Homura Akemi lay on the hospital bed taking a short nap, Mami Tomoe sat by the desk sipping black tea in silence, and Madoka Kaname was busy asking Lancer and Kyubey about the world of magical girls and magi. Meanwhile, Kyubey and Lancer were each putting in their own effort—one hoping to turn Madoka Kaname into a magical girl, and the other intending to use a roundabout tactic to make Madoka give up on the idea or, at the very least, provide her with another choice.
Though the people in the room could be described as having "their own hidden agendas," the situation was at least relatively harmonious. However, just as Madoka felt "satisfied" with the conversation, she realized her best friend had disappeared.
"Sayaka?"
"Your friend left this room a moment ago."
The question, asked as if to herself, was suddenly answered, giving Madoka a start. But after seeing "Kyubey" perched on her shoulder, she breathed a sigh of relief. After their recent exchange, she had a rough idea of its identity; to put it simply, it was the "mascot" typically found in ACG works that accompanies magical girls. Consequently, she wasn't too wary of it.
"Thank you."
After whispering her thanks, she jogged out of the room. To her surprise, while she thought it would take some time to find her friend, she discovered Sayaka right away—but something seemed off.
Because of the incident with Homura tonight, Madoka was also quite tense. She walked up to her friend cautiously, but just as she was about to tap her shoulder to get her attention, she caught sight of two people through a crack in a door.
"Hitomi-san, do you understand the violin too?"
"A little bit. My family made me learn it when I was small, but I really had no talent for it, so I ended up studying piano instead."
"Eh? Piano? I used to want to learn the piano too..."
Kyosuke Kamijo, sitting on the hospital bed, no longer looked as gloomy or depressed as before—perhaps thanks to Lancer treatment. Instead, he was smiling as he chatted with Hitomi Shizuki about piano.
Sayaka Miki right hand, which was propping her up against the wall, tightened instinctively. Looking melancholy as if she had made some sort of decision, she grit her teeth and turned to leave. But as she turned, she saw Madoka right next to her and froze.
"Sayaka, we..."
"Madoka, come with me."
Before Madoka could finish, Sayaka grabbed her wrist and ran toward the corner. Madoka followed without a hint of resistance.
While the noise they made wasn't huge, it wasn't exactly quiet in the middle of the night in a silent hospital. Inside the room, Hitomi Shizuki turned around with a look of curiosity and walked to the door to peer out. She saw no one, only the sound of fading footsteps.
"What is it, Hitomi-san?"
Since it was only his arm that was injured and everything else was fine, Hitomi had proactively checked the door, so Kyosuke stayed in bed.
"I don't know. Maybe someone from another room?"
——————
Sayaka, pulling Madoka along, didn't notice a Kyubey lurking around the distant corner. Her heart was in such a complex state that she had no room to pay attention to anything else.
When they reached the first floor of the inpatient building, Sayaka finally slowed down. Seeing a panting Madoka, her expression immediately turned apologetic.
"Sorry, Madoka. I..."
Looking at the dejected Sayaka, for some reason, Madoka racing heart quickly calmed. Instead of waiting for an explanation, she pulled Sayaka head into a hug.
"There's no need to apologize, Sayaka~"
"Madoka?"
In Sayaka memory, Madoka was always a girl like a small animal—someone she even had to protect from bullies. But now, held in her embrace, Sayaka wide, surprised eyes gradually returned to normal before finally narrowing. She even hugged Madoka back and nuzzled her head against her.
"Haha~ That tickles, Sayaka!"
Madoka laughed out loud at the gesture, and the awkward atmosphere vanished instantly. Fortunately, Sayaka expression recovered a bit as well.
After pulling away from the hug, Sayaka took Madoka hand and led her toward some public seating. Since it was dark out, there was no one around; the park of the inpatient building felt as if it belonged only to the two of them.
"Madoka, I suddenly feel like maybe... Hitomi is a better match for Kyosuke than I am..."
The look on Sayaka face as she spoke was incredibly conflicted. When Madoka tried to comfort her, Sayaka reached out to stop her.
"When I'm with Kyosuke, we have nothing to talk about except school stuff. Sometimes even I find it awkward. But Hitomi is different. Being a 'lady' since she was little, she understands the violin that Kyosuke is so good at. No doubt he'll pick up the violin again once Dr. Lancer cures him, but I... I can't even hold a conversation with him."
"Kamijo-kun shouldn't be that kind of person..."
"He isn't. Kyosuke isn't that kind of person, but he is radiant. Next to him, I just feel inferior. It's been that way since we were kids. I still remember the look of envy on my face the first time I saw him perform. Later, I wanted my family to let me learn music too, but I couldn't even learn the simplest guitar. And... I didn't even realize it before... I..."
As she spoke, her expression became extremely pained.
"Just now, watching Hitomi talk to him, I suddenly had a thought————maybe if Kyosuke arm never got better, I wouldn't have to think about these things..."
Sayaka head dropped lower and lower. Madoka looked lost; Sayaka words had touched on a blind spot in her knowledge. She didn't know how to comfort her. But just then.
"Cough, cough~ Sorry for eavesdropping on your conversation."
Accompanied by a slightly awkward cough, a man in a white lab coat stepped out from the inpatient building.
The two girls stood up in a panic. Sayaka, in particular, covered her face, looking completely overwhelmed.
"That girl, Homura Akemi, is rested up and planning to go home, so I came to let you know. I didn't expect you to be talking about this. Don't worry, I definitely won't say a word. Also... I'm truly sorry..."
Lancer second apology, combined with the awkward expression on his face and his explanation, managed to dissipate a good deal of the girls' budding anger.