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Mami sat on her couch. Sayaka had left only a few hours ago and now she waited on Kyoko. To say she was anxious was an understatement, her friends had told her not to do anything today. The way they did this was by suddenly showing up at her residence and all but forcing her to take a day off and admittedly the five of them telling her that she needed to take a break was a lot but she agreed to it and so she had to follow it.
Although she did agree to the terms of “do nothing tomorrow” she did have to admit that it felt wrong to not be doing something. She felt like she was wasting time not preparing dishes, working on her schoolwork, doing some meal prep for the week to come and cleaning up around the house as it was empty currently.
There was a loud knock on the door and Mami shot up and rushed to the door. “Kyoko! I’ve been expecting you!” Mami welcomed her oldest new friend into her apartment.
Kyoko finished off a small bag of chips that she was eating and swallowed. “Sup. Mhm. I’m here to see how you’re holding up.” She said in an almost formal tone.
“Well, nothing’s really changed since Sayaka was here. I’ve just been on the couch waiting for you to come or for her to return home. Do you want me to get you some water?” Mami tried to hide the last part of that statement but she felt Kyoko’s hand on her shoulder.
“What about “do nothing tomorrow” do you not understand?” Mami turned to look at Kyoko and saw her casually staring back at her. Mami felt her face get hot with embarrassment. Kyoko was right, she, even on technicality, couldn’t get her water. “I’ll get the water myself, I know where you keep the cups, feel free to get comfy on the couch again.” Kyoko casually walked by her like she hadn’t almost broken the rules laid out for her. Mami made her way back to the couch and picked the pillow that she was holding back up. After a bit Kyoko returned from the kitchen with a cup of water. “Y’know, when Sayaka was here she said it was ‘surprisingly dirty’ and this looks pretty clean to me.” Kyoko didn’t sound like she was antagonizing Mami but she felt antagonized.
“I- Uhm- I- Uhh-” Mami was cut off by Kyoko’s failed attempt at stifling a laugh. “I- I have a reason for it!”
“No, it’s fine but just like, you only broke after one of us?” Kyoko sat down on the small bend in her couch. “I thought it’d take until at least Madoka or Homura came by.” Kyoko chuckled a bit more. “But like damn, I thought better of you.”
“I have a reason for it…” Mami said in an agitated tone. Kyoko gestured at her to give the reason. Mami sighed. “I had nothing to do! I felt like I was wasting time and it was moving at a snail's pace and all I could do to get my mind off was clean! But I only vacuumed and didn’t do much else! I promise I won’t break the rule again!” Mami looked at Kyoko who seemed surprised at her sudden outburst. “Uhm… I’m sorry for blowing up on you like that…”
Kyoko shrugged. “Eh… You’ve seen me at my worst. I can't really fault you for that.” Kyoko took a sip of water. “But you really don’t have anything to do? Like no streaming services or game consoles? Couldn’t you have just gone on like a social media app or whatever? Do you even have social media?”
“Uh… I don’t really have the money to spare for any platform like Netflix and the like… And I don’t really know anything about gaming… And I only use my phone to call, text and make my schedule for the month…” Mami sheepishly responded to her friend.
“Wait, you’re not on Madoka’s Netflix?” Mami shook her head. “Dude, Homura’s on her Netflix, hell I’m on her Netflix and I didn’t even have a tv of my own until recently!”
Mami felt herself get even more embarrassed. “Madoka probably wouldn’t even let me onto it…”
Kyoko gave her a genuinely shocked look. “I’m calling Madoka.” Kyoko pulled out her phone and quickly called Madoka.
“Uh, wait Kyoko! You don’t need to do this I- I’ll be fine without-”
“Hey Kyoko! Did you just leave Mami’s?” Madoka’s bubbly tone came from the side of the phone.
“Uh first off you’re on speaker and uh no I just got her actually I just wanted to have you confirm something for Mami.”
“Oh, hi Mami! But what did you want me to confirm, Kyoko?”
“You’d be fine with Mami being on your Netflix right?”
“Oh of course! You still have the email and password in your notes app right?”
“Yeah obviously.”
“Okay! Feel free to log her in on her tv! Bye!”
“See ya!” Kyoko hung up.”See? She’s fine with it.” Kyoko gave Mami a small grin.
“Wh-what about her parents?” Mami asked in an almost horrified tone.
“If they cared they would’ve put their foot down a long time ago.” Kyoko looked around for the remote and found it on the table that they typically used for their tea parties and turned on the tv. It opened to the news but Kyoko swiftly opened a menu that Mami didn’t even know existed and flipped past a few services she’d seen to Netflix. She logged in using a keyboard feature that Mami also didn’t know existed until now and as they were brought to, what Mami assumed at least, was a profile select. Kyoko navigated down to the profile called “Madoka”. “So, what type of genre do you like the most?”
Mami had to think about that for a while. She hadn’t really had the time to find a favorite type of story or genre… She tried to remember the books that she had to read for class. “Uh… I really liked the romance books we’ve read in class…”
“Aight, romance it is… Live action or animated?”
“I uh… don’t really have a preference?” Kyoko shrugged and scrolled down to the romance section of the app. “Just tell me if any interests you.” Kyoko started to flip through the different shows and Mami observed. Some looked interesting but none caught her eye, until she saw an animated one show up. “That one… The one with the girl in the green kimono…” She said in an almost hushed tone.
“Eh? Oh, you mean Apothecary Diaries?” Kyoko stopped on it and opened it up to the episode list, forty eight episodes. That seemed like a lot to Mami but then she thought about how she never really watched tv so was this a lot? She’d heard of some long series so forty eight couldn’t be that long right? “You sure you want this one?”
“Uh… sure.” Mami decided that it would just be easier if she took a page from Kyoko’s book and went with the flow for a bit. As they watched the first episode Mami didn’t think she’d be all that engrossed by it but as they got deeper into the episode she started to get hooked by it. The world started to muffle around her as her vision focused on the screen, she started to pay closer attention to even the little things that were done in the episodes. She made herself more comfortable on the couch to better enjoy the show. What she didn’t realize was that Kyoko had left thirty minutes ago.
“Mami! I’m home!” Nagisa closed the door behind her as she walked into the surprisingly dark apartment. Nagisa hated the apartment being dark when it wasn’t dark out. As she doffed her jacket and scarf she made her way to the light switch and flicked it on. Her eyes adjusted to the sudden light and she saw that Mami was passed out on the couch cuddling with a pillow. I guess that’s what Kyoko got her to do. Her gaze went over to the tv to see that it was on of all things and displaying a message. ‘Are you still watching The Apothecary Diaries?’ “No…” Nagisa whispered to herself as she clicked the same option which brought her back to the main page for the show… They had Netflix now… I can watch so many more shows! Nagisa beamed to no one. Her moment of needed child wonder was short as she looked back over to Mami.
She might’ve been cold, they weren’t running the heat yet as they both deemed it too warm but the apartment was kinda chilly so Nagisa went over to the basket that had all their cushions that Mami used for her tea parties with her friends and grabbed one of the blankets next to the cushions and went to go drape it over Mami.
When the blanket had all fallen on Mami she moved a bit but didn’t wake. Nagisa’s mouth started to form into an evil grin… With Mami asleep, she could do something. She sprinted to the kitchen and grabbed a plate and some wheat crackers. She could feel her face flooding with magic and seeing herself in the reflection of the window confirmed, her face had gone pale white with orangish yellow cheeks and her eyes had gone from her typical orangish brown to red and blue with yellow irises, her teeth had also sharpened themselves into a row of sharklike fangs. This didn’t concern her though, this is just what her magic did. It also didn’t stop her from opening the fridge and then going to open the cheese drawer. She sifted past the parmesan, the goudas, the sakura cheese, the dangke, the munster, the pepper jack and all the other ones until she found it… blue cheese!
She’d been trying to have this for weeks but Mami had kept it hidden from her for… very good and obvious reasons but Nagisa wanted to have blue cheese NOW! She grabbed it and broke off a few crumbly chunks but not too many, she didn’t want Mami to know she’d stolen some of the cheese after all… Knock-knock-knock Nagisa’s cheese-induced madness was stopped as she heard the knocking at the door. She made sure that her face wasn’t all weird with magic and went to go answer it.
Nagisa opened the door and was greeted by Madoka. “Hi Nagisa! What’s Mami doing?”
“She’s asleep on the couch.” Nagisa pointed behind herself in the general direction of Mami.
“Oh! Do you know how long she’s been asleep?”
“No, I just got back home so maybe a few hours or minutes?” Nagisa shrugged.
“Okay, I’ll tell Homura that she doesn’t need to come by now that you’re home.” Madoka pulled out her phone to do just that. “Have a good day!” Nagisa closed the door and made her way back to the kitchen. Normally Mami didn’t let her eat in her room but… who’s gonna stop her right now?
Mami sat up, her back and neck felt horrible, how did she sleep that bad on her bed… This was the couch. Why… Why am I on the couch? She rubbed the grogginess out of her eyes. “I mean… I think it looks pretty good!” Distantly came from the kitchen. Sayaka..? “I’d compare it to Mami’s cakes but that feels kinda rude.” Nagisa’s voice was also coming from the kitchen.
“Yeah fair, she knows how to make, like real cake and frosting, this is just a box mix and some cheap frosting.” Mami got up and walked over to the kitchen to see Sayaka, Nagisa and Kyoko all standing at the counter with a plain looking cake on it. “Mornin’! Or well closer to the afternoon but who cares.” Sayaka lifted the small spatula that was covered in frosting over her shoulder and Kyoko bit down on it and took it from her. “We were preparing a thank you gift for you!” Sayaka gave Mami a smile. “We’re just waiting on Madoka and Homura to get here, then we can have it!”
Mami was pleasantly surprised, she couldn’t remember the last time someone had made her a special treat. “I mean… My break day’s over so I could’ve just made us a cake for it.” Mami gave her friends one of her light smiles.
“Told you she’d say that.” Kyoko removed the now clean spatula from her mouth. “Five bucks.” She said with a cheeky grin.
“Okay, first of all I’ll get you that after this, second of all we all need to agree on something…” Sayaka took out her phone and made it face the ceiling until it stopped vibrating.
“Sayaka! How’s the cake coming along?” Madoka’s tone came from the other end.
“Great! You’re on speaker right now because we all need to agree on something.” Madoka agreed on the other side of the phone “Okay so everybody say ‘I’ if you think we should extend Mami’s break day until all but Nagisa leave her house?”
“I!” Kyoko said casually.
“I!” Nagisa said far too cheerily.
“I!” Madoka said through the phone.
“I!” Homura said distantly from the phone.
“I!” Sayaka said while raising a finger. “All opposed?” She looked over at Mami who sighed.
“Okay. I guess the break can be extended for now…” She gave a forced smile.
“Sweet! Madoka, Homura, where are you two right now?”
“We’re on the street just before Mami’s complex, we’ll be there in a few minutes!”
“Awesome, see ya!” She hung up and turned her attention back to the cake. “Nagisa, you know where the sprinkles are right?” Mami was about to respond until she remembered that she was on break and couldn’t right now.
“Yeah, they’re in the cabinet next to the spices.” She pointed at the cabinets and Sayaka followed her finger and grabbed a small tub of sprinkles.
“So what were you planning on doing with them again?” Kyoko asked while making progress on the remaining frosting.
“I was just gonna kinda dump them on top of the cake.” Sayaka replied.
“Fair enough. Are ya gonna put any on the sides?” Kyoko offered the frosting container to Nagisa who stuck her finger in it and ate a little bit of the frosting from it. Kyoko was not good at showing this kid good etiquette.
“No, that would get far too messy and this isn’t my house." Sayaka chuckled at the statement and Kyoko shrugged. Knock-knock-knock. All of their attention was pulled by the knocking at the door. “I’ll get it!” Nagisa volunteered and went to get the door. They heard the greetings of Madoka and Homura and then saw them as they rounded the corner and Madoka turned to Mami. “Mami! It’s great to see you!” Madoka grabbed her hand with both of hers and shook it. “Oh! We got you a gift!” Madoka handed her a large yellow gift bag.
“Oh! Thank you Madoka.” Mami was surprised that her friends had not only made her a cake but also had gotten her a gift. She felt tears start to work their way up to her eyes.
“It was everyone’s idea to get you a gift but if you had to thank any of us it should be Homura, she knew what you’d like the most!” Mami didn’t expect that Homura had been the main one to get her a gift, she had known Homura longer than anyone on the team, Nagisa excluded, so this was a pleasant surprise.
“Oh yeah! Homura, could you prepare the table for the cake?” Sayaka called from the kitchen.
“Of course.” Homura seemed to be in a rather good mood.
“C’mon Mami! Open up your gift!” Madoka egged her on to reach into the bag and so she did. Past the tissue paper she felt a thick piece of fabric on the bottom of the bag she grabbed it and pulled out a dress. It had slight flowers on it and most surprisingly the skirt was fleeced. “Oh my…” Was all Mami could think to say at the frankly expensive looking dress she was gifted.
“Yeah! It’s a combo jacket and dress! Prefect for the colder days of fall and winter!” Madoka was infectiously happy. Mami wiped her eyes. “Is everything okay?” Madoka’s happy tone took an edge of fear.
“Yes, I just never thought you’d all do this for me.” Mami gave one of her students a kind smile. “Sayaka, is the cake done?” Sayaka gave a double thumbs up. “Could you bring it to the table?” The girls all filed over to the table and took up residents on their color coded cushions. Sayaka started to cut the cake into slices and place them on plates, starting by giving Mami the first slice and quickly getting everyone a slice. Mami cut off a small chunk of cake and ate it, yup this was certainly box cake but just the knowledge that it was made by her friends for her, made it taste better than any cakes she’d made in the past few months. “If I may ask, why did all of you do this for me?” Mami asked everyone around the table
“Cause you work yourself to the bone!” Sayaka shouted. “Um… sorry but like… You always let us take a break and you let Nagisa come and go from patrols as she pleases but you’re constantly working! You gotta take a break every once in a while!” Mami was taken aback by how direct Sayaka was being, but she wasn’t lying either. Since Mami became a magical girl all she’s done is work and work and work and she had to admit that just sitting down to watch that show had been rather nice.
Mami let out a small chuckle. “I have learned a valuable lesson today. So I guess sometimes the master does have to become the student, thank you Sayaka.” Mami gave her a warm smile.
“Hey no problem, it’s what friends do.” Sayaka leaned over the table and presented a fistbump to Mami. Mami had never fistbumped anyone before but she’d seen it multiple times from Kyoko and Sayaka doing it so she reciprocated it with a bump. Seconds later Kyoko also gave her fist a bump. “I think that was a long time comin’” Kyoko flashed a grin Mami’s way.
Madoka gasped. “Hey don’t hog her!” Mami stifled a laugh and moved her fist over to Madoka and Homura. Madoka responded with a bump fast. “Homura?” Mami asked her and Homura smiled and gave her a bump. Mami pulled back her arm and turned to Nagisa. “Well Nagisa, you’re the only one who hasn’t yet.” Nagisa turned to her caretaker and gave an impish laugh before giving her a bump.