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It was the middle of a patrol, why did Kyoko elect to text her instead of just use telepathy to contact her? Her and Sayaka also took the same sectors of the city, so why call Mami who was on the other side of town? But Kyoko had given her a very specific place to meet her at and as the leader of the newly named Puella Magi Holy Quintet, Mami had to heed the call of her teammates.
She landed on the roof of the complex that she’d been told to meet her at and saw Kyoko sitting on a small cloth. “Hey.” She patted the open part of the cloth. “Come sit, I got snacks.” Mami had noted the pile of sweets that were next to her. As she sat down next to her teammate, Kyoko grabbed something from the pile. “Uh, it’s not like any of the tea that you make but I know you like this stuff.” Kyoko handed her a can of green tea. “Also, I know you’re not big on candy but… everybody likes reese’s.” Mami also took her favorite thing to indulge in.
“Thank you, Kyoko.” She cracked open the tea. “What did you want to talk about?”
Kyoko initially responded by cracking a can of coke and taking a swig. “I uh… I wanted to apologize…” That was a surprise. Kyoko never went back on her opinions and Mami remembered her leaving after that night… “And before you start askin’ questions, I don’t know why I’m doing this!” She took another swig of her soda. “Maybe Sayaka’s makin’ me go soft, or some shit…” She mumbled.
“I will say, I am surprised that you’re apologizing at all but what are you apologizing for?” Mami asked.
“For how I acted before we started teaming!” She gestured out to the cityscape. “I mean! Like!” She growled. “I was just! FUCK!” She groaned. “Ugh… I guess she is makin’ me soft…”
“So… Was this influenced by Sayaka or..?”
“No… it’s just…” She sighed. “Y’know when I came here?” Mami nodded. “And how I like… instigated all that stuff with Sayaka?”
“I remember you breaking her ribs in front of us.” Mami said almost too casually.
“Yeah… It’s that and… the fight on the bridge… and when you saved me from the lake… and being my teacher when I was starting out… I’m just… sorry.” Kyoko sunk into herself.
Mami placed her hand on Kyoko’s shoulder. “Well I’m happy you wanted to get all of that off your chest, Kyoko.” Kyoko looked at her like a wounded animal, to which Mami responded with a smile. “When you and Sayaka started dating, I wasn’t too sure how we’d get along after what happened… oh god, a year ago?” Mami took a sip of her canned tea. Mmm bitter. “But I’m glad we can be friends again.”
Kyoko sat back up and sniffled. “Thanks for being so… understanding…”
“And speaking on things that were a year ago, how’s your training with Rosso Fantasma and your illusion magic in general? You haven’t been using it as of late.” Mami took another sip of her tea.
“Oh… Uh… Yeah, about that ha ha, uh… I may or may not have lost my illusion magic…” Kyoko shrugged and gave Mami a panicked grin.
Mami choked on her tea. “Wait, what!? H-have you asked Kyubey about this?”
“Umm… I talked with him… and he told me that if a magical girl has a traumatic experience she might lose her magic and have to either no longer use her magic granted from her wish… or, she can learn a new form of magic…” Kyoko grabbed a handful of M&M’s and shoved them in her mouth and swallowed them. “And so that’s why I have my barriers now…” She punctuated that revelation to Mami by downing the rest of her coke and grabbing another from her sweets pile.
Mami was taken aback. A magical girl can lose her powers? Just the thought that she could lose her ribbons or Homura could lose her time stop or Sayaka losing her healing struck a deep fear in her heart. “Wait… how did you learn a new type of magic that’s completely different from your original?” Mami asked.
“I uhm… met a girl in Kazamino and she taught me some stuff…” Kyoko looked away from Mami. “I uh… don’t want to talk about her, before you ask.”
“That’s okay, but when you want to, know I’ll be a listening ear for you.” Mami finally decided to break open the reese’s that she’d been given at the beginning of this conversation. “But if I may ask, why barriers?”
Kyoko blushed. “I… saw how you protected people with ribbons and wanted to do something similar…” Kyoko said in a pensive tone. Mami chuckled at the way she was holding herself. I guess she hasn’t changed all that much in a year… “Oi! Don’t laugh! I’m bein’ serious!” She said through a mouthful of chocolate.
Mami tried to cool herself off from the laughter. “I understand it Kyoko… in fact…” Mami undid the ribbon around her neck. “I’ve been trying something similar…” She focused on the ever expanding ribbon as she spun it into a crude and lumpy facsimile of herself. “It’s still a work in progress but I think that with some more work I’ll be able to make rather convincing fakes of not just me but the rest of the Quintet.” Mami smiled.
Kyoko snickered. “Why ya always got to name stuff?” Mami tilted her head at that question. “I mean tiro volley, tiro finally, didn’t you give Sayaka’s big move a name? What was it?”
“Prestissimo Agitato.” Mami raised a finger. “And she helped me with that name.”
Kyoko fully started laughing. “I mean I can’t blame her… I named it lattice work barrier for a reason…”
Mami giggled. “I guess I rubbed off on you more than you want to admit.”
“Yeah… It was actually pretty useful for my time in Kazamino…” Kyoko took another sip from her soda.
“I’ve been meaning to ask about your time in Kazamino, Kyoko.” Mami took a sip from her tea.
“I mean… it was… fine? I don’t know…” Kyoko thought for a second. “Wait, why didn’t you just ask Kyubey what I was doing?”
“I… I didn’t want to intrude somewhere I wasn’t wanted…” Kyoko went to say something but sun into herself. “I worried about you a lot in the intervening months… I just never wanted to know what you were doing without me…” Mami felt her shoulders drop.
“I… I’m…” Kyoko breathed in, held it for a few seconds then exhaled. “I’m sorry for making you worry.” She looked down to her soda can. “I… we left on the wrong foot and… I don’t want to have to keep apologizing for my old self. I want you, my teacher, to see me for my new self.” Kyoko shoved her hand out to Mami. “Nice to meet you, names Sakura, Kyoko Sakura.”
Mami shook her hand. “My names Tomoe, Mami Tomoe. You’re one of Sayaka’s friends right?”
“Yep, kinda her best friend to be honest.” Kyoko rubbed her nose like a fictional character.
Mami giggled. “Now that we’ve reintroduced ourselves, do you want to know something?” She asked.
“Yeah, sure.” Kyoko grabbed another handful of m&m’s.
“All Sayaka seems to talk about at lunch is you.” Kyoko started cackling like a hyena. “I’m being serious. Everyday she talks about all the things she wants to do with you.”
“She’s that head over heels for me?!” She continued laughing. “That’s so fuckin’ funny dude!”
“I mean, I’m betting you do the same.” Mami gave her old-new friend a side eye.
Kyoko’s face went pink as she stopped laughing. “Yo- you don’t know that…” She was suddenly very interested in looking at the other side of town.
“I have an idea on how to solve this…” Mami looked over to see Kyoko nod. “You could… enroll at Mitakihara Middle.” She shot out.
“Nope.” Kyoko swiftly shot it down. “I’m not going to school.”
“But it’d give you something to do all day instead of just waiting for us to get out of school! You’d be able to see Sayaka everyday! You could walk to school with us!” Mami protested.
“I’m not.” Kyoko pointed at Mami. “Like would it be cool to hang out with you guys everyday? Yeah. But what if there’s a witch loose and the four of you are still in school? Who’s gonna deal with it in this part of Mitakihara? One of the magical girls who knows this part of town is owned by six girls?” Kyoko smiled.
“I… I never thought about it that way…” Mami started to ponder the question posed to her. She sighed. “I guess I was just being selfish for wanting you to come to school with us…”
“Nah, it’s chill. Sayaka’s tried to get me into your school too y’know.” Kyoko said nonchalantly.
“Wait, she did?” Mami was genuinely surprised by the fact that Sayaka of all people would try to get Kyoko to go to school.
“Yeah and if wearing that uniform taught me anything I’m not dealing with those stupid bows everyday after waking up.” Kyoko said in a sharp tone.
“Well, I’d say this was a fruitful conversation but I should get back to patrolling now.” Mami stood.
“Yeah, probably should do that, told Sayaka that I’d met with her on the other side of town…” Kyoko started packing her sweets into… somewhere.
“Well do keep a look out for witches and if you find any give all of us a ring through our telepathy.”
“I will, I will.”
“Good, I’ll see you at the construction site then.”
“Yep, see ya!”