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God, why did Homura have to fucking talk so much?
It was already bad enough that the girl’s apartment was like stepping into the damn sun. The blinding white void all around Kyoko was practically searing her eyeballs out, and she already got tired of staring into the swinging pendulum above her.
Having to sit next to Mami didn’t really help with her frustrations either, but that was a whole other bag of worms to open…
The point was, listening to Homura drone on and on about Walpurgisnacht or whatever the hell she was talking about now for the past hour was really testing Kyoko’s patience.
Slouching into the couch, Kyoko decided to tune in again for the fourth time that night to see if maybe, just maybe, Homura was finally gonna shut up soon.
“—From here, I will unleash the explosives that will be concealed beneath the water’s surface. This should hopefully be enough to hinder Walpurgisnacht from reaching…” Nope. She was still going strong.
Did they really need a whole lecture about this? It was just a witch.
Alright sure, it was the Queen of All Witches or something, but how bad could it be? All they had to do was just smack it around until it died and then take the grief seed it dropped, right?
Letting out a drawn-out sigh, Kyoko made no attempt to mask her boredom as the back of her head connected with the couch’s headrest.
Homura seemed to notice this, since there was a second of absolute silence for the first time that night before she abruptly spoke up again.
“Sakura Kyoko.” Homura stated in her usual monotone voice. “Am I boring you right now?”
“Uhh, yeah.” The displeasure on Homura’s face was incredibly obvious, which was actually kind of funny. Maybe she should keep this up.
“Well, I apologize for not being entertaining enough. I hope you are aware that the lives of not only ourselves but the entire city rest upon the defeat of Walpurgisnacht and that the information I am providing for you in this meeting—at no cost at all, mind you—will be paramount to achieve that. You do understand that much, right?”
“Sorta.” Kyoko said while rummaging through a box of pocky she pulled out of nowhere. Pointing a stick at Homura, she continued. “I guess I do have one question, though.”
“And what would that be?” Homura asked condescendingly.
“Well, since you so obviously put a lot of time into this.” Kyoko bit through the stick, chewing as she spoke. “Couldn’t you have found a way to, I dunno, summarize it better?”
Although Homura’s face showed mild annoyance at best, the way she was clenching her fists by her side told Kyoko enough about how she truly felt.
“Kyoko.” Mami sighed out in a chiding tone. She was pinching the bridge of her nose, obviously also feeling the call of boredom, but polite enough not to mention it. “Can we just let Akemi-san finish, please? Arguing about it won’t solve any of your problems.”
“Whatever.” Kyoko sighed. Leave it up to Mami to be a total buzzkill and ruin the only bit of fun she was starting to have. With a wave of her hand, Kyoko gave Homura permission to continue. “Just hurry it up already.”
Replying with a singular exhale, Homura turned back to the images being projected in the air.
“Now, before I was so rudely interrupted, I would like to point out that—”
“Kawashita yakusoku wasurenai yo me wo toji tashikameru~” A cheery voice and upbeat melody blared from somewhere near Homura’s position.
Wait a second, Kyoko recognized that tune. It was one of her go-to songs to dance to on the Dog Drug Reinforcement machines at the arcade.
Homura’s face somehow went paler than it already was not even a few seconds after the interruption. Quickly turning around, she reached into her pocket and pulled out something purple and rectangular.
The music stopped soon afterwards.
Looking back at the two of them for a brief moment, Homura muttered something barely audible.
“Sorry. I need to take this…”
Shuffling over a few steps away from them, Homura put the object to her ear, which Kyoko deduced to be a cellphone.
Was Homura’s ringtone seriously set to an anime opening? Kyoko’s mind was still processing that piece of information.
“Hello, Madoka.” Homura spoke in a slightly monotone voice… though there was a hint of warmth that wasn’t there before.
This was Pinky they were talking about though, so it kind of made sense. Kyoko was honestly surprised to find out that she and Homura only started dating less than a week ago. It seemed like they knew each other for much longer.
“Yes, everything is going well. What about you?” Homura said in a considerably softer tone.
‘Going well’ was definitely a way of putting it. Homura seemed like she was one second away from killing Kyoko if Mami didn’t say anything.
And when did she ever give a rat’s ass about how their day was going? Talk about girlfriend privilege…
“Oh, good…” Leisurely pacing around the room a bit, Homura seemed to be enjoying whatever Madoka had to say about her day.
This wasn’t going to be a long phone call, right?
“No. We did not hunt any witches today.” Homura suddenly froze in place. Her voice sounded more like the one Kyoko recognized.
Did she not tell Madoka what they were doing? Jeez, and here she thought Homura would know better than to try lying to her own girlfriend.
“Okay, it was just one. But it happened way earlier, so—yes, I know it’s getting late…” Homura flinched as her explanation was promptly shut down.
Kyoko might have felt bad for Homura if it were any other situation. But after the lecture she was put through, watching this whole thing go down was just too good to pass up on.
“Madoka, I think I should call you back. I’m in a meeting—” Homura stopped herself mid-sentence. Probably being interrupted by Madoka again.
Kyoko was starting to wonder if they should even be here still.
Turning to look at Mami, there was a small smirk on the girl's face. So she was finding this funny too, huh?
“No, I can't reschedule it! This is important!” Homura shouted into the phone.
Kyoko stifled a laugh while Mami put a fist to her mouth.
“Can I please just call you back, Madoka…” Homura’s head sank.
Well, it was clear who wore the pants in the relationship… Kyoko thought to herself.
“Yes, I will call you back as soon as I’m done here. I promise.” Homura sighed out in relief.
There was a brief pause where Homura finally seemed to relax, before she perked up again, her body tense with hesitation.
“I-I love you too…” Homura shyly whispered out.
With a beep, Homura slowly placed the phone back into her pocket.
Standing straight with her back to them still, she cleared her throat before shifting her body to face them.
“I apologize for the interruption.” Homura stated, nonchalantly as ever. “If you allow me, I believe we can still—”
“You don’t seriously expect us to skip over all of that, right?” Kyoko asked. Rhetorically, of course. Homura wasn’t getting away that easy.
“I… no…” Homura replied dejectedly.
“What the hell was that!?” Kyoko made a gesturing motion with both hands to emphasize the being that was Homura. “You act like some badass veteran around us, but you become a complete pushover with Pinky? Don’t tell me you only act that way with us.”
“It’s not an act. I just happen to do it subconsciously, I suppose.”
“Sure ya do.” Kyoko said sarcastically. She refused to believe Homura wasn’t doing this on purpose. There was no way the girl was that clueless.
In the midst of their silence, Mami suddenly let out a giggle that sounded like she had been holding it in for a while before chipping in with her own comment.
“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Akemi-san. I think it was rather sweet seeing that side of you.”
“I’m not embarrassed.” Homura said through gritted teeth.
“O-Oh. I apologize. I just assumed with how red your face was we may have been making you uncomfortable. Is it okay if we keep going then?”
“I just think this line of conversation is not what this meeting was intended for, Tomoe Mami.”
“There’s that too!” Kyoko shouted. “I don’t remember you callin’ your girlfriend by her full name, so what’s the deal with this whole ‘Tomoe Mami’ schtick? Would it really kill ya to refer to us like a normal person?”
“I didn’t think it would bother you two so much…” Homura mumbled out.
“Well, it gives me the damn creeps, and I bet Mami thinks so too.”
Faced with two gazes now trained on her, Mami jumped a bit before responding.
“I will admit, the first time we met was not the most pleasant experience. I thought you were cold and aloof. Someone who I could never get along with. But after getting to know you better, I realized just how much of a good person you are behind it all, even if you are a little aloof still.” Mami chuckled. “I hope you know that we both consider you a friend, Akemi-san.”
“Are friends supposed to make fun of each other like this?” Homura spat out in a low voice.
“Well, not usually, but that’s what happens when you choose to be friends with Kyoko.” Mami teased.
“Hey!” Kyoko interjected. “The hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I’m sure Homura has spent enough time around you to know what I’m talking about.”
“Well I don’t know what you’re on about, and I don’t like it!” Mami was lucky Kyoko didn’t want to get up right now. “Besides, we’re supposed to be makin’ fun of Homura, not throwin’ me under the damn bus!”
“It wouldn’t be fair to only pick on one person tonight, would it?”
“Well then how about we start pickin’ on you!” Kyoko pointed a finger at Mami before motioning over for Homura to join in. “C’mon Homura, say somethin’ about her.”
Looking like she was just about done with their antics, Homura face-palmed herself as she muttered out a response.
“I hate you two…”
“Aww, ya hear that, Mami? That means she likes us.”
With a singular scoff from Homura, the room erupted with Kyoko’s unfiltered laughter and Mami’s more polite giggles before eventually reaching a peaceful silence once again.
Homura’s eyes seemed to dance between the two of them as she carefully considered her next actions.
“Can we just go back to finishing our discussion about Walpurgisnacht, please?”
“We probably should.” Mami agreed. “Kaname-san might worry if you arrive any later.”
“Yeah, sure.” Kyoko nodded. “I’m in a good mood again, so I’ll probably pay attention this time.”
Acknowledging Mami’s agreement with a nod and Kyoko’s with an eye roll, Homura gave one last announcement to them before starting.
“And there won’t be any more interruptions this time?”
“That second one was kinda on you, but…” Mami gave her a sharp glare, which told Kyoko to shut up now. “Yeah, I won’t say nothin’ this time…”
“Good.” Homura let out a short exhale before turning her attention to the projection once again. “I believe we left off on—”
The blaring of another familiar ringtone shot through the room again, though it took a second for Kyoko to realize it was coming from her own pocket this time.
Hastily pulling it out, she opened the flip phone up and tried to remember how to shut it off. She never had a phone before, so she was still getting used to it.
To be honest, she found it a pain to carry around everywhere, but it was a gift from her girlfriend, so she did so anyways. Being able to talk to her from anywhere was a nice bonus, she supposed.
Speak of the devil, huh. Call from Sayaka Miki was displayed on the screen in big letters.
“Shit. Sorry guys, I gotta take this.” Finding the accept button, Kyoko placed the phone to her ear. “Hey! How’s my little mermaid doin’?”
Whatever Sayaka said next didn’t register to Kyoko, as her attention was immediately brought to the two girls in close proximity to her.
Why were Mami and Homura looking at her funny?