final push and then she would be fre–

A sound she had barely given thought halted. The gears stopped spinning. The sands in their reservoirs had their usual magenta hue, the lids shutting off. Magic was no longer poured into the clock mechanism of the shield.

A very human girl collapsed in front of a rather traumatized group of pawns.

Homura woke up in a daze, and the headache was not helping. She can hear whispers and bubbly voices around her. She's on the floor, that's for sure, just like the one she first saw. After taking a glance at the front area, she thinks this place must be some kind of church, if her memory didn't fail.

She tries to move a bit to watch her back, tensing in response to the sting that went through her. But that was enough to notice Midnight laying on the floor a few steps away from her. She let out a sigh of relief at having found her. "At least… At least that is one problem solved."

But there was no time to relax, the familiars heard her and were approaching already. She would have to act now, starting with the small ones jumping up and down. A barrage from the detective's gun and they were gone. The taller creatures moved in zig-zag trying to spread away from the attack.

In the meantime, Homura slithers her way to the unresponsive Midnight. She quickly examines the hero for any injuries, fortunately finding none. "You're alright, you're alright. Good, good." Looking back at the enemy closing in again, she knows there's no way she can carry Midnight and herself all the way back while being chased, especially if she has to deal with this burning affliction.

A look at her soul gem scares her for a second. "How did I deplete over half of it already? I haven't done anything!" This was not an optimal situation. She needed to heal off this overall discomfort but also take both of them into a time stop in order to get away, but also make sure she had enough magic left to actually be. Considering the limited options, she determines that a full restoration is too expensive right now, while the time stop is necessary. And if she can't heal, there's really only one thing left to do.

Pull off a Sayaka.

"I should've asked her how she does this so easily." Homura wondered as the burning sensation abated to a much more manageable level. It was the best that her ability allowed her to numb the pain, not like the complete shutdown that the sword-wielder achieves.

Now, the time stop. She just has to call it out. Just let the magic do its… magic.

Yet she can't bring herself to use it. She's scared, she doesn't know exactly about what but the idea of going into time stop was mortifying, as if she held no control over it at all.

Three bishops decide to finally come forward to strike. She fires at them out of reflex, their shapes crumbling at her feet. The rest of the familiars are now more agitated. She has to risk it.

Still not too sure about it, she musters up the courage to act. "One second, just do it for one second! If something is wrong, it will only last a second. Come on! Do it!"

The commotion happening in front of her paused, no other sound aside from the mechanical turning of the clock. Homura is holding her shield up to her face to verify that everything is working normally. Then it all resumes as expected.

"It worked. It's working. Ok. Alright. Good. Great." Something so small made her truly happy right now, a faint smile meant for no one but herself. "Let's get the hell out of here." She picked Midnight up, throwing her over her shoulder, not really concerned about the hero's comfort right now. And so their journey to the outside began.

As they were leaving the church, Homura saw more familiars approaching. They would definitely cooperate if given the chance to organize, she had to disrupt them enough to guarantee their getaway. Getting close enough to the new group, time continued and she shot down some of the pieces that gathered there, the rest falling into turmoil.

Going into time stop once again, she noticed the streaks on the floor coming from another building in the distance, awfully similar to the ones she had been leaving behind as she walked out of the church. She would follow her own steps back, then.

The moment he woke up, Tsukauchi knew they were in serious trouble. Homura was gone, his gun was missing and the painting that had appeared on the wall also vanished. He wasn't gonna risk it anymore, he called for reinforcements. Ten minutes later, the police were evacuating the mall under the assumption that a criminal had fled a crime scene and was hiding in one of the shops. The detective waited for the special task force to arrive at the corridor where it all happened.

He had no clue what to do aside from the usual procedure. Guard the main area of interest, cover the exits, have people constantly looking around the place for anything that might have changed. Two hours passed since he made the call, and he didn't know for how long he got knocked out. The sun would start setting soon and there were still no signs of either Homura or Midnight.

The team confirmed that the wall they had allegedly gone through was fully solid, it wasn't a sliding door or a hollow block. The other side was also being heavily monitored, catching the attention of the people and the media gathered outside the mall. Tensions were high inside the building, most officers only knew they were looking for a girl and pro hero Midnight, either together or separately.

Tsukauchi was adamant in staying on guard in the corridor, accompanied by a special operative. They were talking to another officer about bringing something for them to eat, when the detective noticed the wall start to morph again into that black and white painting. "WE HAVE SOMETHING! EVERYONE READY!" In a few seconds, the entire unit is in position from all sides, including the group outside, further igniting the suspicions of the crowd. Everyone holds still, waiting for his command.

The seconds pass and nothing else has changed so far, but he remembers Homura had said this portal was invisible except when she interacts with it. Meaning that she has to be trying to cross from the other side, wherever that was supposed to be. "Come on, come on. Come out already…"

Homura comes out of the painting a moment later, Midnight on her arms. She walks a bit further then leans against the side wall of the corridor, slowly bringing themselves down.

"THAT'S THEM! GET THE MEDICS!" Tsukauchi ordered as Homura shifted Midnight into a sitting position. The painting on the wall faded away once more. He was the first one by their side as they waited for the medics to arrive. He could immediately tell how badly injured Homura was at first glance. "Homura… What happened there?"

Her answer was barely above a whisper. "She's alright… she will be ok…"

A look at Midnight and, indeed, she seemed fine overall. Nowhere near as battered as the girl. He takes her hand trying to reassure their safety. "Yes, Homura, it's alright. You're both back to us, you're safe now, don't worry." With the medics preparing for first aid and bringing the stretchers out, he asks again. "Homura, what happened to you?"

She looks at him through half-lidded eyes, trying to gather herself and answer. "I-I… I don't…" In doing so, it all comes back to her, and she's finally able to process what happened. The tears accumulate on her eyes until she can't see him anymore and they start running down her face. A shaky, weak voice from long time ago is all the speech that comes out. "I don't… I don't want to talk about it, please… I don't…" 

She doesn't care what anyone thinks about her right now.

She just wants to cry.

And so she cries.

Chapter Text

The first time she regained consciousness didn't last long. Blinding lights flash in front of her eyes, loud voices direct commands at each other. While trying to focus on what they're saying, she feels a pressure on her forehead. She can somewhat distinguish the silhouette of a very short person at her side. Then she's out of it again.

Next time, there's no lights or screams assaulting her senses. The one light in the ceiling is rather dim, and the room is silent aside from the constant beeping from the machine to her right. "The hospital. Again."

Homura tries to remove her blankets but finds herself incredibly weak, so much so that just freeing her arms was a challenge. She's absolutely drained after that minimal effort and can't help but worry, even if she feels alright beyond the tiredness. Without much else to do to get answers, she slowly detaches the electrodes from her body. A nurse rushes in a bit a few seconds after the beeping flat-lines. The color quickly comes back to the girl's face once she sees Homura awake. Putting back the electrodes and doing a superficial check-up of her, the nurse leaves to notify her doctor.

She did not expect the entourage that walked in after Recovery Girl, who she guesses was conveniently appointed as her doctor. The youthful hero is the first one to speak up, naturally. "Good morning, dear. Glad to see you already back with us. I feared I might have knocked you out for much longer! Tell me, how are you feeling?"

Aside from the old lady and two nurses, the few other people she's met so far are there, too. Detective Tsukauchi couldn't look more exhausted, principal Nezu wasn't as joyous as in their meeting, and… Midnight seemed fine, though a little lost in contemplation. She focuses on Recovery Girl again. "Very tired. Abnormally so. I can barely move."

"Well that's perfectly understandable, it's a side effect of my quirk. It redirects your stamina into healing, so yes, you're going to feel like that for a bit longer. It should only be a few more hours now. If you're hungry before that, these young ladies here will help you out."

The two of them do a small bow towards Homura, but she is quick to reject the notion of being taken care of to that extent. "There's no need, I will manage later on my own."

There's an awkward silence for a few moments before Tsukauchi intervenes. "If you don't mind, Recovery Girl, we would like to speak with Homura privately." At his request, the woman signals the nurses to follow her outside. Midnight closes the door once they're gone.

"How long have I been out?" Homura asked the detective.

"Over twelve hours since we asked Recovery Girl to intervene, but you have been on and off since the time you and Midnight returned."

She nods before looking in Midnight's direction. "Are you OK?"

The hero shrugs her response, looking anywhere but at her. "Yes, yes… I'm… fine. And… thank you, for what you did."

"It was nothing."

Tsukauchi continues before those two make things more awkward. "We closed off the entire mall, no one goes in until we figure out a way to neutralize whatever it was that took Midnight. For that reason, I need you to tell us everything you know about what happened, Homura. That way we can–"

"Don't bother with the mall. It's no longer hiding there."

The detective throws her an inquisitive look after a moment. "Why do you think that?"

"Would you stay where you have already been found? Trust me, it escaped as soon as I wasn't around."

He takes a minute to reconsider what to do now that they've lost it. "Alright, then. We'll check the adjacent areas and ask if anyone noticed anything out of the ordinary. People acting up, like you told us before. In the meantime, there's something else we have to discuss." Another pause, this time to look back at the principal for confirmation. "As a sign of appreciation for your invaluable help this time, the police commissioner and the school staff suggested that you should be granted a favor. If we can make it happen, of course."

"A favor? Seriously? After just saving one person? Now you are all coming off as rather impressionable people. Although…" Homura ponders, then finds Nezu nodding at her, a clear sign for her to take up the offer. "I had to go through quite the trouble on this occasion, if I'm being honest. Maybe they will feel more compelled to agree now."

"I already told you what I want." She says while straightening some of the tips of her hair that tried to braid themselves back during her sleep.

Silence settles in, no one else really seems to catch on, until it finally dawns on Tsukauchi. "No. You know I can't just let–"

"If I may, detective." At last, principal Nezu interjects, understanding the severity of the situation. "Considering what has happened these last few days, and given that another abduction could happen anytime soon, I believe it's our best interest to trust Akemi-san on this. I'm sure that we will reach an agreement we can all be satisfied with."

Seeing that he's now being cornered on two fronts (three, if the commissioner doesn't retract their promise of a favor), Tsukauchi relents with a defeated sigh. "State your request, then."

Homura has to make an effort to hold back a smirk threatening to come out. "Unrestricted access to the armories."

They're locked looking back at each other for what might have been a whole minute before he breaks away, standing up from his seat. "I'll present your request to the commissioner for it to be taken into consideration."

"Thank you."

"We'll have to discuss more details about this later. For now, rest. The effect of Recovery Girl's quirk should fade in a few more hours. I'll come to pick you up once she clears you of any trouble."

Nezu joins the detective at the door before bidding his farewell. "We'll talk to you later, then. Have a good rest, Akemi-san." Midnight follows suit quietly, having recused herself from commenting when not spoken to directly.

So she was surprised when Homura called for her. "Midnight? Can we have a word?"

The principal made no attempt to look back for her as he kept on walking alongside Tsukauchi. She taps her fingers in the door frame for a moment, considering if she really wants to talk right to her. As bothersome as the girl might be, she also happened to save her from something Midnight didn't even get a chance to defend from. "What is it?"

"...I'm not really the one who needs to hear that…"

It keeps on repeating in Homura's mind as she tries to formulate something with the semblance of an apology. "I… I just wanted to say… I would like to apologize for how I behaved yesterday. And for… for calling you 'bait'. I wasn't… thinking clearly… it came out of nowhere… I didn't… mean that, it just–" She cuts herself off, lest she start to circle around the subject, devolving then into a final, concise statement. "I'm sorry."

Noting the nervousness that came from trying to force out those words, Midnight remembers something she told Tsukauchi in her own moment of exasperation.

"...That brat really needs to learn some social skills…"

And judging by the fact that she has only interacted with adults for all they know, there might be some truth behind that spiteful idea. So for now, she will cut Homura some slack. "Duly noted, kid. Don't fret over it." She says with a not so prominent smile that hopefully portrayed they were even, before leaving her to continue resting unperturbed.

Midnight finds the detective at the reception area and the principal gone by the time she comes out of the room. He had noticed her delay once Nezu departed. "Everything alright?" 

"Yeah. It's nothing."

"Well, I have to get back to the station. Gotta recall the agents from the mall and start preparing to look around for that thing. Need a ride home?"

"Thanks." As they walk together back to his car, a thought comes to mind. "Actually, if you're letting it open up again, can you drop me at the mall?"

It took until past lunchtime for Homura to be able to move around the room freely. Recovery Girl and her assistants even put her through various exercises to verify her condition, which once again suggested that nothing had happened the previous day. Given the positive results, she would be discharged once detective Tsukauchi returns.

She is left alone with her thoughts in the meantime. "I should replenish the magic I lost yesterday inside the witch's maze, but…" Homura holds Charlotte's grief seed on one hand and her soul gem on the other, observing both orbs with a stern, contemplative gaze. "What happened there? I try to remember how I used so much magic but it just won't come to me. All I get is a feeling, like I'm suffocating on something. Poisoned, even."

The grief seed so far looks good. Meaning, unlike after her forceful attempt to use it while at its limit, it's not threatening to combust into the witch at any second. Her soul gem has clearly seen better days, the first few days after contracting that is, but for now it's not nearly as bad as it has gotten to before. "I say this gives me… four days. Five, at best. With minimal usage."

A good enough time frame for her to go out and find the witch that escaped from the mall or to detect another one in the area. Not only because the threat those represent has to be dealt with, but also due to her new suspicion of what might have affected her in the labyrinth. "I don't think I can use this grief seed anymore. Maybe this is part of the reason why the incubators insist on us handing over used grief seeds. Doing what I did might create problems when using our magic later on."

The minutes pass as Homura mulls over her options. "Restore again now, risk further trouble later? Or restrict myself and hope I can get another grief seed in the next few days…" Nonetheless, Tsukauchi arrives and it's time to leave the hospital.

She decides to minimize potential problems that might interfere with her performance at a critical moment. The possibility that Madoka, Mami, Sayaka and Kyouko show up while she's compromised is also not a very appealing prospect. That seals her choice.

They talked briefly on the road. His only comments were for reminding her of what the schedule was like tomorrow morning, starting with her accommodation in the school dorms. "Principal Nezu also mentioned that he would like to introduce you to your classmates after you set everything up in your room. Then, a proper tour of the school grounds so you know your way around."

He escorts Homura to Midnight's door while sharing some other details about her incorporation to the U.A. "You formally join the class on Tuesday, Midnight already got you the school supplies you'll need. You should go over the curriculum tonight and tell her if you need help with some of the subjects. I'm sure they'll figure something out." Once the hero comes to the door, Homura thanks him for the transport while the other two talk for a bit longer. Eventually, the detective returns to his car, heading back to the station.

Homura found the bed she's currently occupying overrun with books, school uniforms, a blue tracksuit, a backpack. There was even a phone on the nightstand. "They were not joking about getting everything I could possibly need." And she still had to go through several bags of clothes as well. Picking some of those to try them on, she was a bit surprised that it all fit her perfectly, without ever telling anyone what size she is.

"Midnight, you better have an explanation for this."

Chapter Text

Having stopped in front of one of the many identical buildings, Homura wonders out loud. "How can you afford housing all students in a residence like this for each class?"

"Sponsors. Being the best hero school in the country, and one of the best in the world… it has its privileges, you know." Midnight says as she comes out of the taxi, also admiring the hard work that must have gone into getting all the dorms ready in a matter of days, and in such a short notice. She gestures to Homura to follow her. "Come on, let's get you settled in."

Being so used to her former apartment's confort, this will certainly be a change of setting for her. Whether it will be good or bad depends on who her neighbors are, she thinks. Homura has never been the type to go out of her way to interact with people living on the other side of the wall, she barely saw them. They were all adults who left earlier for work than she did for school, and came back late at night while she was still going around the city. 

"Welcome to 1A's dorm house." Midnight says as she opens one of the double doors, revealing the common area of the first floor. "Down here you'll find the laundry and bath rooms. There's also the kitchens over that way. You have tables, couches and TV. It's a nice space to hang out, honestly, I'm kinda jealous." That last joke didn't seem to land on Homura, who just looked over the area registering where everything was. "Alright. The boys' rooms are that way and the girls' over here. Let's show you your room."

They walk up the stairs of the right wing, going past the second and third floor. Going into the corridor, Midnight stops at the fourth floor's second room. Homura registers the name on the first door after a quick glance. "Uraraka."

Midnight brings out a key and opens the room, signaling Homura to go in. The hero further explains some details while she slowly checks the place. "You don't mind the lack of decorations, do you? It's not like you could have given us much to add to it, so it just has the usual furniture: bed, desk, closet, drawers. There's air conditioning, a fridge if you want to keep some food here instead of going all the way down just for a snack. Everyone else brought their own computer, so consider this one a bonus. That other door is the toilet and you also have a balcony." Midnight expected Homura to actually show some excitement about this, but she got none of that. "So… what do you think?"

"What do I think? I would've been fine with a futon and nothing else. This room alone is almost the equivalent of an entire house. And all the other rooms are like this? On this building, and the ones for other classes? What kind of sponsors does this school have?" And so on and so forth did her mind wonder about the U.A.'s status and resources, before coming up with a more restrained answer to the question. "It's certainly more than I expected, I'm impressed."

"That's impressed? I beg to differ." Midnight thinks to herself, trying not to yet saying it all the same. "You really gotta work on your expressions, Homura." She shuffles around her purse before continuing. "But anyway, here's the key to your room and a key to the main door. I'll be downstairs, come down when you're ready and I'll take you to your homeroom. Principal Nezu will meet us there."

"Very well. Thank you." With the hero gone, Homura could roam around the room freely, inspecting every nook and cranny to familiarize herself with this space that's supposed to be hers now. Once done with that, she comes up with a verdict. "Very accommodating, indeed. Perhaps too much so for mere students… Then again, Mami practically lived in a penthouse on her own."

Given that she will be meeting principal Nezu and her new classmates, Homura figures she should change into the school uniform, even if she won't be staying for lessons today. She can't help but compare the new to the old. Still a white shirt, underneath a gray jacket with blue-green stripes instead of a cream blouse with red lining. The skirt is dark blue-green pleated, not a checkered pattern, goes well with her usual style of thigh-high black socks. A tie in lieu of a ribbon, still red, though. 

"Let's do this."

Nezu was in fact waiting for their arrival at the entrance to the main school building. He waves happily once they're at hearing distance. "Akemi-san! I'm glad to see you are doing well today! Did the room win your seal of approval or is there something missing?"

"I think it has everything I could ever need and more. Thank you for going out of your way to accommodate me, principal." She might as well start showing proper respect to people in accordance to their position if she's adhering to the student façade.

"Oh that's very nice to hear! I know there wasn't much in the way of decorations, so if you do feel like adding a more personal touch to your room, make sure to tell your homeroom teacher about it so we can see to it." The idea of following similar patterns as to how other girls had decorated their own rooms had been suggested, but got ultimately rejected as it could have come off rather imposing on what's supposed to be a private space. Nezu begins to walk in the classrooms' direction. "And speaking of your homeroom, shall we go there now?"

After a short walk around the building, the principal expectantly waited at the classroom door for the Eraser Hero, Aizawa Shouta, to finish his current explanation to the students before asking for a moment of their time. "Good day, everyone! Please excuse me for interrupting your lesson so suddenly. I came here today to make an important announcement!" The room filled with the mutterings and gossip about what could warrant a special visit from Nezu to Class 1A instead of a notice for all the school or even grade.

"You were all part of the incident at the U.S.J. last week. You have all heard what the media has been saying about this institution's capability to take care of its alumni. So, let me reassure you that our security protocols are being further refined so that a breach like that never takes place again. You will likely notice some changes in due time… Or not! The point is for our protection systems to remain secret, after all! We expect them not to be a nuisance at all for your activities while on campus."

"And if you do find something that seems suspiciously out of place, you must notify a teacher immediately so that it can be looked into at once. Do not try to investigate it yourselves." Eraserhead adds from inside his sleeping bag, having jumped into it once Nezu started talking.

"Yes, that's good advice you should all keep in mind." The sound of snapping fingers makes the principal look outside to find Midnight gesturing to Homura, still hidden behind the wall. "Now, that was only half the reason I'm here today. I also have to explain to you something else that happened back at the U.S.J. In a rather desperate attempt to show their resolve and ultimately to prevent capture, a few remaining villains had brought with them a girl as a hostage. They had already beaten her up quite a lot when we found them, she needed immediate assistance, so we were forced to let them escape through another one of those portals in exchange for the girl. She was taken to the hospital and has since made a successful recovery."

Nezu notices how the Midoriya boy seemed to wind down on his seat after saying that. "I'm sorry we couldn't say anything until now, I hope you can understand."

Iida Tenya stood up. "Thank you for sharing this with us, principal. I figure the point you are trying to convey is that there will be situations in which difficult choices must be made, and that we should prioritize protecting the innocent when such circumstances arise."

Bakugou Katsuki's comment didn't fail to show up. "If I was there, I would've blown them away before they could even make any threats."

"Missing the point, as usual. I for one am glad she was properly looked after and wish her well. It must have been a traumatic experience to go through." Yaoyorozu Momo added from the back of the class.

The principal carries on. "You draw a very important conclusion from this, Tenya. Thank you for sharing it with the class. And thank you for your kind words, Miss Yaoyorozu. However, I'm not telling you this because of the reason young Tenya remarked." Their expressions shift from the reassurance given before to a tilting wonder of what else could there be to all this. "As of now, she can't recall much of anything prior to the incident, and we've got no way to contact anyone that might recognize her, so we've been taking care of her ever since. Nonetheless, while recuperating at the hospital, the quirk exams showed she is quite special! Likely the reason she survived in capture, however long she had been taken for."

Most of the students didn't know how to feel about what he was telling them, clearly expressed through their silence. Likewise, Eraserhead had given up trying to follow the principal's rambling. Another glance back at the door and there Midnight was mute shouting at him to 'CUT. TO. THE. POINT.' already. Even Homura, not really hiding anymore, looked somewhat bored of waiting for her introduction just outside the classroom.

Nezu readjusts his stance as if to mark the end of his retelling. "As to not waste any more of your time, allow me to introduce you all to our newest student! Akemi-san, you can come in."

"Can't believe I still feel somewhat nervous about this. It's just another introduction, like all the others before." Taking a deep breath to steel herself, Homura enters the classroom, standing front and center. She starts with a small bow. "Good morning, I am Akemi Homura. I'm very pleased to meet–"

She's stopped by an unexpected feeling, a slight tug from her ring. It's a faint sensation that forces her to rapidly look around the room for the culprit. "This is… a potential. No, wait, is that… Two? No… There's three." Recomposing before anyone can point out her hesitation, Homura finishes the sentence she let hang up. "To meet you all."

There were none of the cheers and vitors present at any of her successful iterations of this activity. Now she's being met only by confounded faces. She can tell despite the distance that the green haired boy at the back is looking back and forth incredulously between her and Nezu.

Several students shouted in unison. "WHAT?!"

On her right, Eraserhead quickly pops out of his sleeping bag. "Mr. Principal, I wasn't informed we would be having any guests in the class today, let alone that a new student would be joining in this late. Can I ask for an explanation?"

"Well, as I've said already, Akemi-san here has demonstrated to have innate talent we at the school council have deemed adequate for the heroics class, and therefore she has been accepted into the program under special admission." Nezu clarified (lied) with a proud smile on his face. His justification was a little out there in regards to proper procedure, especially since the school council had no idea about this, only the teachers present the day they met Homura knew so far. Then again, for just one student, who would seriously go against him?

Eraserhead, of course! "So she hasn't been tested the same way all other students were in order to get into this school? She was just 'deemed adequate' by bureaucrats? If so, then why do we even make public entrance exams when someone can just get in with the right contacts?"

"He's really against what my presence here might imply, isn't he?" It's what crossed Homura's mind.

But Nezu still stands his ground. "It might look that way to some people, but her acceptance is actually quite similar to that of recommended students who, as you pointed out, come to our attention because certain individuals or institutions talk to us about their prowess."

A few seconds of consideration and the teacher is somewhat capable of accepting the principal's logic. "I still wasn't notified about it."

"Because I wanted it to be a surprise for all of Class 1A! That includes you!" Nezu cheers on, getting a laugh out of some of the students.

"You'll have to excuse my reluctance and skepticism, Mr. Principal. But recommended students still take an entrance test, even if it's not the same as the one the majority do." Erasehead approaches Homura as he lays down what they will do to settle this matter. "So at the very least, she will go through the Quirk Apprehension Test, just like everyone here did on the first day. Only one exception. If Akemi is as good as you make her up to be, Mr. Principal, then she will definitely get similar scores to Yaoyorozu and Todoroki, the recommended students of this class. Otherwise, I exercise my authority to expel her from my class."

A loud gasp escaped the audience of Class 1A as they were brought back to that day Erasehead had threatened them all with the expulsion from the Hero course of whoever would inevitably end up last on those rankings. Even after he revealed it had been an 'encouraging deception', the nervous sweat they all collectively felt down their spine had been no joke.

For her part, Homura remained silent as she observed the scruffy looking man that's supposed to be their teacher. Attentive to the fact that she's now expected to outperform most of the class and match those she guesses are considered the top students around here. Without any idea of what this test entails, and under threat of being expelled, which apparently is something teachers can also do now. Certainly not the best position to be thrown into right out the gate. 

"On the P.E. field in 20 minutes. Be ready, Akemi. Everyone else, dismissed." Eraserhead says as he leaves the classroom, not even acknowledging Midnight's presence.

She would then loudly exclaim from the doorframe at him in the most sarcastic way she could portray. "Well HELLO to you, too, Shouta! How welcoming of you!" Now turning back to Nezu and Homura, the exalted tone still in her voice. "So that was something, wasn't it?"

Chapter Text

Given the short time Eraserhead gave Homura to prepare, Midnight considered it would be better to borrow a uniform from one of the girls in the class. "Alright, before anyone leaves! Quick! I need one of you girls to lend Akemi your P.E. clothes and show her to the changing room. Who said 'me'?"

For a few seconds, no one rose up to the task. Then Uraraka Ochaco spoke while she looked for the uniform in her bag. "I-I can do it, professor!"

"Then go, go, go! You have 19 minutes now!" Midnight waves, telling them to hurry it up. With those two gone, she speaks to the rest of the class. "Eraserhead dismissed you all, but I know you're all gonna be there watching anyway. She just got here, so don't overwhelm her with questions. Now scram."

Most of the class rushed to gather their stuff and leave for the field, speculating over who this new girl was, what she could do, and the unusual way she'd be joining them.

With the classroom now empty, Izuku dares to ask Nezu the question that's been on his mind this entire time. "Excuse me, Mr. Principal, is that really her? The girl from the U.S.J.?"

"That is indeed her. I told you she would be fine, didn't I?"

"Yes but… Is it safe to bring her back to the school after what happened?"

"As it stands, she is under the school's protection. There actually is no better place for her, but you don't have to worry about such things, Midoriya. As I said, we'll look after her. Now follow your classmates, you wouldn't want to miss out, right?" Nezu says as he leaves with Midnight in tow.

"You shouldn't worry that much about getting expelled. He said the same thing to us and we all made it pass the test." Ochaco tries to make small talk while Homura changes clothes in a stall. "Asking you to do just as well as Yaoyorozu and Todoroki is just to put some pressure on you. To motivate you… to do your best? Probably? Haha…" 

"Do you happen to know what they scored?" Homura asked from behind the door.

"I-I remember they were first and second place once the test was over. I don't know what results they got on every exercise, but they were the best overall, as expected. Recommended students and all that."

"I see. Is there anything in particular you consider worth keeping in mind for the test?"

"Well, you're supposed to use your quirk so you perform better. Take me for example! I got an 'infinite' result in one of the exercises because the ball went up so high, it got out of range. I was really lucky for that one, it's probably why I got 10th place. I didn't do as well on other things."

"What is it that you do? If I may ask."

"Sure! My quirk can remove the gravity of solid things when I touch them."

"That's… interesting." Homura says as she comes out of the stall. "Thank you for lending me your uniform. I would have brought mine had I known this was going to happen."

"It's no problem." Ochaco smiles for a bit. It fades once she notices Homura is staring. "So… are you ready?"

"Yes. Please, lead the way."

"L-Let's go, then." But as they go for the door, Ochaco makes a remark. "You sure you don't want to take your ring off?"

"No."

Ochaco doesn't insist and they move out to the field. Homura considers what she's learned so far. "After being alone with her for some time, it's clear she's one of the potentials I felt. It's very faint, but it's there. She seems friendly enough, not too overbearing, fortunately. And her room is the one next to mine, that will make things easier."

The entire class was already on the sideline while Eraserhead stood at the first station of the test. "Good, you're three minutes early. I'll give you a rundown of the test. It's just like the one in P.E. class, but here you're free to use your quirk in any way you consider it can help you complete each exercise better than without using it"

"First it's the 50-meter dash, clear it as fast as you can. Then we go to the standing long jump, you make it as far as you can. Third, a ball throw, self-explanatory. After that, sidesteps over three lines, as many as you can in one minute. Then there's a distance run around the field, as fast as you can as well. For the remaining exercises, we go to the gym, you'll do sit-ups, seated toe-touches and finally a grip strength. Did you catch all that?"

Homura notices Midnight and Nezu arrive on the field. "May I ask a question to the principal and professor Midnight?" She looks around the area, corroborating that she had not missed anything else.

"Make it quick."

She approached them in haste, keeping her voice down so the prying ears of the students wouldn't catch her question. "Is this really the whole thing? Minor physical tests?"

"Well what did you expect?" Midnight answered, getting a feeling that perhaps Shota shouldn't have asked her to do this.

"Something more…" Homura struggles to find an appropriate word for what she was picturing in her head before coming face to face with a much more disappointing reality.

"...More…?"

She gives up. "Something more. I see I was getting worked up over nothing." Homura returns to the first station.

Watching her leave, Nezu speaks out loud, letting some students wonder what he means. "You think we should tell her to be mindful of how she uses her ability, professor?"

"Don't humble him too much, Homura." She let out with a reluctant smile. 

Eraserhead asks Homura as she reaches the starting line for the dash. "Are you ready to begin now?"

"Yes."

"Very well." He goes over the notes he managed to procure from the registry about her, as vague and incomplete as they are. "You don't have middle school records about this test, so we don't have a baseline for you to review later on. Still, do your best."

"Of course."

A couple seconds and the robot assistant gives the instruction. "Ready!"

Homura gets into position.

"Set!"

A violet flash.

"Go! Done!"

She's at the finish line.

"Time! 0.78 seconds!"

"Goddammit." Midnight face-palms.

"Ready! Set! Go!"

With her own clock now ticking, Homura stands up from the running position and comes close to the teacher. She examines the information currently on display in the pad he's holding. At the top, there are some of the details she shared with Recovery Girl days ago. "He was already expecting to see some kind of enhancement then. Let's see how much I should push this." A list shows the results from this specific test, from best to worst. "Iida Tenya. Engine. 3.04 seconds. That's around… 60 kilometers per hour, interesting."

She goes back to the immobile crowd behind her to try to identify this student. "Engine… engine… en–" She notices the protrusions one of the boys has on his calves. "Hhmm, mufflers."

Quickly checking the other students, most are actually focused on what's going on. At least, what's supposed to be going on for them. Uraraka and another girl with pink skin seem rather excited about the whole thing. Unlike that spiky blond hair guy leaning against the wall, who looks very much annoyed to even be here at all. 

Going back to the task at hand, Homura considers her options. "I could just run live and let them see, it would be easy to match a four second mark. Then again, you're supposed to use quirks for your advantage, right? And outrageous results are not uncommon, apparently, if someone as normal-looking as Uraraka can go off scale in the right circumstances. Also… they do insist on doing our best, so…"

She stands right before the finish line and finds the chronometer currently at 0.26 seconds. "Just… don't ask me too many questions." She positions herself to make it so once the hold on time is released, she will be crossing the line.

And so the world resumes.

"Done! Time! 0.78 seconds!" Announced the assistant. Everyone's faces recoiled at the notion that Homura completed the dash in less than a second. The collective reaction of her classmates-to-be was simple but very adequate.

"EEEEEHHH?!"

"How? She was on the starting line, right? You all saw her there, right?"

"Wait, what happened? I blinked!"

"That's incredible! I didn't even see her start running and she was already on the other side!"

"I just saw a flash and it was over!"

"Didn't she just walk out of the hospital?"

"If the principal is vouching for her, then it should be no surprise that she can do something this unexpected."

"Great, another fast extra."

"Forget that! What is she wearing?"

Eraserhead shouts back at the crowd. "Silence! Or I'll kick you out." As the group slowly calms down, he sees Homura is waiting for the next instruction. He goes over the notes quickly again. "Enhanced speed and reflexes, correct?"

"Yes, professor."

"Next station, then."

The following exercises were as much of a joke to her as they had been described previously. A standing long jump is nothing when you can go from one rooftop to another across the streets, not to mention the initial jump from ground to rooftop. A bit of redirection of magic into an arm and sending a ball to the kilometer mark is no trouble. The sidesteps were such a trivial task that keeping the transformation up any longer would be a total waste, not even for the run around the field. That was even more glaringly obvious when it came to indoor exercises, none of them really worth mentioning besides the grip strength test. She settled for a grip strength of 227 kg, a little bit less than half of the class record.

A few minutes later, Eraserhead finished tabulating the results and his own personal notes on the new registry. He announces for everyone to hear, specially the principal still observing the end of the test. "As I said earlier, Akemi must score very similar to our already accepted recommended students, or she's out. Here's the final ranking including her."

The hologram displayed from the pad shows the same image that Class 1A saw on the first day after taking the examination. To everyone's surprise, the first two positions didn't change. Yaoyorozu Momo and Todoroki Shouto were still first and second place, respectively. From there on, everyone else got demoted one rank, as Akemi Homura claimed third place.

The onlookers' reaction wasn't delayed for long. Though not as loud as before, everyone wondered how the performance they had just seen didn't automatically spell first position. A question Homura was silently asking herself. Then Eraserhead put it out for the class to debate. "Can anyone tell me why the ranking is this way?"

Hand high up in the air, Iida asks for permission to speak. "Sir, I believe it has to do with the fact that Akemi turned off her quirk after completing only a portion of the test and didn't use it again."

"She could have done more…?" Uraraka says more as an afterthought than a serious answer.

"She didn't try to find a way to make half the exercises easier, even if just a little." Yaoyorozu declares.

The professor takes charge again, now addressing Homura directly. "They're all correct. Even if your quirk doesn't exactly fit a certain test very well, you could at the very least make the effort to check if it can be used somehow, not disregard it outright. That's what cost you first place, because if you can produce some of these results without help from your quirk, then using it would no doubt yield even better ones, however slightly. But that chance is gone now."

That last sentence filled the atmosphere with dread, as the implication dawned on the audience. The warning he had issued would become true now. He's actually going to expel a student that showed promise on the first day!

Once the silence weighed too much over their shoulders, Homura moved to speak at last, still composed and not at all panicking as was to be expected of the situation. "Then I will keep that advice in mind next time."

Eraserhead stares off at her for a painfully long moment, before he cuts back to the class still lingering around them. "Didn't I say you were all dismissed? Be on time tomorrow." Without another word, he leaves the building. After a few seconds pass with no sign of him coming back, the crowd comes crashing down upon Homura with a myriad of questions about her and her abilities that she has to gracefully dodge by not giving too many specifics.

"Can you move that fast all the time?"

"No."

"Are you so strong all the time?"

"No."

"Are you really feeling better after what happened at the U.S.J.?"

"Yes, please don't ask me about it."

"Your quirk already gives you a cool costume? That's so cool!" 

"Thank you."

"Why did you not use your quirk more?"

"It's not that useful for this."

"What's the thing on your arm?" 

"Protection."

"If you sit next to me I can help you with–"

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!" The concerned girls shouted.

Once Midnight intervened, saying they still had to go somewhere else today, the group stopped its incessant questioning and let her be. Changing back into her own clothes, Homura took the opportunity to reaffirm somewhat of a bond with Uraraka, sharing with her the fact that they will be neighbors.

"Not so much trouble, all things considered. For the most part, still a typical first day at school."

Chapter Text

After coming out of the locker rooms, Midnight explained what they would be doing next. "I wasn't kidding about taking you somewhere else, by the way. Tsukauchi called me. He needs you at the station, he didn't say why, just to go there once you are done here."

"Again? This better be worth it, not more paperwork." Homura couldn't help but feel annoyed by hanging around the hospital and the police so much these past few days. "Then let's not waste any more time."

As the taxi Midnight called for them drove through the city, she tried to get a read on how Homura took her introduction to the class. The girl didn't seem the type, but it was better to make sure she wouldn't try to stir up drama with her sudden inclusion and all that. At least, not on her own. "So, any thoughts about today? More specifically, your classmates?"

"I can't say. I don't pay much attention to other people. They're rather… excitable, from what I could tell."

"Oh I know what you're saying. Yes, they're pretty excited about being part of the Hero Course. I don't know how they've managed to keep the high spirits after the attack last week, but I'm glad it hasn't diminished their drive. If anything, that experience will help them in the future."

"Is something like what happened common?"

"Not in recent times. It's been years since so many villains have organized in such a way. And to go after All Might out of all people? They were doomed to fail from the start."

"Hhmm. If what I've read so far is true, people see him as a hero too big to fail. That is not good. People become desperate when the supposed pillar of fortitude they put their trust on suddenly collapses." Homura had seen it happen to both Madoka and Sayaka after several instances of Mami's untimely demise, even if the scale of that is not the same as it would be for this whole society.

Noticing that they went off topic, Midnight quickly brings them back. "But anyway! I remember you told Uraraka that you're neighbors now. That's a good way to get acquainted with someone, maybe with some of her friends even."

"Maybe."

"Another dry answer. Come on, kid, give me something to work with!" Midnight considers for a while what she could possibly get Homura to talk about where meeting the class was concerned.

She lands on a subject she's confident not even the most stoic girl can escape, saying it in her enticing, playful tone. "And what about the boys, huh? Any in particular that comes to mind?" 

"What do you mean?"

A side eye response is not what Midnight expected. The implication was pretty clear, in her opinion. She keeps up the sing-song speech. "Oh, you know what I mean. I keep up with the gossip of our heroines-in-training, so let me tell you, there's at least three big shots in Class 1A."

It suddenly dawns on Homura. "Well, like I said, I didn't pay much attention to them, and I certainly don't–" She turns away from the conversation, focusing on the passing road signs that suddenly seem very interesting. "Contemplate boys like others do." 

"Alright, sorry about that." Even through that dismissal, it's clear to Midnight that the idea got Homura flustered, even if just a bit. A little tease won't hurt, right? 

And so she says once again in that playful voice. "Well if that's not up your alley, there's also a couple big shots on our side, if you catch my–"

"I'm not acknowledging this conversation anymore."

"That's not a denial."

"I don't care what you think."

An invisible wall formed between them, the conversation cut off now. "Alright, maybe that wasn't the best idea. Something to keep in mind, though."

The remaining time is spent in awkward silence, only broken after coming out of the vehicle and going into the busy atmosphere of the police station. A few minutes later, the detective comes out of his office and rushes to meet them. "Midnight, Homura, good afternoon. Tell me, how did it go?"

With unexpected coordination, they both cross their arms, resting their weight on opposite feet. Mirroring each other, they speak in unison. "It could have gone better." The weird coincidence is reflected on their faces, they quickly move around to shake off the feeling, unintendedly having the same reaction.

"I'll be fine." Homura says, trying to keep her focus on the detective now, who couldn't keep a chuckle from escaping him after that little scene.

"Well that's good to hear. Now, please follow me."

After going past Tsukauchi's office, she asks about the purpose of this meeting. "I thought we had already gone over the paperwork. Did we miss something?"

"No, but since you insist on your outrageous request…" He stops in front of a door larger than all others so far, and knocks on it four times.

"Come in." A booming voice answered from the other side. Once inside the office, Homura is greeted by the imposing sight of a tall man in a formal suit looking out the window, a sight that turns bizarre once he turns around, revealing his dog-quirked face.

The detective does the presentations for them. "Homura, this is Tsuragamae Kenji, Chief of the Police Force. Sir, this is Akemi Homura, the special case I've been working on these past few days."

Once she gives a respectful bow before approaching, the Chief moves to take a seat at his desk. "It's good to see you're doing well, Akemi, just like Tsukauchi reported. I couldn't believe it myself at first, just like I didn't believe it when he told me that a substantial amount of the police armory had somehow found its way to you. Fortunately, only a few people noticed and the issue has been resolved without further trouble."

"Calm down. Just say you're sorry and move on." Homura thinks, noticing that Tsukauchi and Midnight are looking straight at her, probably hoping she doesn't say anything to upset the Chief. "If it's worth anything at this point, I offer my apologies for the inconvenience that might have caused you."

He doesn't move an inch from behind the desk, resting his face on his hands while keeping his attention completely on her. "Apology accepted. However, even after Tsukauchi stood up for you when I asked him, I must hear it from you. Would you care to explain why you felt the need to break into the armory and take with you highly dangerous equipment for a civilian? Especially a young girl like you coming out of rehabilitation."

Homura agrees to give the Chief a quick rundown of her 'situation', just like she did before to the two bystanders in the room, who corroborate her story to the extent that they know of it. She recounts the event that involved Midnight a few days ago, how having access to the weapons would have made that incursion much more efficient, and emphasizing the fact that closing off the entire mall the way they did only brought more attention to something that can be handled expeditiously.

The Chief moves to sift through several papers on his desk while he speaks. "I am aware of all that you mention. Nonetheless, I think you can understand that we cannot allow civilians to go freely around the city with an entire arsenal on them."

"And I already explained that I will just grab it and be gone if need be." The idea of just taking every single gun in this building and escaping seems more appealing to Homura every time she gets that same response.

"On the other hand, I'm told you had your first day of Hero School today. In that regard, it's not uncommon for all sorts of heroes to use guns as their equipment. Dully registered and trained on their usage, of course." He grabs another document and quickly goes over it again before continuing. "You have not applied to be allowed to use any kind of equipment as a trainee. You should get to that sometime later."

The suggestion that she can ask for permission to use equipment comes out of nowhere for Homura, but before she can question why he's bringing it up now, the Chief puts another document in front of her.

"This is how things stand right now. Tsukauchi tells me you want to have access to the armories, and to be able to take whatever you need at any time. He also says that you previously showed you can handle handguns pretty well. Plus, there's no denying of your help in rescuing Midnight. Based on these extraordinary circumstances, I'm willing to give you a chance to earn the privilege you asked for in your favor."

After a couple seconds, Midnight is the one to react first. "Excuse me. WHAT?!"

Followed by Homura's quiet confusion. "I do not follow. What is this?"

Tsukauchi moves to her side while explaining the agreement they came up with. "It's alright, Midnight. After discussing it with Chief Tsuragamae, we concluded that despite our previous disagreements with her, considering everything that has happened, and given that Homura is adamant about her request… We will at least give her a chance to prove herself."

Homura quickly looks back between the detective and the Chief, not sure whether to believe that or not. "Is that true?"

The Chief reaches over the desk to push the document towards her. "First of all, a test. In that document, mark all the weapon types you would like to take a test on. We have already contacted the hero Snipe to help us in administering the tests, given that he's a professor at U.A., I consider him appropriate for this."

Taking a moment to read the entire inventory cataloged in that document, Homura has only one question. "Can you really make an exam for all that is in here?"

"We wouldn't keep it here if no one knew how to use it. You should take your time to consider what you'd like to–"

"All of it. I can use everything you have. When can we do this 'test'?"

The chief and the detective look at each other in understanding. They knew she would want to do it as soon as possible. Tsukauchi is the one who answers. "Snipe should be on his way here."

"Where exactly did you find this girl?" Snipe wonders from behind the plexiglass, watching over the indoor training compound they moved to in order to test Homura's skill in closed environments.

The examination Chief Tsuragamae and detective Tsukauchi originally came up with only considered aspects such as the handling, safety measures and maintenance of the weapons in police inventory. However, due to the ease Homura showed in all those criteria, Snipe figured it would be beneficial to have her do a run in actual training procedures, to see how she actually behaves with a gun in her hands.

"It's complicated, I'll fill you in later. For now, just tell us your thoughts." Tsukauchi tells him without looking away from the camera currently following Homura's path.

With an exhale, Snipe offers his evaluation so far. "What is there to say? She's not breaking the record for the fastest clear only because she doesn't know what's beyond the corridor. Flawless switching between handguns and rifles, with very well-executed reloading. During target practice, I didn't see her get much recoil, even with high calibers. And she moves like she was trained by special forces." Leaving that assessment sink in for everyone else, he says something else under his breath. "I wonder what she could do in a live exercise…"

A loud beeping signals that Homura has reached the other end of the training ground. They all meet in the area outside, two other officers assist in disarming and taking the gear off her.

Snipe gives his congratulations but with an ounce of worry after such a display. "Good job there, kid. Too good. In fact, I would commend you, were you not a teen just a third the size of a trained soldier, but with similar expertise… How did you learn all that?"

"Mostly self-taught. And a few good teachers." And while that is true for the most part, Homura would rather not go into the specifics of how she learned to properly aim a sniper rifle or an RPG. "In any case, verdict?"

Impressed but not fully confident in agreeing to this whole deal, Snipe shares his final judgment. "For the record, just because you have the skill doesn't mean I'm actually OK with allowing any of this. Yes, you're more than capable of adequately operating this equipment, but it's not my call whether to grant you permission. Chief?"

After taking a moment for his deliberation, Chief Tsuragamae speaks directly to Homura. "Request granted. For the previously agreed upon purposes only. You will have to notify detective Tsukauchi when you believe it's necessary to make use of any equipment you're given. Unauthorized usage will result in the immediate revocation of any and all permits, as well as the forced recovery of said equipment, should it come to that. If you can't reach Tsukauchi, Midnight is the next person to contact, from what I understand."

"Unfortunately for me, yes. Please, avoid coming to me for that kind of stuff." The R-rated Hero begrudgingly accepts the substitute role in that instance. 

"I'll have everything written down for everyone to sign on later. Now, if there's nothing else to discuss, let's call it–"

"If I may…" Homura interrupts the Chief before anyone tries to leave. "Regarding what happened at the mall, has there been any progress on the investigation?"

"We have people on the streets looking around the area for any clues, but nothing so far." Tsukauchi answers instead, having taken leadership of that operation.

"Expand the search area, check places where violent crimes have occurred recently, where people have gone missing… and suicide spots, those tend to be important. Tell me when you got something. That's all."

Once proper farewells are made, everyone goes their own way. For Homura, that means waiting alongside Midnight for another taxi to take them back to the school campus.

At some point during the trip, Midnight throws a rhetorical question to the air. "Are you ever gonna stop dragging me through all these troubles, kid?"

Homura doesn't take it rhetorically, though. "I'm usually the one dragged into other people's problems, they eventually find their way to me. You just get used to it."

Later on at night, past eleven, Momo was roused from her semiconscious state by the knocking on her door. She certainly didn't expect to find her new classmate on the other side when she opened it. "My apologies for disturbing you at this time, Yaoyorozu-san. I was wondering if I could borrow your notes for tomorrow's classes. I promise I'll give them back to you before we leave in the morning."

Chapter Text

It's late. Very late.

She pulled off a time-still extended all-nighter in order to finish transcribing all of Yaoyorozu's notes, hoping to get at least a couple hours of sleep. It seems that she forgot to set up an alarm that could wake her up with ample opportunity to get ready, without a rush. Noticing there were only five minutes before the first period starts, Homura quickly activates her magic before rolling off the bed straight into the closet to gather her things for the day. She rushes down the stairs and immediately turns to the girls' bathroom. In and out, a three-minute shower, another minute goes by as she gets dressed.

Heading to the kitchen while on time stop to look for something that can pass as breakfast, she sees the short, bubble haired boy is still in the living room tying up his shoes. "At least I wasn't the only one late." She thinks as she scours the cabinets and the fridge. Unfortunately, it appears that no one prepared a bigger portion than what they needed, so there's no leftovers to pick from, and she doesn't have time to cook something. The one thing she finds useful is the coffeemaker half full. Homura pours herself two cups of coffee mixed with an unreasonable amount of sugar and gulps it all down in one go. "That should do it until lunch."

As she's about to leave the dorm, she looks back at the boy, still frozen in time, and considers for a moment whether she should–

"Not my problem."

It's only until Homura is close enough to the main building that she quits her transformation and everyone around her continues their conversations unaware of her sudden appearance amongst the crowd. She catches some of the 1A students heading to the classroom, and so she follows them quietly.

The rest of the class is, for the most part, already on their seats, including Yaoyorozu at the very end of the last row. A few glances come her way as Homura walks up to the taller girl. "Good morning, Yaoyorozu-san. Allow me to apologize, I was supposed to return this to you before we left, but it seems my alarm didn't go off." She pulls out the notebook from her bag and hands it over.

"Oh, Akemi-san! Good morning to you as well. But there's no hurry, if you still need to review what we–"

"That won't be necessary, I already went over all of its contents. I believe I understand everything so far, aside from some history aspects."

A sudden, cheerful voice joins in. "You did what, now?! And to think we were just saying that maybe you'd show up until second period! Tsu had to literally drag Ochako downstairs because it was getting late and you wouldn't come out!"

Homura can't properly acknowledge who's talking. There's no face to relate to this voice she vaguely remembers hearing last night around the common room. Yaoyorozu giggles after noticing the confusion about this disembodied voice. "Oh that's right! You haven't talked to her yet!"

Before she can ask for an explanation, Homura's hand is taken for a vigorous handshake. "Hello, hello, Akemi! Hagakure Tooru, nice to meet you! You were incredible yesterday, by the way. You even gave our resident princess here a run for her money!"

Handshake still at full force, Homura points out the obvious conclusion from this first interaction. "You're invisible."

"So it seems! Hehe…"

A second realization quickly dawns on her, something Homura keeps to herself. "And you have potential. Great. Two identified, one unaccounted."

Before she can better consider her alternatives, someone else arrives at the scene. "Good morning, students. Can any of you remind me where we–" Just after entering the classroom, Ectoplasm stops for a moment once he notices that Homura is there with them now. "I was told you'd be joining us, Akemi, just not so soon. But anyway, please, have a seat. You too, Hagakure."

"Y-Yes, sir, at once! Later, Akemi!" Tooru says frantically as she goes back to her desk.

"Yes, later." With the invisible girl gone, Homura moves to take the empty seat in front of Yaoyorozu before being promptly stopped by her.

"Wait. This is where Mineta sits. I would sincerely suggest you not to take it, haha." She hopes this warning is enough of a sign for Homura to avoid a possibly embarrassing situation once the guy shows up.

"There's a free desk in that corner, Akemi, you can take that one." Ectoplasm points to the other side of the classroom where a lone desk is. "In the meantime, let's take assistance. Aoyama."

"Présent!"

While names are called and people answer in cacophony, Homura wonders about the changes an environment so monotone to her before has gone through. "And to think schools would further revert in some ways. No electronic whiteboard, orally taking assistance… Self-folding desks were nice, too." Now in possession of a desk, Homura faces another problem. "I have a seat now, but where do I actually put it? I can't just sit in the corner like a kid on time-out."

That's when she notices she's closest to Uraraka right now. And even better, two other girls are in the same row, so it would be much easier to keep an eye on them should either prove to be the remaining potential. Now that attendance has been taken, Homura quietly approaches her neighbor and slowly whispers right to her ear. "Excuse me, do you mind if I put my seat behind you?"

Ochako can't help the tingling sensation arching her back, nor the slight flushing of her cheeks after the completely unexpected action. Not daring to look back at Homura right now, she mumbles out a response as she fiddles with her hands. "N-No, n-not at all, ah… B-Be my guest…"

"Thank you."

"Alright, who can show me where we left off? Kaminari?" Class begins as usual for 1A. After a few minutes, Mineta arrives, already marked absent as kindly pointed out by Ectoplasm the moment he entered the classroom.

Ochako did not register anything that happened for the next half hour.

Lunch break happened.

Once the morning lessons finished, Homura wanted nothing more than to have an actual meal this time. However, other people had different plans before that could happen. In hindsight, she recognizes that without Uraraka's earnestness to do so, she would never put herself through individual introductions. At least, with those who wanted to properly greet her, instead of sulking out of the classroom. "Who cares about another extra!?" All that could be heard as Bakugou hurried out of the classroom.

Uraraka looked around to reassure her. "Nevermind him. We don't get what his problem is. Just ignore him when he's talking nonsense." Which Homura had done so far, no trouble in that department. As she was putting away her notebook, a question came. "Hey, so… would you like to have lunch with us?"

Homura answered as she rose from her seat. "Us being…?"

"Good morning, Akemi! It seems we finally get to meet properly." It was the blue-haired boy that sat in front of them, the one with the Engine quirk. He strongly remarked with his hand gestures as he spoke. "My name is Iida Tenya, I'm the class representative as appointed by our fellow classmates. If you ever feel the need to bring something up to me, don't hesitate to do so. Otherwise, you can communicate it to Yaoyorozu, as the vice class representative, she can listen to any concern if I'm not available."

It took her a moment to realize he had extended his arm towards her as an invitation for a handshake. Although this was an overly formal introduction, it would've been rude not to reciprocate. "Thank you, Iida-san. I will remember to do so." As this happened, someone else had approached them yet remained silent so far. "And you are?"

Being addressed with such indifference by the person he had so many questions for, he didn't have the chance to put together a proper sentence without stuttering. "Me? Ah, yes! My name, uh… I-I am M-Midoriya Izuku! Yes… A pleasu–no, no… It-It's nice to meet you, Akemi-san! Haha…" 

None were ready for the sense of awkwardness that quickly encompassed the atmosphere. It wasn't the first time Homura had heard a boy try to speak to her in such a sloppy manner, and she feared this might be one of those situations. "Please don't be a first day crush. I lost any tact I had for dealing with this kind of stuff ever since Shizuki Hitomi followed me home that one time." Hopefully, a slight bow with the head and a few words would be enough for the time being. "Nice to meet you, too, Midoriya-san."

Fortunately, Uraraka quickly dispelled any tension when she reminded everyone that it was lunch time. "Is no one else hungry? Because I really am! Come on! Let's get going already!"

At the cafeteria, they're met by a 15-minute long line that further delayed Homura's satiation. Accustomed to having instant noodles for meals while patrolling the streets, or simply not bothering to go through the hassle of cooking, she easily defaulted to ordering some of the udon soup being served today. Once at the table with Uraraka's friends, she was ready to finally–

"Well, well! I wonder who this might be!" She had barely stirred a few noodles when she was interrupted. Someone began speaking behind her, in a not so amicable tone. "So the rumor is true after all! They added another person to 1A! It seems like there's always something going on with these guys, doesn't it?"

Looking over her shoulder, Homura finds this new blond boy standing next to her, with a grin on his face that could only spell trouble. This became evident when Tenya spoke up. "It's her first day, Monoma. She just joined us. Please, refrain from disrupting everybody's lunch hour."

"Oh, you can go ahead, I just had a few questions for your new classmate." In that moment, she felt his hand grabbing her shoulder, which she kept staring at while he talked. "Something along the lines of 'how did the school council let you in without an exam' or 'how much did it cost to get an exception'. Any comments?"

"No, but I'm sure whatever this is can wait until after I'm done eating." Homura slowly moved her sight up to him, looking rather unimpressed by this sad attempt at confrontation. "You should let go before something happens to your hand."

"Oh, I'm sorry, is that supposed to be a threat?" Monoma said in his most mocking voice possible.

"No, that was a warning." In the span of a second, Homura stood up from her seat while taking hold of his arm with one hand, grabbed the backside of his shirt with the other and pushed him down to meet the table's frame.

"Akemi! Stop!" Iida shouted, surprised by her sudden loss of composure.

"What's going on here? Is Monoma giving you guys trouble again?" They all looked back to find Kendo Itsuka, the class 1B representative, had approached them. "Come on, let him go, I'll deal with him."

Homura stared back at Monoma, who seemed very much relieved by Kendo's arrival. This had already escalated beyond her comfort for dealing with troublemakers in public, of course she would release him. However, he didn't walk away without a proper reminder. "Touch me again, and not even the school nurse will be able to fix you. That … is a threat." With that said, she threw him into Kendo's… big… hand. "Alright, I didn't expect that."

Before he could protest, Kendo put Monoma to sleep with a karate chop to the neck. "Sorry about him. I didn't think he would try something stupid so quickly after he learned 1A got a new student. I'll talk to him later, we'll leave you to enjoy your food. Welcome to U.A.!"

Iida stood up to show his gratitude for her quickly solving the situation. "Thank you for your intervention, Kendo-san."

"Don't mention it." Kendo said as she left with the boy knocked out cold in her hand.

Homura fell back to her seat and resumed her meal. The others watched her carry on with her lunch as if nothing had happened, silently agreeing that they should as well. "Remind me never to bother you while you're eating." Uraraka expressed between giggles, holding back her laughter. "Honestly, that was a great move you did on Monoma. You might even get to use it in today's lesson! I can't wait to see your first exercise!"

Homura couldn't find it in herself to be in any way elated about the rest of the day after this fiasco. "Me neither."

Chapter Text

Moving on from the small altercation during lunch, Homura follows Uraraka and her friends back to the classroom. Instead of All Might waiting for them in order to take the bus for Ground Beta, Eraserhead was the one at the teacher's desk. "Alright then, one week away from the Sports Festival now. That means it's time for each and every one of you to focus on your own personal training. Instead of Heroics with All Might, you'll be free to prepare as you feel appropriate. Whether you go to Ground Beta or somewhere else on campus, that's up to you. Same goes for individual or group sessions, organize that yourselves. That's all, see you next week."

Once Eraserhead left the classroom, it erupted into chatter. Given the option, the majority preferred sticking together for training sessions, but a few chose to concentrate on their own. Most notably yet expected amongst the latter were Bakugou and Todoroki.

"Those two don't get along much with the class… or each other, do they?" Homura asked upon the boys' departure. 

To which Uraraka responded. "No, they don't. It was worse when the school year started, though. At least with Todoroki you can keep some cordial talk, Bakugou still explodes over anything you say to him." Noticing that Homura seemed ready to leave as well without mentioning plans for training, Uraraka suggested they could stick together. "Midoriya and Iida won't mind, I'm sure! The more, the merrier!"

Homura wasn't convinced, however. Their idea of training was more of a chore for her. She's spent years perfecting her skills already, she'd rather use this sudden free time somewhere else. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll try to prepare on my own for now. Maybe another time."

Ochaco couldn't help but deflate at the rejection that befell her. "Oh, alright, I understand… Hey, maybe we can get the other girls… o-or maybe just the two of us if you–" By the time she looked back, Homura was no longer there. "Aaaand you already left…"

With everyone else out of the dorm until late afternoon, Homura got a perfect chance to study the entire building on her own. Some vulnerabilities here and there, but easy to manage with a magical barrier, as she learned how to make from Mami. A lesson she knew not to forget.

"Having other magical girls intrude on your territory is inevitable. At some point, someone is going to think they have a fighting chance and will try to kick you out, if not worse. Setting up a barrier around your apartment building will alert you of any uninvited guests. You should try it, I'll help you test it." Even back then, no longer a newbie but not quite a veteran yet, Homura had much to learn, and Mami was always eager to teach whoever would listen. 

"Yes, I should do it now that no one's watching." Homura takes a deliberately slow walk around the dorm premises, faking interest in the surrounding flora, secretly marking the boundary of the barrier. "The incubator's system is truly cruel. A happily unaware magical girl is silently punished for trying to feel an ounce of safety in her own house when she makes one of these."

Going to the rooftop to create the final magical border, Homura remembers when Mami took her to the top of her building and showed her how large she had made her barrier around it. "Maybe it's a little too much to reach over the entire place instead of stopping at my floor, but you never know if someone will try to break in by jumping high enough." It indeed had been too much for Mami, going alone on a witch hunt later that day. From what Homura could tell, Mami simply ran out of magic.

She found her body inside a maze while Candeloro was busy fighting this other random witch she'd never seen before. However, calling it a fight didn't feel right. It was a rare sight, having two witches in one place, not immediately attacking each other or the magical girl still in their proximity. They spent perhaps a whole minute engaged in what some may consider 'conversation', if the sounds witches make can stand for words.

Nevertheless, any sort of negotiation broke down when the unknown witch hurled itself against Candeloro. Finding herself in the middle of a witches' brawl, Homura made the safe choice to retreat from the maze while they were distracted. She would return the next day to track down and eliminate the victor, shamefully hoping that it would be Candeloro.

And Candeloro fought bravely. Candeloro fought stylishly. Candeloro fought unabashedly.

Candeloro lost.

Homura won't deny that annihilating that random witch into oblivion had been exhilarating back then, precisely because it felt that much personal. The sunset she's witnessing now paints the sky just like how it was that day, when she went back to Mami's apartment to pay her respects. Feeling teary-eyed, Homura takes a deep breath to recompose. Dwelling on these past grievances is not going to help her much with her current predicament.

The lack of grief seeds. She won't be using Charlotte's again if she can avoid it. She needs to find the witch that took Midnight a few days ago.

Time for bedroom renovations.

Detective Tsukauchi receives a phone call while reading the notes about an incident earlier in the day. "Shouldn't you still be in class, Homura?"

"We are on personal training hours… something like that. Moving on, has there been any progress?"

He could tell Homura was moving around the room while on loudspeaker given the change in volume. "Still nothing around the mall area."

"Forget about the mall already." The screeching sound of a metal frame being dragged on the floor interrupts her speaking. "What about jumpers? Any recently?"

"Don't assume we don't keep an eye on places where people could easily do that. There's been nothing like that in months, actually."

"That's good news, at least. Then what about–no, no, no!"

The loud, ringing clang that came through the phone startled the detective. "Everything OK over there?"

"Stupid piece of… Yes! Everything is fine. I just… dropped something." A few seconds of silent resignedness followed. "Nevermind that. The investigation. Any reports for out of place, irrational behaviors?"

"I may or may not be reading about a woman almost killing herself, her husband and daughter. Guy caught her in the bathroom mixing cleaning fluids."

There's a pause before Homura picks up the phone again, now speaking straight to it. "Has she said anything?"

He flips around the pages for the husband's comments. "It seems she's been feeling down for a few days but apparently she's never done something so extreme before."

"That is sudden abnormal behavior. Where is she now? I'd like to see her."

"I understand your concern, but I can't have you getting involved in–" 

"I'll rephrase it. I am going to see her and confirm whether or not this is my business. I'd rather be wrong if it isn't than late if it is. Can we agree that it would be better if I don't have to go behind your back on this? I'm trying… to cooperate, for once."

"Well, this is not my case. I'd have to consult with the detective in charge if I can interview her–" 

"Then do that. Today would be ideal."

"Not happening. Tomorrow, at best."

"First thing in the morning."

"I can't promise–" Tsukauchi gets cut off by the sound of the phone call being hung up. His exasperated sigh summarizes what that conversation was like. "This kid…"

Meanwhile, in the endless void of pure light that is her room, Homura is putting back together the hanging support for her swaying ceiling décor. 

Chapter Text

Having free rein over their own schedule for the entire week prior to the Sports Festival, every student sets different goals and expectations for themselves. While most would rather have a slow morning and then work on their exercises later in the day, a few still choose to wake up at the break of dawn to start their training. Among those who'd rather be up and about at first light, Iida is the first one out of the 1A dorm. Soon enough, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu come out as well, each going their own way.

Approaching 8 AM, after running into each other on the way down the stairs, Asui, Jirou and Uraraka reach the kitchen. There they find Homura, sitting at the counter, eating what is most likely a takeout meal for her breakfast. She acknowledges their presence with a glance as she gulps down the last of those instant noodles, preparing herself for how the next conversation will go. "I know, I know. Not healthy. Eat properly. That's not how you have breakfast. I'll make you some."

Ochaco responds immediately. "Of course I'm making you some, too!" As she goes straight to the stove and starts looking around for bread, eggs, butter, coffee. Anything that can make a decent meal. 

Kyouka follows up as well. "What are you doing eating takeout this early in the morning? Wait, you did sleep, right?" Doing a quick inspection of Homura from up close, she clearly hadn't. "Oh."

"Please, don't worry about it. I'm used to eating these whenever and having long, sleepless nights."

"That can't be healthy, either–ribbit." Tsuyu says, now standing behind Homura. "Especially now that we have the Festival right around the corner. We need to be in top shape. That includes good nutrition—ribbit."

"I can assure you all I'm fine, and I'll have no issue come that day." As Homura rose from her seat, she was forced to sit back down. Looking around, she finds Asui's tongue is what's keeping her pinned to the chair. "Right, she can do that. Great, now what? I hate being restrained like this."

The frog girl could not help but to chuckle at the situation. "This reminds me of every time I had to keep my siblings at the table when they didn't want to eat their vegetables–ribbit."

"Now I'm a child?" Trying her best not to get irritated by this silly affair, working through an instinctually stiff reaction, Homura makes her plea. "Asui-san, I understand… you mean well, but… I really don't like this… If I promise I'll stay, would you let me go?"

"Sure." And so her tongue retracts back into her mouth in one swift motion.

"Thank you." Homura relaxes from the tension that had just engulfed her. Being suddenly bound like that, completely unable to move, to escape… it brings back some awful memories she'd rather leave behind already. 

"What's the rush, anyway? We have a full week to train! Starting an hour later is not gonna change much." Jirou comments while tapping Homura on the shoulder with an earphone jack. "Besides, you can't leave now without having some of Uraraka's emergency cooking." She points with her other jack to the girl looking for the salt shaker, stuck floating against the ceiling.

"Can you do that again?" Homura asks, completely focused on Jirou, as if they were the only ones in the kitchen. "Touch me again. With your ears."

Kyouka doesn't know what to say to such a request. "I… W-Why? You mean… like this?" She slowly taps her again a few more times, not knowing what this might be about.

Without breaking eye contact, Homura articulates under her breath. "And that's three." Imperceptible to all but the one person in the room with enhanced hearing, and currently in contact with her.

"Three? Three of what?"

"Nothing. Pay me no mind."

"Breakfast is ready!" Uraraka cuts in between them, hurriedly bringing over a plate stacked with pancakes, a full bowl of scrambled eggs and a cup filled to the brim with coffee. "Maybe not the most healthy, but it'll do for now!"

Homura stares at it for a moment, wondering how anyone could eat so much right off the bed, especially since she already ate something. "I can't eat this much."

"There's four of us here–ribbit." Tsuyu moves a couple pancakes to another plate and pours half the coffee into her own mug. "You should start eating… before we make it disappear."

The conversation turns into Homura having to gracefully dodge questions about herself, like not remembering when or how she first developed her quirk. Thankfully, she considers most of what they ask her as part of her tried and tested answers.

When the topic of pets arises, Homura subtly inquires if Kyubey has ever approached them. "I remember having a cat once. Full white fur, very long tail and ears. Sometimes, it looked at me as if it knew what I was thinking… Didn't last much, though. Do any of you have cats?"

"Aww… What happened to yours?" Uraraka asks.

"A car hit it." Homura takes a long sip of her coffee to mask the satisfaction of her smirk. "Well aimed into incoming traffic."

"Oh, that's… That must have been awful."

"I got over it." Taking a glance at the clock hanging over the stool, Homura drinks the last of her coffee, signaling that her time with them is up. "I have an appointment at the hospital today, so I have to go now. Thank you for the breakfast, Uraraka-san. I apologize for making you feel obligated to do it. I'll make it up to you some other time."

"Wait, no, you don't–"

But Homura was faster and already on her way to the main door, raising her voice just before she left. "Right… Good luck with your training!" Once she slammed the entrance shut, the dorm abruptly fell quiet, and the trio felt an enormous pressure grow around them.

Tsuyu didn't like this feeling, so she cut the tension in the air. "Well, I can't say I'm an expert–ribbit, but you fumbled that, Ochako."

"Huh?! What do you mean?" The girl exclaimed in disbelief.

Kyouka can't help but agree. "Dude, really? Her cat died and you say 'that must have been awful'? Pfff, yeah, no shit!"

"Hey, language! And I didn't 'fumble' anything!"

"Don't wor–ribbit. I have a feeling she didn't catch it either."

"You think so?" She beams at the possibility that the way she acted just now didn't sour Homura's mood. Only to be shut down immediately by her friends' shared grin. "I mean I don't… I'm not… That obvious?"

"Yes." They both answer in unison.

As she follows the path that leads to the main school building, Homura is considering how to stay close yet inconspicuous around the three girls she's identified as having latent magical potential. "Thankfully, they know nothing about this. And hopefully, they'll never know. I don't see those two having a reason to make a wish, but I can't be so sure about Hagakure. Being invisible all the time can't be easy." 

Having walked down the road while pondering on the topic, as another dorm comes into view, she recognizes in the front yard the girl who took that annoying boy away from her back in the cafeteria. From what Homura can remember, she's the representative of class 1B, busy chatting with two other girls. She picked up the pace to avoid unnecessary interactions.

As she's about to go past their dorm, someone speaks from her right. "Woah, woah, hold on! You're not gonna say hi to the prez?"

There Homura finds not another girl addressing her, but a floating set of sharp teeth, lips and tongue. She reflexively swings with her left fist, slightly powered up by her ring, now ready to transform. "What the hell was that!? A familiar? Here?!"

The levitating jaw makes its way back to its owner, moaning about getting hooked by a truck as it reconnects to the rest of her head. "Ow, ow, ow! What the hell, man? Do you also have iron fists or something? That hurt!"

Kendo comes running full throttle to reach Homura first, still on high guard. "Akemi, wait! No need to panic. That's Tokage's quirk! She just wanted to say hi, she didn't mean to scare you."

"What? I totally meant to scare her."

"Shut it, Set!"

With Kendo now standing in between them, Homura has the chance to grasp the situation. Somewhat. "Her quirk? Who talks to someone they don't know that way without warning!? I could have killed her!" She looks at Tokage, still massaging her cheeks from the impact, who notices her as well.

Behind them, their other friend appears to take a mediator role. "Let us all calm down and talk this through, alright? It was an accident, no need to escalate things." The girl with vines for hair intervenes, quickly introducing the trio. "Akemi-san, I'm Shiozaki Ibara, pleased to meet you… even in these circumstances. The troublemaker here is Tokage Setsuna. And I understand you already met Itsuka, our class representative."

Taking a couple of deep breaths allows Homura to bring down her guard, having confirmation that this was not a sudden witch attack. "Yes, we met yesterday. For similar reasons, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I can tell why Monoma was still sore after he woke up, haha–ow…" Still holding her chin with one hand, Tokage goes towards Homura for a handshake. "Sorry for the jumpscare." Just as they're about to seal the apology, Tokage scoffs under her breath. "Just some funny payback for ignoring us." 

"I don't get the funny part." Homura says, hands held but not shaking for an awkwardly long time. A staring contest develops, ending only after Homura voices her own apology and carries on with the handshake. "Sorry for hitting you, I suppose."

Not giving a chance for tension to build further, Kendo gradually separates them, tugging Tokage's shoulder to move her aside. She changes the topic to the preparations for the upcoming event. "So… Are you also in full training mode for the sports festival? Vlad King apparently suspended all of our non-hero lessons for the week, so we can dedicate ourselves completely to that."

"Yes, we were told something like that."

"That's great!" The confirmation that 1A also has additional free time recontextualizes their mishap on Itsuka's mind. "Wait. Did we interrupt your training, thinking you were ignoring us?"

"Not at all. I have… an appointment later today. I'm just biding time until I get picked up and leave."

Hearing that, Tokage couldn't help herself not to playfully chime in. "Well, well, well! You certainly don't waste time. Already got a date after just a few days here, huh?"

Neither she nor Kendo caught sight of the sudden, utter disdain emanating from Homura at that little quip. Shiozaki alone bore witness to it, as Kendo rapidly grew her other hand around Tokage's head to force her quiet. Then she started pushing them forward as if to get away from a boiling pot about to erupt, hurriedly speaking as she did. "Set and I were just about to begin our training. See you another day, Akemi! Later, Ibara!"

Without giving Homura the chance to turn around and possibly give chase to them, Shiozaki put herself on the way and spread her vines just enough to obscure their escape. "T-talk to you later! Haha…"

In the distance, Kendo is still reprimanding Tokage. "What. Is. Wrong with you? Wanna get your head knocked off for real?!" 

But with those two gone, Ibara was now stuck all on her own having to deal with Homura. "Oh great, now what am I supposed to do?"

As she was trying to come up with a way to smooth things over, Homura beat her to it. "Don't stress over that. I'm not so irrational. No harm feelings."

Shiozaki turned around to find her calmed down, but she still felt the need to say something about Tokage's insolence. "Well, I thank the Lord that you can find it in your heart to forgive her, but she was out of line. I'll make sure she repents when they come back!" Looking rather proud of that statement, she cut off her overextending vines to bring them back to waist height.

That sparked Homura's curiosity regarding the taller girl's peculiar locks, while unconsciously brushing her own. "How does your hair do that? If you don't mind telling me…"

"Oh, it's no problem at all! It's rather simple. I can control how much it grows, as long as I have the energy for it." Shiozaki demonstrates by slowly covering an arm with her tendrilous hair, presenting it for Homura to examine. It was completely different to her dark, silky mane; every strand being a somewhat thick stem intertwined with each other. She gets pricked by the thorn-like protuberances after touching them a bit carelessly, prompting Shiozaki to panic for drawing another's blood. "OH DEAR LORD IN HEAVEN! I AM SO SORRY AKEMI I FORGOT TO-" 

"No need to worry, it doesn't hurt much. See?" Homura shows the small cuts across her hand fading away, keeping the other hand behind her back to hide the glow of her soul gem. "Like nothing happened."

Shiozaki blinked in quick succession, not fully processing what happened yet. "I-I… You… You can just…" She stops to take a deep breath, easing her fidgeting, taking the time to formulate what she wants to say next. "Oh good Lord, thank you for giving her fast healing. I've always been proud of exercising great control of my blessing, which is especially important when someone wants to touch it, but I was careless and you got hurt… I-I'll atone for this transgression however you like… Ah, within reason, of course…"

Homura was too stunned to speak. Madoka had always been the one to approach her offering a helping hand, first at school with her medication, then in training when she was still an amateur magical girl. To face that same pleading expression again from someone she just met… It almost tore her heart out.

Almost.

"Just… forget about it. I don't care much. You probably need to train like everybody else, so I'll leave you to it."

"Well I'm actually training after lunch. I was going to make a prayer commending a successful training week for everyone, but then Setsuna saw you and… that."

From what little conversation they've had, Homura has noticed something very particular about Shiozaki. "Are you Christian?"

The suddenness of the question after just trying to be apologetic didn't sit well with the girl, nervously looking away. "I-I am. Why?"

"IDIOT. You said that out of nowhere!" Once it dawned on her that the question came off a bit too harsh, Homura tried to relate to avoid a misunderstanding. "I just… I don't think I have heard anyone else here bring up the Lord so much… I-I was in a Catholic school, but it was a long time a–" 

"REALLY?! YOU WERE? I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE!" Ibara couldn't contain herself after such revelation. "I mean, I didn't go to a religious school, that was just my upbringing, haha… Please excuse me, I got a little excited just now…"

"Certainly." She didn't expect such an enthusiastic reaction, but if it stops misconceptions of her character from spreading, Homura won't complain.

"Hey, so… If you're not busy right now, w-would you… like to pray? With me?" There it was again, that Madoka-like manner of asking for a minor favor that always struck a chord within her that simply went–

"Cute." Homura said aloud. "Wait, what? NOOO!"  

"W-What was that?"

"I couldn't possibly inconvenience you with my presence during that!" Homura's cool and unbothered façade slipped off, as getting flustered over giving a small compliment raises her voice pitch. "I'm only Catholic on paper, I-I barely participated in anything!"

"Oh, alright. I understand…" The way Shiozaki's radiance shrank into dulled resignation stung Homura, and she knew it wasn't her heart just failing her now of all times.

"I-I still remember most things, if you don't mind leading…?"

So there Homura found herself in the class A2 dorm front yard, waiting for Shiozaki to come back from her room with a rosary. "I'm such a pushover…"